Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.10.1981, Blaðsíða 1

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Sedlabanki Island Adalskrifstcfa Austurstraétí 11 Reykjavik Icelan Löqberq
Heimskringla LÖGBERG Stofnað 14. janúar 1888 HEIMSKRINGLA Stofnað 9. september 1886 L .
95. ÁRGANGUR WINNIPEG, FÖSTUDAGUR 2. OKTÓBER 1981 NÚMER 30
New York Cosmos
to play in Iceland
NEW YORK - The Nev/ York
Cosmos of the North American Soc-
cer League have scheduled a game
for October 10 in Reykjavík,
Iceland, with the Valur club of
Iceland.
The game kicks off a European
tour for the reigning champions of
the NASL, who will also play in
West Germany, Spain, Italy,
Dr. Evelyn S. Firchow, professor
of German at the University of Min-
nesota, Minneapolis, spent some
time in Iceland last year during
which period she had interviews
with a few Icelandic authors. Dr.
Firchpw, who is an outstanding
scholar in the field of Germanic
Greece, and possibly in Kuwait. The
Cosmos will fly from O'Hare Inter-
national Airport in Chicago the
evening of Oct. 8 on Icelandair, of-
ficial carrier for the team on this in-
ternational tour, which is being
coordinated by Sports Plus and Ice-
landair.
According. to Ed Kranepool,
former New York Mets baseball star
languages and literature, has given
Lögberg-Heimskringla hér kind per-
mission to publish the interviews in
question. All of them shed in-
teresting light on the intellectual life
of Modern Iceland. We trust that
our readers will appreciate and en-
joy them. h.B.
and now Vice President of Sports
Plus, a New York promotional firm,
a delayed telecast of the game in Ice-
land on American television is a
distinct possibility.
The Iceland game will be played
in the 12,000-seat Municipal
Stadium in Reykjavík. Added to the
roster of the home team will be a
nurnber of international stars from
the USA and Europe. The Cosmos
return from Europe Oct. 28 or 29.
Cosmos fans and other soccer
buffs wishing to attend the game in
Reykjavík can take advantage of a
special Icelandair weekend package
which, besides the game, includes
accommodations at the first class
Loftleiðir Hotel, where the Cosmos
will stay, continental breakfast dai-
ly, transfers between the airport in
Iceland and hotel, and roundtrip
fare on Icelandair.
For additional information, call
Pele, one of the greatest soccer
players in the world, will play in
Iceland.
Icelandair’s Tour Desk. In New
York City, call 757-8585.
Elsewhere, check with your (800)
information operator for the Ice-
landair toll-free number serving
your area.
Firchow interviews
Icelandic authors for L.H.
Reykjavík, November 1980
Interview between Svava
Jakobsdóttir and Evelyn S. Firchow
Svava Jakobsdóttir was born in 1930 in Neskaupstaður in Iceland and
emigrated in 1935 to Canada with her parents. Her father, Reverend Jakob
Jónsson served an Icelandic congregation in Wynyard for five years. The
family returned to Iceland again in 1940 where Svava graduated from
high school in 1949. She received her B.A. in 1952 in English literature at
Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and did postgraduate work
at Oxford and Uppsala. In addition to a critically acclaimed novet (Leigjand-
inn, 1969) and a play (Hvað er í blýhólknum?, 1970), she has published two
collections of short stories (Tólf konur, 1965 and Veizla undir grjótvegg,
1967), both of which deal. largely with the predicament of women in
modern society. As the first Icelandic author consciously and intentionally
making the modern woman the center of her fiction, Svava tells her stories
in a realistic and straightforward manner. Occasionally, however, she
adopts a quite different manner in which the most fantastic events are
treated as if they were perfectly ordinary. Most of her stories deal with
women caught in the collapse of obsolete social norms and moral standards.
Often, because they are concerned with the problems of modern alienation,
they seem to read like monologues written in isolation. From 1971 to 1979
Svava was a member of the Icelandic Parliament, and although she has now
eturned to writing once more, party politics continue to play an important
role in her life. I decided to interview Svava during my stay as Fulbright
Research Professor at the University of Iceland in the fall of 1980 since I
was intrigued by the unusual combination of woman writer/woman politi-
cian. Evelyn S. Firchow
INTERVIEW
Evelyn S. Firchow: What is it
like to be a woman and a writer in
Iceland? How did you happen to
become a writer?
Svava Jakobsdóttir: It was in a
way a coincidence that I became a
professional writer. I had written a
bit during my school years and had
wondered whether I had it in me to
write seriously or whether it would
just be a hobby. One thing I was
sure of was that I didn't want to be a
published writer unless I could be a
good one. We have a great many
writers in Iceland, and, while I
don't want to sound conceited, I
thought that there already were
enough mediocre writers, enough
writers who wrote merely as a
pastinre. I wanted to be a profes-
sional or nothing at'aíl. Perhaps I
would still be working in the
Foreign Office as a secretary if the
day-care situation hadn’t been what
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