We're in modern Iceland for this John Howard Inner Europe story. That weird thing pictured above is the eponymous sculpture, which forms the focus of this tale.
The story is told from the perspective of an Icelandic gallery curator who encounters one of many English visitors to Rekjavik. However, the Englishman is unusual in that he is not a tourist, and is stricken with poverty. He is in fact one of the many who lost big in the 2008 crash, which was of course in part down to amoral antics by Icelandic banks. The Englishman is seeking some kind of catharsis, and of the many sculptures around the capital, Sun Voyager is the one that somehow continues to draw him to it. This is despite the thing's far from welcoming appearance.
Behind the work of art is a tale - the legend that the Icelandic people followed the sun from Asia around the world until they arrived on their volcanic island. The Englishman in the story finds a home, too, in his way. His mysterious end is somehow bound up with the collective failure of a culture, not merely that of Iceland but of the West, epitomised by the greed and cynicism that led to the financial crash.
I'm learning a lot from this anthology, which adds to the enjoyment. More from this running review very soon, I hope.
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