[ehib8yPc]

So, Anna, you and the centre for Scandinavian co-existing in Groningen is pure co-incidence, as I now understand.

Your said:
I plan to review another Icelandic work of fiction soon (Sj?n's novella The Blue Fox), because I think it's a shame that people over here only seem to read crime novels from Scandinavia. I'm looking forward to your review of "The Blue Fox", as you've done for "The Swan". I'm going to read the former novel myself soon. Will you be reading it in Dutch or English? I believe that the Breda publishing house De Geus does quite a lot of Scandinavian books.

I agree entirely with the sentiment of the above quote. There has been an almost hysterical push to turn the whole of Scandinavian literature into a source from which to mine (i.e. uitgraven) dark, gloomy crime novels where people get murdered, and the criminal has to be found. This orgy in crime novels is a purely commercial calculation, i.e. making as much money as possible for publishing houses.

There must be so many interesting Icelandic authors, beyond Bergsson, Laxness and Sj?n, that give foreign readers insights into Iceland, Icelanders and their mentality, Icelandic life (beyond another clich? matter: the bank meltdown on Iceland). Crime novels can be well-written, as Valdi suggests elsewhere (some of the sagas are almost crime novels, with a legal background!), but I would personally much prefer to read non-crime literature. Valdi has also explained, very helpfully, something about non-criminal Icelandic authors...

I'm an idealist, and would only translate a crime novel from any country if I really needed the money. You're lucky, you've got your career in law. So you can read what you want, without having to think of money.