Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness

Now for some compression and editing for a while, to try to break up the dialogue format on the tape because that by itself has neither substantive nor formal value in a report; the conversation will now be turned into indirect speech as occasion warrants, and all digressions, repetitions, and irrelevancies will be excluded; but not, I trust, so completely that no trace remains of pastor Jón's personality.

The bishop's emissary opens this part of the interview with a neutral comment, a link with what has gone before: It's an old saying that one still has to know something, despite everything.