Lögberg-Heimskringla - 12.09.1963, Blaðsíða 4

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LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 12. SEPTEMBER 1963
Lögberg-Heimskringla
Published every Thursday by
NORTH AMERICAN PUBLISHING CO. LTD.
Printed by
WALLINGFORD PRESS LTD.
303 Kennedy Street, Winnipeg 2, Man.
Edilor: INGIBJÖRG JÖNSSON
EDITORIAL BOARD
Winnipeg: Dr. P. H. T. Thorlakson, chairman, Haraldur Bessa-
son, Rev. Valdimar J. Eylands, Caroline Gunnarsson, Jóhann
G. Jóhannson, Thorvaldur Johnson, Jakob F. Kristjánsson,
Tryggvi J. Oleson, Rev. Philip M. Pétursson. Vancouver: Dr. S.
E. Bjömsson. Montreal: Áskell Löve. Minneapolis: Valdimar
Björnson. Grand Forks: Richard Beck. Reykjavík: Birgir
Thorlacius. Akureyri: Steindór Steindórsson. London: Dr. Karl
Strand. - t
Subscription $6.00 per year—payable in advance.
TELEPHONE WH. 3-9931
Authorized os íecond closs moil by the Post Office Deportment, Ottowa,
ond for payment- of Postage in cash.
Iceland Review
Quarterly publicaíion printed in English, Reykjavik,
Iceland, Vol. 1, No. 1. Augusl-September, 1963.
The editors and publishers of this new and very attrac-
tive publication are Haraldur J. Hamar and Heimir Han-
nesson; they have the support of the Government of
Iceland in this venture and also the assistance of other
interested parties in promoting the circulation of ICELAND
REVIEW abroad—importing and exporting firms, the airlines,
tourist bureaus and others.
The object of ICELAND REVIEW is not only to pub-
licize the industries and exports of Iceland in order to pro-
mote trade with other countries, it also contains articles
giving information about the cultural and social life of the
nation.
Dr. Gylfi Gislason, Minister of Commerce, who is also
Minister of Education in the Icelandic Government, states
the aims of ICELAND REVIEW in his concise Foreword.
The first and leading article is New Trends in Herring
Fishing by David Olafsson, M.P., Director of Fisheries. This
is fitting since herring fishing and processing has now be-
come the most important branch of the whole fishing in-
dustry of Iceland, which produces over 90 percent of the
country’s exports. We recall that somé years ago the news
from Iceland told of failure in herring fishing year after
year; this species seemed to have disappeared from the sea.
Mr. Olafsson states that for about 15 years after 1944,
herring fishing failed off the north and east coasts. In
1958 the herring catch was 107 thousand tons but in 1962
it was 488 thousand tons. According to the article this rapid
development in the herring fisheries is mainly due to
scientific research and technical progress bringing into use
new electronic fish-finding devices, more efficient working
equipment on the boats, nylon nets, etc.
This article is very informative and interesting and so
is the one by Dr. Gunnar Boðvarsson, Head of Dept. on the
State Electricity Board, entitled The Hot Springs in Iceland.
He relates how the people harnessed this important natural
resource during the last thirty-five years and utilized it for
heating their homes, greenhouses and swimming pools, and
are now planning to use natural steam to generate electric
power.
A Bird's-Eye View of Icelandic Lilerature by Sigurður
A. Magnusson, Literary Editor of “Lesbók,” is a thought
provoking article. “The man of learning and artistic ability
was and still is the supreme ideal of Icelandic culture.”
Magnusson singles out two literary figures for comment:
The Nobel prize winner, Halldor K. Laxness and the poet
Steinn Steinar. He deplores that Laxness has written all
his novels except his first one irt the traditional epic style
of the Sagas. He designates Steinar (1908-58) as the Grand
Old Man of the modern trend in Icelandic poetry. An inter-
esting viewpoint!
We should like to reprint later some of these excellent
articles in Lögberg-Heimskringla.
From a speech delivered by Jon G. Mariasson, Governor
of the Central Bank of Iceland, we learn that “for the first
time since the Second World War Iceland has acquired
foreign exchange reserves which give her some latitude and
enable her to meet economic difficulties or other contingen-
cies that are always to be expected in a acountry so heavily
dependent on the whims of nature.” Good news ineed.
Pioneers Lowesf Air Fares is an interview with Sigurður
Magnusson, representative of Loftleiðir. The heroic
achievements of these modern vikings of Iceland are well
known to the readers of Lögberg-Heimskringla.
Jonas Hallgrimsson is editor of The Sfamp Column.
Stamp collecting is becoming a very popular hobby. The
stamps of Iceland are attractive and in great demand; they
disappear from this office as soon as we get them.
The section Welcome to Iceland includes stories about
the Icelandair airline — Seeing Iceland from the air — on
a bus — or a rented car, also about the restaurant Naust and
the luxurious new hotel Saga.
We even found the advertisements interesting, many
of them beautifully illustrated and the reading matter ac-
companying them in the section Icelandic Exports informa-
tive.
The magazine is exceptionally well laid out and the
painting on the cover is arresting. This is the work of Gisli
B. Bjornsson.
We congratulate the publshers on the launching of this
promising publication, the first magazine published in the
English language in Iceland. The annual subscription in
North America is U.S. $5.25. Address: Iceland Review, P.O.B.
1238, Reykjavik, Iceland.—I.J.
