The Stars of Constantinople: Stories

By Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson

For many years Olafur Johann Sigurdsson was Iceland's premier writer. Prolific in a number of genres, he was the author of nine novels, five volumes of short stories, five books of poems, and several... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807117781
• ISBN13: 9780807117781
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: LSU Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Poignant, well-told stories

All of the stories in this collection are worth reading, and some of them are very fine. I didn't expect to become so involved by some of them, such as "The Padlock," about a young boy's experience of the shame of being impoverished, or another tale of a child, the title story, in which a lovely thing (a cheap toy) becomes the occasion of a bitter scuffle between siblings. "The Changing Earth," the long tale that opens the collection, will remain in my mind as, with Turgenev's "First Love," an evocation of youthful romance. Sigurdsson also writes well about someone late in life, in his story of Pastor Bodvar.

Superbly written stories in excellent translation.

The short story "The Changing Earth" (which opens this collection by Olafur Johann Sigurdsson) is the most beautifully written story of which I'm aware in world literature. Alan Boucher translated this piece from the Icelandic many years ago, but his new effort is superior and captures the author's use of language amazingly well.