Icelandic Literature

[Stewart]

The WLF list of world literatures stops in at Iceland today with a new thread for Icelandic literature.

I've had a stab at Iceland's only Nobel laureate in Literature, Halld?r Laxness, and come away feeling I really need to read more of the old sagas to get a better flavour of where he's coming from culturally. The Atom Station bemused and confused me, while Independent People pushed me over the edge.

Amongst my shelves I have titles by a couple of other Icelandic writers, namely Hallgr?mur Helgason and Olaf Olafsson. And Sj?n's The Blue Fox, winner of the Nordic Council Literary Prize 2005, has been staring at me from book store shelves for a while now.

Then there's the crime fiction, as befits Northern Europe, from the likes of Arnaldur Indri?ason.

Other Icelandic writers? Thoughts on the sagas?

[Max Cairnduff]

Hi all,

There's a concept in contemporary iceland of the present generation being essentially cossetted, there's a term for it - something like the cosy generation, though I'm not certain it's exactly that.

It's a generation that grew up in prosperity, in a time without threat of war or poverty, when life was essentially comfortable and luxuries which earlier generations wouldn't even have aspired to became accessible to all who wanted them.

Obviously all that ended last week.

Anyway, in Iceland there is one author well known for writing about this particular generation, their lives and concerns. He is apparently of it himself. But, annoyingly, I lost the article where I was reading about him and google searches have not proved successful.

Anyone here have any idea who I'm talking about?

While I'm on the topic, Jar City which is now out of print in the UK irritatingly is also I understand good on contemporary Iceland. Is that correct, or is my understanding a tad off? I've not read it so I'm not sure.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[Eric]

Now that the Icelandic economy has collapsed, and culture is again more important than money, maybe someone can provide the names of a few more Icelandic authors than Arnaldur Indri?ason and Halld?r Laxness. See:

List of Icelandic writers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So, who is cosseted, pampered and overpaid, who is ascetic, noble and holy? Names. Max asks a pertinent question, and I hope we get answers.

I suspect that Sj?n is important; there must be others.

[Max Cairnduff]

Hm, I looked on wikipedia and failed to find that link, so thanks for that. I'll follow through on some of those to see if I find the chap I'm looking for.

It wasn't so much a question of importance, as that I understand there is one author particularly known for writing about the present generation, whether that's important or not I can't personally say. Was Maupin important for writing about his milieu? Too early to say really. Importance is a fluid beast.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that culture is more important than money right now though, money is jolly important when you suddenly have none. Or, indeed, when you never had any. But here I risk straying into general chat territory...

[Eric]

Here's another site, in English, that you can browse:

About us

Plus a list of authors:

Authors on the web

You can't be too cossetted and cosy if you're determined to find this author. You just have to look through this longish list, author by author!

Remember that Icelandic people are listed by forename [i.e. Christian name] as they change their surname every generation, as Icelanders are given a forename, but the surname is the name of their father + -son or -d?ttir. Note that women are still their father's daughter in their surnames, not their mother's daughter. Whether feminists are changing this I do not know. Example: ?slaug J?nsd?ttir, i.e. ?slaug Daughter-of-John.

The author could be Hallgr?mur Helgason and his novel & film 101 Reykjav?k which has been translated into English. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Reykjav%C3%ADk

and

http://www.bokmenntir.is/rithofundur...r_id=40&lang=8

and

http://www.bokmenntir.is/hofundur.as...r_id=40&lang=8

[Max Cairnduff]

What a tremendous site, thanks Eric.

Now I fear I shall be drawn from the comforts of home, lured to dark and desolate places tracking down authors of whom I would not otherwise have heard.

Good point about the names, thanks for that. I was familiar with it from the sagas, some of which I'd read, but I don't mentally connect them much with modern Iceland so hadn't thought through the nomenclaturistic implications.

[Eric]

Max, you surely don't have a home, since you live in the mythical Biercian city of Carcosa.

