«Il mostro di cemento a fauci spalancate». Halldór Laxness e l’impatto della steinsteypa nelle campagne islandesi
Abstract
In the first decades of the twentieth century, prosperity in Iceland prompted the use of concrete to replace peat as the most common building material for farmhouses. Thanks to a technical office sponsored by the Rural Bank, the construction of concrete country houses was gradually standardised. The article analyses these new policies as described in Halldór Laxness’s novel Sjálfstætt fólk (1934-35; Independent People), in which Bjartur, a farmer living in the Icelandic highlands, decides to build himself a concrete house: his ambitious project clashes with the country’s merciless environmental conditions and the incompetence of some local workers. Between nostalgia for the past and hopes for a better future, concrete farmhouses herald modernity but, according to Laxness, look like the ruins of a shelled building.
Submitted: Oct. 22, 2024 | Accepted: Dec. 6, 2024 | Published May 27, 2025 | Language: it
Keywords Iceland • Halldór Laxness • Concrete • Vernacular architecture • Rural architecture
Copyright © 2025 Silvia Cosimini, Sofia Nannini. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2025/13/009