Ólafur Jóhann Sigurdsson belongs to a group of Icelandic authors who appeared in the wake of Halldór Laxness and whose dominant theme is the clash between the values of the traditional agrarian society and the new urbanized world that increasingly dominated Icelandic culture during the twentieth century. Ólafur Jóhann was primarily a realistic narrator and was best known for his novels and short stories, but he was also a well-received poet. His strengths as a writer are in descriptions of nature with subtle nuances, in prose and verse alike, that reflect the emotions of his characters or a poetic self. His most convincing characters are simple, but not simple-minded, people in difficult physical and ethical circumstances, usually contrasted with a variety of more satirically drawn scoundrels or good-for-nothings.

Ólafur Jóhann Sigurdsson was born on 26 September 1918 on a...