Í Sortanum

by William Heinesen, Bjarni Niclasen (Translator)

Stærke sømænd, fantastiske drukkendbolte, frække værtshuspiger røres rundt i den sorte gryde, så den ryger af blod og syder af liv.

Genres: Literature

363 pages

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

William Heinesen is the best-known writer that the Faroe Islands have produced. He wrote mainly in Danish, but all of his books, which are set in the Faroe Islands, have been translated into his native Faroese. When Heinesen heard rumours that he was to win the Nobel Prize he requested that his nomination be withdrawn, discussing his choice to write in Danish with a mixture of bitterness and regret: "Faroese was at one time held in low regard - it's fair to say that the language was kept down. For all that, Faroese has generated remarkable literature, and it would have been right to award the Nobel Prize to an author who had written in Faroese. If I were given the prize, then a Danish writer would have got it, and Faroese literary endeavours would have been dealt a heavy blow". He died aged 91.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Black Cauldron takes place in the colourful scenery…

Serpent Fjord is a long inlet stretching into the island deep between lofty grassy fells. At the bottom it opens into the broad pool officially called Kingsport, but in everyday parlance simply known as The Cauldron. The sea is always smooth in there, and safer anchorage cannot be found. There it lies tucked away like a womb deep inside the island, a fruitful, teeming uterine passage in the midst of the desolate ocean, a favoured spot amidst the ravages of war, a haven for weary seamen, a refuge for déracinés and refugees, a breeding ground for religious sects, a cosy nest for profiteers of every kind.

The novel is polyphonic… Plenty of colourful personages inhabit its pages… And the visionary who seems to be not all there is one of the most colourful and bizarre…

Engilbert had but a smile for all this commotion with which the improvident citizens of today feel compelled to surround themselves. He viewed with patronizing contempt these complacent slaves of Mammon who knew only the crass everyday life this side of the great Curtain. He himself was moving in an entirely different direction: up, up towards the lofty plane of knowledge and spiritual liberation. But it cost him struggle and trouble and an unending and painful battle to conquer his own base desires, an eternal crusade against the irksome fetters binding him to the world of the senses… those evil, pallid octopus tentacles constantly seeking to enfold him and hold him fast.

The seafaring is a main occupation of the men living on the island… The war is raging around taking its toll in deaths…

And yet, on the other hand it could not be denied that it was that selfsame war that made seafaring profitable. Properly speaking, there was nothing for it but to take it philosophically. The sea giveth, and the sea taketh away.

Shipowners and skippers… Soldiers and civilians… Lovers and mistresses… A wary and scared newspaper editor… A fiancée of the terminally consumptive sailor… A mad sectarian preacher… A boozing dissenter…
Tragedy became the order of the day… William Heinesen – a writer of a global level – terms the current state of things in the world as the ‘scientific cabbalism’…

Jens Ferdinand had set his merry-go-round in motion. It was an ingenious little machine, driven by clockwork. A kind of puppet theatre or circus. The Black Cauldron was written above the little cardboard proscenium, which was decorated with grinning satyr masks.
But the piece being performed was anything but funny.

Since birth till death our lives are stewing in the huge cauldron of fates.

[Denlillebogblog · Rating 1 out of 5]

1-1½ stars.

[Halleyberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love William Heinesen not just because he's faroese as I am...but the way he is able to portrait those downt-to-earth-people fighting their way through a meager existence is commendable - and it brings me back to my grandmother who lived through the same things he' writing about.

[Bodil Sixhøj · Rating 5 out of 5]

I en fjord ligger Kongens Havn, også kaldet Gryden - heraf titlen.
Tiden er 2. Verdenskrig, og Færøernes placering midt i krigszonen for ubåde og andre krigsskibe gør skibsfarten særdeles risikabel men også virkelig indbringende for skibsrederne. I denne fortælling omkommer den ene unge sømand efter den anden, om ikke på havet så af lungebetændelse og tuberkulose efter forlis. Skibsrederne (handlende i havnebyen) tjener gode penge og mister skibe. Kvinderne bliver enker og faderløse/broderløse, og der går mange skjulte ting for sig i mørket mellem dem og de engelske soldater, der opholder sig på øerne. Også derfor trives både danse og druk og religiøse sekter. Som tilskuere til alt dette er bl.a. redaktøren på den lokale avis og lægen.
Heinesen skifter mellem de forskellige personer, man følger dem på deres vandringer og rejser mellem øerne, og indimellem skifter man synsvinkel, når to personer mødes. Det er blændende godt fortalt og med virkelig godt blik for menneskers særheder og egenart.

[August · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeg holder meget af den her type "egnsfortællinger" - som jeg selv ynder at kalde dem - hvor man følger nogle bestemte mennesker et bestemt sted i tid og rum. Og som regel er det (af en eller anden grund) øer og øgrupper - her altså Færøerne - der yder det bedste "backdrop" eller sceneri til en sådan fortælling. Heinesens historie lader ikke meget tilbage at ønske. Man får straks (uanset de mange krigsreferencer) lyst til at tage derop - op til "Gryden" i øhavet.

[Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heinesen appears overly fascinated by what idiots think, much as O'Connor and Faulkner were. But this realistic story covers a unique place, the Faroe Islands, at a unique time in history, giving readers a vivid picture of a seafaring people surrounded by war but lifted from poverty.

The English translation by Dedalus fell apart in my hands while I was reading it, so English-speaking readers may want to get this book on audio or through an e-reader, or check the physical copy first.