Sjón; translated by Victoria Cribb
Winner of the 2005 Nordic Council Literature Prize, The Blue Fox by Sjón, translated by Victoria Cribb, is part fable, part fairy tale, part myth, and part magical fantasy.
Set in Iceland’s stark, wintery landscape in 1883, the novella is divided into four parts. Part I describes Reverend Baldur Skuggason hunting a blue fox and ends with him firing his rifle and killing the fox. Part II focuses on Fridrik Fridjonsson and Abba, his young assistant who suffers from Down’s syndrome. It includes Abba’s tragic backstory of her victimization and abuse, and her death at the age of thirty. Part III transports us back to the snowy mountains where Baldur, having triggered an avalanche when he shot the fox, is now wounded and trapped in the snow. He hallucinates. Metamorphoses occur: the fox becomes human; the human becomes animal. Baldur consumes the fox’s heart, wears its fur, and lusts after a vixen in heat. Part IV sews together the two seemingly disparate threads. The narrative’s non-linear progression gradually unfolds to reveal the true nature of the reverend, leaving one to ponder who is the real animal in the story.
The diction, especially in Parts I and III where Sjón describes Iceland’s unforgiving landscape, reads like a series of lyrical poems. The short paragraphs on each page surrounded by copious white space reinforce the poetic quality as well as the snowy, white landscape of the setting. Sjón takes us inside the minds of the hunter and hunted as they try to outmaneuver each other. The hunter stalking the hunted, the hunted evading the hunter, is described as if in slow motion. Our sympathies lie with the exquisitely described beautiful blue fox. And when she raises her head for the last time, the bullet that ends her life reverberates throughout the stark landscape.
A combination of fable, fairy tale, myth, and magical fantasy, Sjón has written a visual masterpiece in hauntingly beautiful prose. The narrative addresses the theme of good versus evil; innocence versus guilt; charity versus hypocrisy; compassion versus bigotry; the pristine beauty of the natural world versus the cruelty, corruption, and avarice of man. And like all great fables and myths, the relevance of its message transcends time and place.
Highly recommended.