Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller
- Schrijver: Guðbergur Bergsson (IJsland)
- Soort boek: IJslandse roman
- Origineel: Tómas Jónsson, metsölubók (1966)
- Engelse vertaling: Lytton Smith
- Uitgever: Open Letter Books
- Omvang: 500 pagina’s
- Uitgave: Paperback / Ebook
Flaptekst van de roman van Guðbergur Bergsson
A retired, senile bank clerk confined to his basement apartment, Tomas Jonsson decides that, since memoirs are all the rage, he’s going to write his own—a sure bestseller—that will also right the wrongs of contemporary Icelandic society. Egoistic, cranky, and digressive, Tomas blasts away while relating pick-up techniques, meditations on chamber pot use, ways to assign monetary value to noise pollution, and much more. His rants parody and subvert the idea of the memoir—something that’s as relevant today in our memoir-obsessed society as it was when the novel was first published.
Considered by many to be the ‘Icelandic Ulysses’ for its wordplay, neologisms, structural upheaval, and reinvention of what’s possible in Icelandic writing, Tomas Jonsson, Bestseller was a bestseller, heralding a new age of Icelandic literature.