''Illska'' ('evil'), published by Mál og menning in 2012, is an Icelandic novel, the fourth by

Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl (born 1 July 1978) is an Icelandic writer. For a long time most noted as an experimental poet, he has recently also come to prominence as one of Iceland's foremost prose writers. Biography Born in Reykjavík, Eiríkur � ...

. It won the 2012

Icelandic Literary Prize The Icelandic Literary Prize ( Icelandic: ''Íslensku bókmenntaverðlaunin''), or Icelandic Literary Award, is an award which is given to three books each year by the Icelandic Publishers Association. The prize was founded on the association's cent ...

for fiction, and was chosen as best Scandinavian fiction by the French literary magazine '' Transfuge''. The book has been widely translated and reviewed.

Summary

''Illska'' is set around 2010. Its main characters are Agnes Lukauskaite, a second-generation Jewish immigrant from Lithuania researching far-right populism for her MA thesis in history at the University of Iceland; her boyfriend Ómar Arnarson, a graduate in Icelandic linguistics left unemployed by the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis; and Arnór Þórðarson, a PhD-student in history and a far-right activist, who becomes Agnes's love-interest later in the novel. The novel intercalates musings in the narratorial voice about racism and right-wing populism, along with an account of Agnes's grandparents' experience of the Holocaust from their home town of Jurbarkas.Sólveig Ásta Sigurðardóttir, 'Landvistarleyfi í bókmenntaheiminum: Birtingarmyndir innflytjenda í íslenskum samtímaskáldsögum' (unpublished MA thesis, University of Iceland, 2015), p. 37; http://skemman.is/is/item/view/1946/21030.

Translations

* ''Illska, la maldad'', trans. by Enrique Bernárdez (Xixón, Asturies: Hoja de Lata, 2018) panish* ''Zlo'', trans. by Daria Lazić (Zagreb: Oceanmore, 2018) roatian* ''Illska: To kako'', trans. by Roula Georga Kopoulou (Athens: Polis, 2017) reek* ''Illska: le mal'', trans. by Eric Boury (Paris: Métailié, 2015) rench* ''Böse'', trans. by Betty Wahl and Tina Flecken (Stuttgart: Tropen, 2014) erman* ''Ondska'', trans. by Anna Gunnarsdóttir Grönberg (Malmö: Rámus, 2014) wedish* ''Ondskab'', trans. by Nanna Kalkar (København: Ordenes By, 2013) anish

References

2012 novels Icelandic novels Novels set in Iceland Icelandic-language novels Mál og menning books {{2010s-novel-stub