Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.06.1970, Blaðsíða 10

10
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 4. JÚNÍ 1970
Vilhjalmur Stefansson's
Writings On lcelandic Subjects
Continued from page 3.
unáerstanding of its problems,
and genuine administration of
its achievements in literature,
politics, and social progress.
In Natural History (Janu-
ary 1939) Stefansson wrote a
long and significant article
about the Icelandic settlement
in Greenland, ‘Disappearance
of the Greenland Colony,’ a
question in which he was
deeply interested and dis-
cussed frequently in his writ
ings, notably in his books on
Iceland and Greenland, which
will now be considered chro-
nologically.
The first of these is his
book Iceland — The First
American Republic (1939), an
informative work which pre-
sents a well-rounded picture
of Iceland and the Icelandic
people at that time and still
contains much pertinent and
valuable information, especi-
ally in the historical sections.
In his autobiography, Dis-
covery (p. 335), he has the
f o 11 ow i n g interesting com-
ment on how this book came
to be written in connection
w i t h Iceland’s independent
participation in the New York
World’s Fair of 1939, which
he had helped to bring about:
‘At about the same time the
Icelandic government asked
me to prepare a book on Ice-
land that they could sell at
the Fair. I agreed and began
looking for a publisher will-
ing to handle a rush job.
Through Theodore Roosevelt,
Jr., I managed to get Double-
day to do the book. It was
called Iceland: The American
Republic, and it appeared
with a preface by Ted.’
The next year (1940) there
appeared Stefansson’s highly
significant work, Uliima
Thule, in which he discusSed
in detail three very basic
questions: first, whether
Pytheas, the great Greek nav-
igator, had visited Iceland in
300 B.C.; second, whether
Columbus had visited Iceland;
and, third, the fate of the Ice-
landic colony in Greenland.
The réader is referred to this
informative and thought-pro-
voking book with its penetrat-
ing discussion of these de-
bated and challenging ques-
tions. There are direct links
between this book and his
equally important work,
Greenland (1942), which con-
cerns Iceland fundamentally
and will be discussed in some
detail.
After a preliminary chapter
on the geography of Green-
land, Stefansson goes on to
discuss the prehistoric disco-
veries of the country and then
devotes a chapter to Greek
knowledge of Greenland and
one to the probability of its
discovery by the Irish.
Then comes the heart of the
historical part of the volume,
Chapters V through XI,
which give in great detail the
history of Greenland from the
time of its discovery and set-
tlement by the Icelanders in
the ninth century down to the
end of the Middle Ages. In
addition to the account of the
Icelandic discovery of the
country, there are chapters
on the discovery of America
by the Greenlanders, the
Christianization of Green-
land, life and letters in the
Greenland Republic, the de-
cline and disappearance of the
colony, and European knowl-
edge of Greenland in the
M i d d 1 e Ages. This vast
amount on information on the
subjects is drawn from many
sources and makes absorbing
reading.
Wisely, the author has in-
cluded in the book a very
readable translation, made di-
rectly from the Icelandic, of
the two sagas most directly
concerning Greenland, the
well-known Saga of Erik the
Red and the less known Saga
of Einar Sokkason. The inclu-
sion of the latter is especially
welcome, as it presents a
graphic picture of life in
Greenland.
Particularly noteworthy is
Stefansson’s discussion of the
historical mystery surround-
ing the disappearance of the
Greenland colonists and their
descendants. In Chapters XII,
XIII, and XIV, Stefansson
tells of the revival of sailings
to Greenland in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries and
of the later resettlement and
exploration of the country.
The author has gone far
afield in gathering the ma-
terial for this notable volume,
but with his firm grasp of
the subject-matter and his
literary skill he has succeeded
in producing a book which is
as pleasant to read as it is in-
formative.
In the introductory chapt-
ers of the last book published
w h i 1 e he was still alive,
Noríhwesí io Foriune (1958),
Stefansson, through refer-
ences to the Icelandic sources,
deals quite extensively with
the Icelandic settlement in
Greenland and the Vinland
voyages, and in that respect
this book concems Iceland
and the Icelanders.
The latest magazine article
by Stefansson on an Icelandic
subject, listed in his Chrono-
logical Bibliography of July
1960, is ‘Americans from
Norseland,’ a review of Mod-
ern Sagas; ihe Siory of ihe
Icelanders in Norih America
(1953) by Thorstina Walters
which deals primarily with
the Icelanders in North Da-
kota. The review, which ap-
peared in Saiurday Review
(August 14, 1954), is both skill-
fully written and sympathe-
tic, revealing as always his
friendly feeling towards Ice-
land and the Icelandic people.
