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The Atom Station
Paperback / softback
Main Details
Title |
The Atom Station
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Authors and Contributors |
By (author) Halldor Laxness
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Physical Properties |
Format:Paperback / softback | Pages:192 | Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129 |
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Category/Genre | Modern and contemporary fiction (post c 1945) |
ISBN/Barcode |
9780099455158
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Classifications | Dewey:839.6934 |
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Audience | |
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Publishing Details |
Publisher |
Vintage Publishing
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Imprint |
Vintage Classics
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Publication Date |
4 March 2004 |
Publication Country |
United Kingdom
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Description
When the Americans make an offer to buy land in Iceland to build a NATO airbase after World War II, a storm of protest if provoked throughout the country. The airbase provides Laxness with the catalyst for his astonishing and powerful satire. Narrated by a country girl from the north, the novel follows her experiences after she takes up employment as a maid in the house of her Member of Parliament. Marvelling at the customs and behaviour of the people around her, she emerges as the one obstinate reality in a world of unreality. Her observations and experiences expose the bourgeois society of the south as rootless and shallow and in stark contrast to the age-old culture of the solid and less fanciful north. A witty and moving satire on politics and politicians, Communists and anti-Communists, phoney culture fiends, big business and all the pretensions of authority, Laxness' masterpiece of social commentary is as relevant today as when it was written in 1948.
Author Biography
Halld r Laxness (1908-98) was born near Reykjavik, Iceland. His first novel was published when he was seventeen. The undisputed master of contemporary Icelandic fiction and one of the outstanding novelists of the twentieth-century, he wrote more than sixty books. Laxness was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955.
ReviewsKeynote/Publisher' s Comment' Laxness has been hailed as Iceland' s John Steinbeck, Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair combined. His is a significant voice in world literature' Magnus Magnusson
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