This names thing is important. When looking things up on the English-speaking Wikipedia it won't matter a bit, but as you can see, the Icelanders maintain Icelandic name norms on their own Icelandic Literature website. (You get a similar problem with Hungarian authors' names, as they always, in Hungary, put the surname first, contrary to the practice of the rest of Europe.)

My only problem with that Icelandic website is that there doesn't appear to be a kind of overview, pointing the outsider in the direction of trends and genres. Instead, all you get is a rather long list of undifferentiated authors' names.

However, what is incredibly positive about this same website is that it shows that amongst the rather small 300,000-strong population of present-day Iceland, there are present-day authors writing present-day books. The sagas will no doubt be frequently referred to in intertextual and reference terms in novels and poetry, but it would be a pity if people in Britain and America rushed off to find the classics and ignored all those authors listed on that website, i.e:

literature.is

I've just read a book with translations (into Dutch, which I read with ease) of five contemporary Icelandic poets. And I was impressed. The poets are:

Vigd?s Gr?msd?ttir: Vigd?s Gr?msd?ttir
Ingibj?rg Haraldsd?ttir: Ingibj?rg Haraldsd?ttir
Ger?ur Kristn? [Gu?j?nsd?ttir]: Ger?ur Kristn?
Steinunn Sigur?ard?ttir: Steinunn Sigur?ard?ttir
Sigurbj?rg ?rastard?ttir: Sigurbj?rg ?rastard?ttir

I'd never heard of any of them before, but I was impressed by what I read. I received the book through the post about a week before all this stock market and bank business, so this was not the reason for my getting interested in these poets. I got the book purely owing to the fact that I wrote a very small article about an Estonian author for a magazine, and got this book as payment.

The good thing about this anthology from my point of view is that you have the original one one page, the translation on a facing page. This means you get some idea of the sound and shape of the original poem. Why they chose five women poets, I do not know. But this anthology is not billed as poetry by five Icelandic women poets, simply poetry by five Icelandic poets.

I have not yet read the afterword, which will no doubt enlighten me further.

[Valdi]

Hello I?m an Icelandic, and a big literature fan, so maybe I can be of some help here.

First of all, Max Carinduff, the writer you're looking for propably is Hallgr?mur Helgason, as Eric suggested. You're description of what could be referred to as the "Cute generation" in Iceland is actually quite accurate. A generation untouched of war and poverty has grown up in prosperity and luxury their ancestors (or parents for the matter) didn?t even dream about. I'm not sure where the term "Cute" came from, but I?m pretty sure it was invented by Hallgrimur Helgason. In my opinion the word "Cute" in the contex also resembles some irony, for cute as they are, it will interesting how they will react to the current economical crisis. Enough of that though.

Hallgr?mur Helgason is very good author which I recommend, ecspecially his book 101 Reykjav?k (101 being the postal code of the centre of Reykjav?k - the headquarters of the Cute generation). He also won the Icelandic Book of the Year award for H?fundur ?slands (The Author of Iceland).

Sj?n is getting bigger and bigger in Iceland, exspecially after he won the Nordic Counsil Literary award. Another novelist, Bragi ?lafsson, is getting quite popular to, at least one of his book, G?lud?rin (The Pets) has been translated into english, and I think it was New York Times that referred to as one of the translated books of the year in 2008 (Not 100% on that one though).

It might be interesting to know that Bragi is former bass player of The Sugarcubes, Bjork's former band, which gained some international success in the 1990's. Sj?n is also very good friend with Bjork and writes some of er lyrics I think.

Both of them would be considered as "younger writers" in Iceland. As all nation we have our classical writers, like Gu?bergur Bergsson and Thor Vilhj?lmsson, both of whom have enoyed some international recognition. I also must mention Einar M?r Gu?mundsson, and his masterpiece Englar Alheimsins (Angels of the Universe), winner of the Nordic Council Literary Award in 2005. I also must point out the likes og Vigd?s Gr?msd?ttir and Einar K?rason.

