Thor Vilhjálmsson

Thor Vilhjálmsson was an Icelandic writer, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1925, who died in Reykjavík in 2011. He wrote in Icelandic, and his work belongs to the postwar Nordic literary scene, a period in which Icelandic fiction opened up to currents from across Europe.

He worked across several forms: novels, plays and poetry, and he also did translation. His career spans more than half a century, from Maðurinn er alltaf einn, published in 1950, to Sveigur, which appeared in 2002. In between came titles such as Dagar mannsins, Óp bjöllunnar and Turnleikhúsið, which show a steady and varied output.

His work was recognised at home and across the region. He received the Nordic Council Literature Prize for the novel Grámosinn glóir, known in English as Justice Undone, and the Icelandic Literature Prize in 1998 for Morgunþula í stráum. In 1992 he also won the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, often called the 'little Nobel'.

The sources available say little about his narrative techniques, so any judgement of his style is best made by reading the books themselves. What is documented is the range of his genres and the continuity of his production over many decades.

His legacy rests mainly on his place in modern Icelandic literature and on the major Nordic prizes he won, which continue to mark him as one of the notable writers of his generation.