The Whispering Muse (14 page)

A winged hourglass hovers over the sea with two crossed sledgehammers beneath, both pointing to the right.

But inside this innocent-looking napkin I keep the object that, with its odour and unusual properties, has reinvigorated my potency in the sexual arena. Yes, the night I stayed in Caeneus’s cabin I discovered the splinter from the bowsprit of the Argo in the inside pocket of his officer’s jacket, which was hanging over the back of a chair. And I spirited it away with me when I left the MS Elizabet Jung-Olsen on Easter morning last spring. It was some compensation for my luggage, which never turned up.

Yesterday evening when I took out the splinter of the Argo and began to toy with it, as I always do before burrowing under the bedclothes with Widow Lauritzen, there was a tap on the bedroom window. We were both startled as I live on the third floor; the drainpipe is next to the sitting-room window, and it is unthinkable that any human being could climb so high. There was another tap, louder than the first. I drew back the curtains.

A herring gull was perched on the sill outside. It struck its yellow beak against the windowpane, flapped its wings and squawked:

‘ARRK! ARRK!’

To the lady’s great amusement I mimicked it:

‘ARRK! ARRK!’

And drew the curtains again.

Sources used in the writing of
The Whispering Muse
:

Argonautica
by Apollonius of Rhodes

Medea
by Euripides

Hypsipyle
by Euripides

Innan lands og utan
(Home and Abroad) by Matthías Thórdarson frá Móum

Fiskneysla og menning
(Fish Consumption and Culture) by Matthías Thórdarson frá Móum

Ég sigli minn sjó
(Life on the Ocean Wave), the memoirs of Hrafn Valdimarsson

Enn sigli ég sjóinn
(More Life on the Ocean Wave), the memoirs of Hrafn Valdimarsson

Metamorphoses
by Ovid

Trójumannasaga in forna
(The Ancient Saga of the Men of Troy)

SJÓN is a celebrated Icelandic poet and novelist. His novels have been translated into twenty-five languages and include
From the Mouth of the Whale
and
The Blue Fox
(both by Telegram). Sjón won the Nordic Council Literary Prize, the equivalent of the Man Booker Prize, for
The Blue Fox
and ‘Best Icelandic Novel’ for
The Whispering Muse
in 2005. Also a songwriter, he has written lyrics for Björk, including for her most recent album,
Biophilia
.

VICTORIA CRIBB has translated the works of Sjón, Gyrðir Elíasson and Arnaldur Indriðason. She is currently studying for a PhD in Old Icelandic Literature at the University of Cambridge.

‘
The Whispering Muse
is a quirky, melodic, ticklish, seamlessly translated, lovingly polished gem of a novel. Sjón’s work deserves space on any self-respecting bookshelf of European fiction.’ David Mitchell

‘An extraordinary, powerful fable, travel-log, adventure story and metaphysical mystery. A marvel.’ Alberto Manguel

‘A wonderful tale –
The Whispering Muse
ties together tales from myth and antiquity with the modern age. Sjón writes like a man under a spell, filled with enchantment and magic and great wit. He is a rogue of the first order.’ Keith Donohue

‘
The Whispering Muse
is a wonderful story about stories, evoking comparisons to Borges, Nabokov and Calvino while remaining a complete original. What’s more, it’s a bundle of fun.’ Chris Wilson

First published in Icelandic as
Argóarflísin
by Bjartur, Reykjavík, in 2005
English edition published 2012 by Telegram
This ebook edition published 2012

TELEGRAM

26 Westbourne Grove
London W2 5RH

www.telegrambooks.com

ISBN
: 978-1-84659-124-2
e
ISBN
: 978-1-84659-143-3

Copyright © Sjón, 2005 and 2012
Translation © Victoria Cribb 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A full
CIP
record for this book is available from the British Library.
A full
CIP
record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.