Thorvaldur Johnson
The Young Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Everyone knows Vilhjalmur
Stefansson as the explorer and
writer of books and articles on
the Far North. But few will
know much about his activi-
ties and interests before his at-
tention was directed to the
science of anthropology. His
interest evidently became fix-
ed on this branch of science
not long after his arrival at
H a r v a r d University, Cam-
bridge, Mass., in 1903. This
was the great turning point of
his life, but before that hap-
pened he, like many other
gifted young men, had other
interests and enthusiasms.
It happens that some light
is thrown on what these in-
terests were by a number of
comments on him in Heim-
skringla about the turn of the
century and, particularly, by
several articles by him that
appeared in that periodical in
1902 and 1903.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson was
first brought to the attention
of the Icelandic reading pub-
lic of this continent by the
publication of his poem “The
Last Hour” in Hkr., Jan. 11,
1900. The editor had read the
poem in the student paper of
the University of North Da-
kota and was so impressed by
its quality that he published
it and, not knowing anything
about the author, added a note
in which he asked for inform-
ation about this young poet.
In September, 1901, a cor-
respondent from Grand Forks,
N.D., Gudmundur S. Grim-
sson, wrote a letter to Hkr. in
which he discussed Icelandic
students at the university
there and remarked that
Vilhjalmur was the outstand-
ing poet of the institution.
Vilhjalmur, himself, soon
threw further light on his in-
terests at that time. In the
Christmas number of Hkr.,
Dec. 25, 1902, he published
two articles that dealt with
instruction in Scandinavian
literature, including that of
Iceland, in universities in
North America. The first of
these articles records in detail
the facilities for teaching
these subjects in 13 American
and Canadian universities.
The instructors are mentioned
with comments on their com-
petence and the subjects they
taught. The second article
deals with the situation at the
University of North Dakota
where some courses w e r e
given in Scandinavian liter-
ature, but did not include
Icelandic literature as the
library contained no Icelandic
books. The chief purpose of
the article was to call the at-
tention of Icelanders to the
fact that a society had been
formed at the university, with
Bardi G. Skulason as presi-
dent, with the specific inten-
tion of forming an Icelandic
library. This society had the
strong backing of Professor
Tinglestad, then in charge of
Scandinavian studies. These
two articles were written
while Vilhjalmur was a stu-
dent at the University of
Iowa which, at that time,
gave the best instruction in
Scandinavian literature, in-
cluding three courses in Ice-
landic literature and language.
It might be added that when
Vilhjalmur wrote these ar-
ticles he was 23 years old.
How keenly he was interest-
ed in the suject of Icelandic
literature at that time may be
seen from further articles he
sent to Hkr. in 1903. He had
arrived at Cambridge, Mass.,
in the summer of 1903, after
graduation from the Univer-
sity of Iowa on June 17, with
the evident intention of study--
ing theology at Harvard Uni-
versity. There he found two
other brilliant young Iceland-
ers, Rognvaldur Petursson
and Thorvaldur Thorvaldsson,
who, with their own enthus-
iasm for Icelandic literature,
were doubtless a further stim-
ulus to him. Thorvaldur, in
fact, became his room-mate
until his untimely death in
1904.
In Hkr. of September 3,
1903, Vilhjamur published a
long book review of three
books dealing with Icelandic
literature: one in English and
two in German. All three
books dealt chiefly with mod-
em Icelandic poetry. The Eng-
lish book, “Three Visits to
Iceland,” by Mrs. Disney
Leith, contained a general ac-
count of Iceland and also a
few of her translations of
modern Icelandic poetry. The
German books, more bulky
and scholarly, one by Carl
Kuchler, the other by J. C.
Poestion, gave rather exhaus-
tive treatments of Icelandic
poetry with special emphasis
on nineteenth century poetry.
The detailed account of the
views of these authors shows
that Vilhjalmur must have
had a rather exceptional com-
mand of German. Space does
not permit any record, here,
of the judgment of these
writers on the relative merits
of the various poets, but their
views would doubtless be of
interest to any student of Ice-
landic poetry. How thorough
these studies were may be
judged from the fact that
Kuchler, who included prose
writings in his book,. had
scanned Hkr. for poems and
stories by Western Icelanders
and included accounts of the
works of J. Magnus Bjamason
and Kr. Asgeir Benediktsson.
In Hkr. of Oct.. 22, 1903,
Vilhjalmur reviews another
book by Mrs. Disney Leith,
“Verses and Translations,”
which contains translations by
the more important nine-
teenth century poets. Five of
these translations are publish-
ed in the article.
This series of articles by
Vilhjalmur appears to have
come to an end with a review
of a book by Dr. Willard Fiske
on the condition of libraries in
Iceland, Hkr. Dec. 17, 1903.
Fiske, the founder of the Ice-
landic library at Cornell Uni-
versity, was anxious to do
what he could for the satis-
factory housing and preserva-
tion of Icelandic books in their
homeland, and this appears
to have been the chief pur-
pose of his book.
Shortly after this time,
Vilhjalmur found the main
interest of his life in the study
of anthropology and, later, in
exploration. The love of
poetry p r o b a b 1 y remained
with him for the rest of his
days but his books on explor-
ation gave him all the scope
he needed for the expression
of his literary instincts. It
seems clear from these early
writings of his that if he had
not become so strongly at-
tracted to science and explor-
ation, he would, in one way or
another, have made his way to
distinction in the field of
letters.
Margt kann öðru líkt að
vera.