R.I.P Short Story: Island of the Setting Sun

Ok, I've decided to post on Fridays and Mondays about the short stories I'm reading for the R.I.P. challenge. I already mentioned in my initial R.I.P. post that I will most probably read some short stories or extracts published in The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy. I've now read three stories from the anthology and it's quite interesting to read Finnish authors in translation! 

The story I chose to write about tonight is by one of my favorite authors: Mika Waltari. Many of Mika Waltari's (1908-1979) books are nowadays consireded to be Finnish literary classics, but in his time he was sometimes said to write too popular or entertaining books for them to have been considered serious or great literature. He wrote both contemporary and historical novels. His most well-known novel is The Egyptian, a junkster book set in Ancient Egypt and telling the story of Sinuhe the doctor. He also wrote a manual for aspiring writers that is a classic in its field over here. As a teenager, he was only 17 at the time, he published a collection of horror stories using the pen name Kristian Korppi. Korppi is raven in Finnish and the little introduction in The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy mentiones that he might have chosen that particular pseudonym because of Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name.

Island of the Setting Sun is a mysterious story about a Viking raid to an unknown island on the other side of a great ocean. As The Egyptian (first published in Finnish in 1945) is told by Sinuhe so is this story (first published in 1926) told by an unnamed Viking king. First-person narrative is very typical of Waltari as is well-worded descriptive passages. I find it quite amazing that he was so young when he wrote Island of the Setting Sun, but then, of course, he was a very talented writer. :) The story starts with:

 "I, the final king of the vanquished Viking tribe of the Valley of Three Suns, have commanded Father Anselmus, newly arrived from the land of the Gauls, to commit to posterity that which I am about to impart: the tale of our journey to the Island of the Setting Sun; else it shall be lost, it shall dissapear along with me into the land of eternal shadows, where my ancestors have stepped before me, and in whose footsteps I, the last of my kin, a few years hence must follow"

As a young man the king wanted adventure and he talked some of his fellow Vikings to join him on a raid across the ocean. Already after a fortnight at the sea their slaves start to die, then a great storm breaks. Just when the king thinks all is lost the skies and sea calm down and the men see land. It is the Island of the Setting Sun. It's inhabitants are totally silent, short and pale with captivating green eyes. A battle follows and the vikings win. Something strange is happening, however. When the Viking king visits the temple of the greeneyed people, he falls passionately in love with the statue of their goddess. The passion is all comsuming, but so is the curse of the goddess.

I liked this story very much. I liked the athmosphere Waltari created, it was a little bit creepy, but not too much. :) That the story was set in Viking Period was a nice plus. And see, in the passage I quoted above, how subtly, by simply naming a priest as the scribe for the king's story, the 17-year-old Waltari manages to convey the fact that the time of the Vikings is nearing its end.


That's it for tonight. I find it hard to write a post and follow the US Open women's semifinal tennis match on TV simultaneously. Should have eyes in the back of my head! :) Next short story peril post will appear on Monday.