Iceland 1930

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1830571079

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-221162

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Iceland 1930

Edition:: 2. ed.

Place of publication:: Reykjavík

Publisher:: Ríkisprentsmiđjan Gutenberg

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: 193 S.; Tab., Kt., Taf.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Literature

Collection:: Economics Books

154 pendent researches of great consequence. The first good map of Ice- land was made by the great mathematician Bjérn Gunnlaugsson (1788 —1876), and based upon his own surveying. On most of the principal branches of science something has been written in Icelandic, both for schools and for purposes of general in- struction; but a characteristic feature of it all is that it has been ad- apted to the public at large, who read almost everything that comes in their way. And the Icelandic peasantry’s love of reading is proved by the fact that single impressions of most books number 1000—2000 copies, and sometimes even more. The novel. As already mentioned, the Icelandic sagas ended in the fourteenth century in fiction pure and simple; and the style and technique of the best Icelandic sagas left very little to be learned from the modern novel. There was therefore no need for the Ice- landers to invent a new form in the nineteenth century in order to be able to write a novel; the form was there ready to hand. Jonas Hallgrimsson is ‘the father‘ of the modern novel in Iceland, though he wrote but one, the ‘Grasaferdin, an exquisite little story, de- picting rural life, This was followed by district judge Jén Thoroddsen’s (1819—1868, also a lyric poet of some note) ‘D4litil ferdasaga‘ (A Short Sketch of a Travel), showing marked ability. His other works in this field are the popular ‘Piltur og stiilka‘ (Lad and Lass) and ‘Madur og kona’ (Man and Wife, unfinished), his masterpiece, published after his death. Thoroddsen’s subject is the life of the common people, and his characters, especially the more peculiar ones, are drawn with such skill that they haunt the mind of every Icelander, and his scenes of rural life bear the stamp of reality. He has an abundance of tender humour, and his purity of style and spontaneity of expression combine to make him one of the great masters of modern Icelandic prose. Benedikt Gréndal wrote witty, humorous stories in the style of the chivalric saga. Gestur Pélsson (1852—1891), the editor of a news- paper, while studying at the university of Copenhagen, came under the influence of the realistic literary movement, which about that time had its flourishing period in Denmark. He wrote a few short stories in the spirit of that school. He is a close observer and depicts his characters with great force and clearness, but is often bitter in his satire. The Rev. Jonas Jonasson (1856—1918) who wrote mostly short stories, describes peasant life with severe realism, dwelling especially on its shady side. Einar Hjérleifsson Kvaran (1859—) studied at the university of Copenhagen, and was then for a number of years

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