Halldór Laxness is both an international author and a thoroughly Icelandic author. He wrote almost exclusively in Icelandic, took his subject matter from the realities of Icelandic society and history, and produced a body of work deeply rooted in the Icelandic epic tradition. At the same time, his work has universal appeal. "Heimurinn er einmitt hér, á Óseyri vid Axlarfjörd" (The world is right here, at Óseyri in Axlarfjördur), he remarks in one of his first novels, Salka Valka (Salka Valka, 1931, 1932; translated from Danish into English as Salka Valka: A Novel of Iceland, 1936), which takes place in a poverty-stricken fishing village in one of the most remote areas of the country near the Arctic Circle. A major theme in the work of Halldór Laxness is the conflict of nationality--how to belong to one's own country and...