Then there are the old masters; Nobel Prize Laurate Halld?r Laxness and his generation. I will name just Gunnar Gunnarsson and Gu?mundur Kamban in that context, both of whom were also rumoured to be awarded the Nobel litarature at some point in their careers.

It might be worth mention that according to one theory it is said that Hemingway got his inspiration to write his masterpice The Old man and the Sea, after reading Gunnarsson's Advent.

And just to name some more contempory writers, you might be interested in Au?ur J?nsd?ttir (grand-daughter of Halld?r Laxness), Gu?r?n Eva M?nervud?ttir and Andri Sn?r Magnason.

There are also two very good Icelandic crime-scene fiction writers, of Arnaldur Indri?ason, already an internatinal success and winner of the Gold Dagger, and then there is Yrsa Sigur?ard?ttir, well on her way to become and internatinal sucess, and in my oppinion she will be even bigger than Indri?ason.

Of course I?m only browsing through icelandic literature here, feel free to ask any questions and I will try to provide sem decent answers. Ask anything at all.

Finally, not being an native-english speaker, I appologize for any spelling errors.

And in the and, if somone is interested in reading Halld?r Laxness, I consider his book Independent People the best book ever written.

[Stewart]

And in the and, if somone is interested in reading Halld?r Laxness, I consider his book Independent People the best book ever written.

Please do add your thoughts to the Independent People thread, Valdi. Oh, and welcome.

[Eric]

Valdi, I wrote out this list of names in a previous posting. Have you read any of these poets? They've all appeared recently in Dutch translation:

Vigd?s Gr?msd?ttir: Vigd?s Gr?msd?ttir
Ingibj?rg Haraldsd?ttir: Ingibj?rg Haraldsd?ttir
Ger?ur Kristn? [Gu?j?nsd?ttir]: Ger?ur Kristn?
Steinunn Sigur?ard?ttir: Steinunn Sigur?ard?ttir
Sigurbj?rg ?rastard?ttir: Sigurbj?rg ?rastard?ttir

I bought Sj?n's "The Blue Fox" in English translation last time I was in London. He read some of it out, with his translator Vicky Cribb, at the Nordic Translation Conference last year, as well. But I've not yet read it.

[Valdi]

Let's see:

Vigd?s Gr?msd?ttir: Vigd?s is one of the most respected writer's in Iceland, especially for the books Grandavegur 7 (Don?t know the name in translation, but Grandavegur is a street name, so it probably would be something like XXXstreet nr. 7), ?g heit ?sbj?rg og ?g er lj?n (Direct translation would be: My name is Isbjorg, and i?m a leo) and Kaldalj?s (Direct translation would be: Cold Light). I?m embarassed to say that I haven?t read any of her works. I really have no excuse for that as I own her best books, just haven?t gotten to it yet. But she very respected for her works here in Iceland so I think I can safely recommend her.

Ingibj?rg Haraldsd?ttir: Ingibj?rg is not very well known in Iceland, and I don?t think she's written very much. She has a great reputation as a translator though, escpecially for her icelandic translation of russian literature, for example she's translated 5-6 of Dostojevski's works into to Icelandic from Russian. She received the Icelandic poem?s book of the year in 2002 for her book Hvar sem ?g ver? (Direct translation: Wherever I?ll be).

Ger?ur Kristn?: Ger?ur Kristn? is more known as a journalist and magazine-editor in Iceland rather than a writer. That might be changing though. I really cannot not comment alot on her work as I haven?t read it. She is definetely an exciting prospect tough and one to look for in the future. Yes, she's has also written books for children I think.

Steinunn Sigur?ard?ttir: A very similar story to that of Vigd?s Gr?msd?ttir. She is very well respected in Iceland, her most famous works being Hjartasta?ur (Direct translation: A heart's place) and T?ma?j?furinn (Thief of time). And as with Vigd?s, I haven?t read any of her books, though I own several of them. But again I think I?m safe to recommend her.

