2023/098: From the Mouth of the Whale — Sjón (translated by Victoria Cribb)

The antlers of a hart, coral, spread fingers, birch twigs, a loosely knotted fishing net, crystals, river deltas, ivy, mackerel clouds, women’s hair … diverse as these phenomena are and formed from opposing elements, nevertheless they all revolve around the invisible joints, their opposite forms touch even though they are far apart … and if I imitate their form, reaching my arms to the sky – moving them together and apart in turn, waving them to and fro – then Jónas Pálmason the Learned is no longer alone … I am the brother of all that divides, all that curls, all that intertwines, all that waves … [loc. 2256]

A short, dense, poetic novel, set mainly in Iceland in the 1630s. This is the tale of Jónas Pálmason, exorcist of ghosts and natural philosopher, ostracised and outcast, banished to an uninhabited island with his wife, sent to Denmark (where he explains to Ole Worm that the valuable 'unicorn horns' are actually narwhal teeth), returning to Iceland with a royal pardon, only to be exiled once more... Jónas is an unstable combination of medieval superstition and Renaissance science. As a child he recalls being led to an 'elf-mound' where statues of the Virgin Mary and the saints are buried, to be disinterred and worshipped by country folk out of sight of the Lutheran, post-Reformation establishment. Influenced by Paracelsus, young Jónas collects ravens' skulls, believing that a mystical stone -- the bezoar -- can be found within some rare specimens: but Paracelsus also gives him a reputation as a healer. Later, he helps 'Wizard-Láfi Thórdarson, alias the specialist and poet Thórólfur' deal with a troublesome ghost, in an episode reminiscent of Norse sagas where such events are regarded as a part of the natural world. Jónas suffers great losses: his home, his wife (who understood eclipses), three of his children. By 1635 he is alone on his island, reflecting on his tumultuous life and the almost medieval barbarism of Icelandic society. In several respects he is his own worst enemy, refusing to conform. And yet, and yet: he persists in finding joy and beauty in the natural world, and interpreting what he sees in his own idiosyncratic way.

After reading From the Mouth of the Whale, and giving it time to sink in, I discovered that Jónas is a fictionalised version of Jón lærði Guðmundsson, also known as 'Jon the Learned'. And Sjón (a poet and musician who's worked with Bjork) is also co-writer of The Northman, a blood-soaked, historically accurate film about the Viking prince Amleth.

For Shop Your Shelves Bingo, Summer 2023: purchased 13 JUL 2012, prompt 'animals' -- not only the titular whale, but narwhals, sandpipers, ravens, bluebottles...