Under the wings of the valkyrie

“The Icelandic writer’s X-rated novella, Under the Wings of the Valkyrie, published for the first time in English, takes the shape of a love letter by an anonymous author, explaining his lifelong erotic fixation with the left-wing guerrilla by way of apology to his beloved. Sjón thinks the seeds for his story may have been sown on a retreat to the Swedish countryside, when the Danish poet Jørgen Nash showed him the bed he gave to Ensslin’s partner in crime, Ulrike Meinhof, while she was on the run from German police in the 70s.

Derided as “tasteless” by critics in the author’s home country, the story brought together Sjón’s still-coalescing fascinations with myth and surrealism, imparting a mythical dimension to Ensslin’s exploits through the title, a reference to the “amazing killer women” of Norse folklore who escort fallen warriors to Valhalla. “Today we might think of valkyries as something positive, like a strong, valiant woman, but really they are beyond good and evil,” says Sjón. “They are there for the battle; the battle is their life.”

On a basic level, Under the Wings of the Valkyrie captures the illicit thrill many Icelandic teens may have felt on learning about these style-conscious militants from their forgotten corner of the Atlantic. “We were all in our bedrooms plotting the revolution, you know?” says Sjón, who weaves these elements into a phantasmagorical narrative that explores how stories can sustain and even destroy us.”