Independent People (Sjálfstætt fólk) is an epic novel by Halldor Laxness, published 1934-35. Subjects are poor Icelandic farmers, only freed from debt bondage in the last generation, and surviving the late 1800s/early 1900s, on a croft in the middle of nowhere in inhospitable countryside.
An indictment of materialism, the human relationship costs of the 'independent spirit', and perhaps capitalism itself. It helped propel Laxness to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1955.
Independent Living does not mean that we want to do everything by ourselves and do not need anybody or that we want to live in isolation Independent Living means that we demand the same choices and control in our every-day lives that our non-disabled brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends take for granted.
The international Independent Living Movement demands that disabled people need to enjoy the same degree of interdependence within the family that is common for non-disabled siblings, friends and neighbors.
Since people with extensive disabilities or their families typically do not have the necessary economic resources, government payments are required.
Summerhouses is probably haunted and is certainly unprepossessing, but Bjartur is a stubborn, leathery old (whatever his age) coot, and he soon has his new bride and few head of sheep installed in a sod house.
Laxness is merciless with the hypocrisy of the upper classes, as exemplified by the Bailiff's poetess wife, who applauds the simple life of poor country people, or the Bailiff's son, whose social-welfare schemes help him but undermine the crofters.
Laxness is not easy on Bjartur, who is bloody-minded in the extreme, but he is tender enough to compose a poem to his exiled adoptive daughter, and bold enough to engrave a simple marker in honor of the misunderstood ghoul who has haunted his farm and family.
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