The Fish Can Sing
The fish concert is a novel by Halldór Laxness, published in 1957 in Iceland under the title Brekkukotsannáll. In 1973 he was made into a film by Rolf Hädrich in Iceland. In a small role also occurs the author.
Content
The simple farm Brekkukot located on the outskirts of Reykjavík. There Álfgrímur Hansen lives with his alleged grandparents and tells of the life and the adversities on the Brekkukot. Here also the fate of the supposedly famous singer Gardar Hólm is woven into the plot, which, as it turns out later, in truth Gorgur means and belongs to the family. His brilliant return to Iceland is expected, but when he one day actually arrives, it turns out that Hólm at the expense of local shipowner, Danebrogsmanns and grocer Jon Gudmunsen and his son, the wholesaler and Commander Gvendur Gudmunsen leads a very modest life in Denmark. The Legend of the world star Garðar Hólm that occurs in honor of his Icelandic home on all the major stages around the globe, and was woven by the alimentierenden merchants and financiers for years to Hólm, turned out to be dubious PR measure for the business of " conveyor and patrons " out of which the alleged singer of world renown broke eventually. In truth Hólm not the slightest approach of voice or had talent. Álfgrímur itself was always active as a schoolboy from the venerable Pastor Sira Jon if there was no one else who sang on the Armenbegräbnissen. A central key role of the novel, the author to the wooden turnstile, which separates the Brekkukot from the rest of the world. Can be found on the courtyard side the old, perishing world of simple, honest and God-fearing Quappenfischers that sees man at the center of all thought and action, so dawns outside even the modern early -capitalist way up, which only considers the human being as a means to an end, puts him depending on profitability or drops. Although the Brekkukot goes down in the last lines of the novel, he nevertheless survived with his unimpeachable integrity in the person of the narrator Álfgrímur. Laxness, the quasi docked the life Álfgrímurs both as parallel as well as an alternative to the Gardar Holm, thus saith the ethical concept of Brekkukot the win: Unlike his alter ego Garðar Hólm to Álfgrímur of Gudmunsen not let namely with a lure grant contract for the planned study in Denmark, since it would inevitably go with the adoption of the very tempting offer Gudmunsens in a final for Garðar Hólm end deadly dependence of the representatives of the market and finance. Gudmundsson was looking for the final failure of the spar after an appropriate substitute, which he believed to have found cheap in person Álfgrímurs. What Gudmunsen but did not realize was that Álfgrímur had something that Hólm lacked: the unconditional love of his grandparents. To enable him this study namely, his grandparents had sold the Brekkukot to Gudmunsen and secured the independence and thus the future Álfgrímurs with this victim of early Christian character. During the corrupted Hólm of Sira Jon was siege tower to the grave, to Álfgrímur Hansen developed with its straight, unambitious and unpretentiösen being a writer of world renown, who succeeded his home, the Brekkukot with all its values and ideals, a literary monument of to put time and inventory.
Background
The model for the court was the court Brekkukot Melkot, there also lived Guðrún Klængsdóttir, the great-aunt of Halldór Laxness. His mother grew up in Melkot and met her husband Guðjón Helgason know. He worked on the farm.