Þórarinn Eldjárn

This is my Icelandic entry for Around the World for a Good Book. Set in the 16th century, The Blue Tower tells the life story of Gudmundur Andresson imprisoned in Denmark for crimes under the Great Edict against adultery and fornication (he not only violated the edict but also wrote against its legality!). Andresson narrates his own story from his prison cell, a story that basically says that the bastards will keep you down. Despite being highly intelligent, those of higher birth work to defeat Andresson at every turn. His sarcastic wit rarely wins him any friends either. After falling from the eponymous prison tower, Andresson's life changes and it is told in a short second part of letters to his friend in Iceland as he begins to have scholarly opportunities in Denmark. Don't get too happy though, because he dies shortly after in a plague. This was not the easiest book to read, but definitely a change of pace from what I usually choose to read, and educational at that.

"It is often the case with great men, that their descendants prove to be small, and all the smaller the more they try to stretch and crane themselves to the stature of their begetters." (p. 48)… (mehr)