Sjon is the pen name for Icelandic author Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson. He is an author, poet, lyricist, and screenwriter. His work combines folklore and Icelandic mythology in imaginative ways, often using a surreal stream-of-consciousness style.
Sjón’s novel In the Mouth of the Whale (also published as From the Mouth of the Whale) is an imaginative and poetic exploration set in 17th-century Iceland, following the outcast Jónas Pálmason, a healer and accused necromancer, as he reflects on his life in exile.
The cover art for this trade paperback (published in 2011 and translated by Victoria Cribb) was designed by Rodrigo Corral. Erik Jones created the actual cover illustration. Farrar, Straus and Giroux is the American publisher. This brilliant cover design fits the novel perfectly. It’s also smartly designed graphically. The use of the author’s pen name in bold, vertically arranged letters, working it around the title, is just so ingenious. Starfield background with a somewhat ethereal whale is also striking.
The design sneaks up on you. Once you focus on one part of the design, it leads you to another part, and soon you end up taking in the whole picture. And it’s this slightly weird design that introduces you to an offbeat, original narrative style.
Here’s the quote that opens the book: “Sometimes the stars were men for him and sometimes men were stars, sometimes the stones were beasts, the clouds plants….”-Novalis, The Novices of Sais
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