Critical Approaches to Sjón: North of the Sun is the first English-language book-length study of the works of the Icelandic contemporary poet Sjón (Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson, b. 1962), who is considered by some to be Iceland’s most distinctive and multifaceted contemporary author. This collection of essays introduces readers to Sjón’s rich body of writing and its transmedial and stylistic range, cultural breadth, thematic diversity, and intellectual depth. Essays in the volume have been brought together from around the world and cover Sjóns's beginnings as a neo-surrealist performance artist and poet (translated into over 20 languages), his career as a novelist (translated into over 30 languages), and his collaborations with translators, singer-songwriters, film directors, and other writers. Approaches range from the narratological, historical, ethical, epistemological, and mythological to theoretical methodologies such as thing theory, queer theory, disability studies, and ecocriticism.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures List of Contributors Acknowledgements A Note on Translation Introduction Linda Badley, Úlfhildur Dagsdóttir, and Gitte Mose Part I: The Voices of Sjón 1. The Pleasures and Challenges of Recreating Sjón’s Voice Victoria Cribb 2. The Author is In: Moonstone, Authorship, Reading, and Intertextuality (or The Boy Who Became a Story) Úlfhildur Dagsdóttir Part II: Surrealism 3. Oh! Sjón, the Poet 1978–1986 Erik Skyum-Nielsen 4. Sjón’s Nuclear Dystopia: Reflections on Stálnótt, Medúsa, and Johnny Triumph’s Musical Career Jón Karl Helgason 5. “Beneath the veil of happenings”: Sjón, the Norse Visionary of Surrealism’s Deep History Delia Ungureanu Part III: Transmedia, Miscellanea 6. Moonstone: The Cinema that Always Was Janica Tomić 7. Sjón at the Movies Björn Nordfjörd 8. The Drop Tower, the Roller Coaster, the Whirling Cups: Sjón-Miscellanea and Things Gitte Mose Part IV: History, Ethics, Politics, and Storytelling 9. Sjón and the Long Icelandic Medieval Past Carolyne Larrington 10. Transnational and Counter-Memorial Practices: Antisemitism, Nationalism, and the Second World War in Sjón’s Works Gunnþórunn Guðmundsdóttir 11. The Narratable Self: Natality and the Politics of Storytelling in CoDex 1962 Anne Fogarty Part V: Queer Ecologies: Hybridity, Disability, Ecopoetics 12. The End of the World as We Know It: Queerness and Utopias in Sjón’s Poetry and Prose Asta Kristin Benediktsdóttir 13. Human-Animal Bodies in The Blue Fox and CoDex1962 Avril Tynan 14. Sjónian Ecopoetics Linda Badley Epilogue: Sjón in His Own Voice Appendix: A Chronology of Sjón’s Life and Writings Index