Manifesto

The reason for zebras’ stripes has been long theorized, from flies’ deterrent to camouflage, thermoregulation or a way of causing predator’s confusion. Be that as it may, their distinctive coat made them highly sought out by exotic pelts collectors and drove some subspecies to extinction or endangered status. Likewise, Speculative Zebras both blend in and stand out in the literary scene of Iceland.

From the Eddas to the fornaldarsögur, the weird and the paranormal have been a fixture of Icelandic literature since its very beginnings. However, contemporary Icelandic authors are mostly known, at least internationally, for their realistic novels and the Nordic noir movement. In a land of eternal darkness and deceptive summer, the strange is nonetheless never too far from the surface and our aforementioned zebras like to bring it to attention.

Reykjavík is a constant source of inspiration for them, but often in a twisted version of itself, a city where appearances are treacherous and draugar, vampires and sinister dopplegängers lurk in the shadows. The authors also explore the body as a place of self-estrangement, metamorphosis and transformation are used to underline the sense of displacement felt by poets in a materialistic society.

The weird is also to be found in the words themselves: language is a laboratory for the Speculative Zebras, multiple meanings being revealed by translations or juxtapositions of different languages, while poetry becomes a mean of metempsychosis. With an education in Linguistics, the Icelandic Zebras are well-equipped to find new venues for poetical expression, often with refreshing neologisms and not the least with serious conlanging.