Sigurbj?rg ?rastard?ttir: Like Ger?ur Kristn? and Ingibj?rg, she is not very well known in Iceland, at least not outside the literary world. I read her first novel, S?lar saga (Direct translation: Sun's story. (Sun/S?l is also an Icelandic female name so it is a word-play) about 7-8 years ago. I didn?t think too much of it at the time, but somehow it seems to be stuck in my head and I think about it regularly - so it is must be better than I first thought.

To sum up, Vigdis and Steinunn are both well know and established writer's in Iceland. Ger?ur Kristn? and Sigurbj?rg are still quite young and are still making a name for themselves in Iceland, at least among the public. They are both very promising. Ingibj?rg has translated alot but I really don?t know to much about her writing abilities.

What I find those five women have in common, is that they all seem to have received some Icelandic literary awards in Iceland for their poerty, but Vigd?s and Steinunn are better known for their novels, both having won Iceland Book of the Year award.

I hope I?m being of some help.

Yes, the books I mentioned are novels, except for Ingibj?rg's book. I really don?t read alot of contemporary poetry, I like the old masters better

[Eric]

For me, at least, this is very useful, Valdi. Because it tackles the canon, and introduces your personal Icelandic opinion. Although you are only one of 300,000 people, you can at least give pointers as to where these poets fit in. It's nice to check against local opinion.

I have no idea by what criteria the Dutch translators and compilers picked these five poets, nor why they happen all to be women. Because the anthology "Moordliederen" is presented as an anthology of "modern Icelandic poetry", not "modern women's poetry from Iceland". The anthology is published in the "Wilde Aardbeien" series by a Scandinavian foundation in Groningen, Netherlands.

By the way, Valdi, in the same series, there is a book of eight Faroese poets, this time with 4 men and 4 women. How easy is Faroese for an Icelander to a) read, b) understand when spoken? And: what does it sound like to an Icelander?

[Valdi]

Well I think it is fairly easy for Icelandic people to read Faroese, though of course some words are different. It might take some practice though for some, but I think every Icelander could pick it up fast.

It's a bit harder to understand spoken language as the pronunciation is different on some words, and the the rythhm isn?t isn?t guite the same. But again, I think it would be reasonable easy for most Icelander to pick it up quickly.

Truth be told, Faroese sounds a bit funny to Icelanders I suppose, it's like somone is speaking some kind of Icelandic, but hasn?t quite gotten the hung of it, at is also a little bit drunk. I?m sure the Faroese feel the same thingh about Icelandic

[Eric]

Yes, this is very common with neighbouring languages. Each party thinks the other's version of the "Ursprache" to be the adulterated one, the one that's "not quite right". So the love-hate relationship between the Icelandic and Faroese languages doesn't surprise me. It's what I suspected when I asked.

[kpjayan]

Today, I happened to read a good review ( in a reginal language) of the biography of Halldor Laxness by Halldor Gudmundsson. Has anyone read this ? Its titled The Islander, translated by Philip Roughton.

[Valdi]

Yes I've read it. It's very good, both critical and objective.

[Liam]

An excellent article on what it means to be an Icelandic translator:

The Loneliness of the Icelandic Translator

[Eric]

Yes, I have great sympathy for Vicky Cribb. I met her at the Nordic Translation Conference in London back in 2008. Iceland only has one fifth of the population of Estonia. On the other hand, the sagas have been world famous for hundreds of years. But that country can quickly get typecast if its literature is regarded as having stopped after the sagas. In 2008, Vicky had just translated a book by Sjón, the contemporary Icelandic novelist, called "The Blue Fox". A lot of things she mentions are, mutatis mutandis, similar to my own experience as a translator.

[Liam]

Review of Kristín Ómarsdóttir’s Children in Reindeer Woods:

[Liam]

Review of Jón Kalman Stefánsson's Heaven and Hell.