Two introductions, written
at a later date by Stefansson,
should be noted. He wrote a
disceming and informative
foreword to Robert Jack’s
book Arciic Living (The Story
of Grimsey, 1955), the fascin-
ating account of the history
and the life of the people of
Grimsey (Grim’s Island) on
the Arctic Circle off Northem
Iceland. Although he had only
seen the island from a dis-
tance, the last time in 1949,
when he and Mrs. Stefansson
were in Iceland as guests of
its govemment, it had long
interested him. He notes in
his foreword that Mrs. Stef-
ansson had included a chapt-
er on Grim’s Island, entitled
‘Arctic Chess Paradise,’ in her
book Within íhe Circle (1945).
The title of the chapter refers
to the eminence in chess play-
ing which had won wide re-
nown for the people of Grims-
ey. This, in particular, eamed
for t h e m the admiration
and 1 a s t i n g and generous
friendship of Professor Daniel
Willard Fiske of Cornell Uni-
versity, a chess player of note.
Rightíy, Stefansson devotes a
considerable part of his fore-
word to Professor Fiske and
his interest in chess in Ice-
land.
Stefansson also wrote a
noteworthy preface to the
volume of translations from
the Icelandic, More Echoes
(Vancouver, B.C., 1962), by
Paul Bjarnason, his school-
mate from University of
North Dakota days and a life-
long friend. The preface is
dated on January 15, 1962, but
apparently the book did not
appear until late in the fall
of that year, some time after
his death. It was limited to
300 copies.
The preface, most of which
is quoted below, is notable
for its understanding and
generous spirit, also for the
light which it throws on Stef-
ansson’s own poetic efforts,
his life-long deep-rooted in-
terest in poetry, and his at-
titude toward the English
translation of Icelandic po-
etry:
Paul Bjarnason’s poetry brings
back my youth, perhaps espeeial-
ly because I'too used to translate
poems from the Icelandic, though
not so well as he has done in
this and previous volumes. Nor
am I envious though he has done
it better, for it has been my pride
to encourage him. It has been
my experience, as Benjamin
Franklin found his own to be,
that as he aged he löst his skill
in, though not his lOve for, po-
etry. Paul has never lost his skill
nor his love. For several reasons
I want him to keep issuing vol-
umes like Fleygar, Odes and
Echoes, and now More Echoes.
Of these several reasons I men-
tion first that in poetry, though
not in prose, I love alliteration,
for w'hich Icelandic has a genius
and so has Paul Bjamason. No
poem can simulate modem Ice-
landic unless it is tastefully alli-
terated and th'is is one of Paul’s
chief skills. For an appropriate
rendition of modem Icelandic
lyric poetry into English is re-
quired the linguistic gift that
Pushkin had for translating Poe’s
Raven into Russian; and we have
this gift in More Echoes, and in
the earlier volumes.
Then I take satisfaction in Paul’s
success as conveyor in English of
what I have felt to be the spirit
of modem Icelandic poetry. To
be able to do this was always my
dear wish during my teens and
into my early twenties. But, no
doubt beeause my talents proved
inadequate, my dreams and then
my purpose shifted into other
channels; so that I was no longer,
even to myself, one of the right-
ful followers of the gl'eam. As my
poetic dreams faded I felt in-
creasingly the need of saying for
the likes of rne to other young
Icelanders sueh as Paul Bjama-
son: ‘To you from failing hands
we throw the torch; be yours to
hold it high!’ In this and others
of his books he has held the
torch higher than ever I could.
In his autobiography Stef-
ansson recalis, as he had done
in his earlier books, not least
in Huníers of ihe Greal
Norlh, his Icelandic back-
ground and the years of his
childhood and youth in the
Icelandic settlement in North
Dakota, so that his books are,
in that respect, linked to his
ancestral land and nation.
This survey of Vilhjalmur
Stefansson’s writings on Ice-
landic subjects, though brief
and concentrating mainly on
the high points, abundantly
reveals thát he rendered Ice-
land and the Icelandic people
signál service by spreading
abroad extensive and authori-
tative information about both
the country and the nation.
For this Icelanders every-
where are lastingly indebted
to him. At the same time, he
revealed in a memorable fash-
ion his love of Iceland and
his devotion to his Icelandic
ancestral and immediate fam-
ily background.
Reprinied from Polar Noles,
The Stefansson Colleciion,
Darimouih College,
May, 1969.
ELECY
by ROBERT JOHANNSON
The streets are filled with noise and light
As hundreds crowd along the night.
Where were they when Henry leapt
Into the mechanical arms of the highway?
Were they sleeping or awake engrossed in sex,
Death’s other self? Where were they?
Were they in a world of flight
Created by their ersatz sight?
Were they strutting
And gossiping
In the tongues of the new Babel
Blindly in search of a staircase out of Hell?
While others like demons gathered round
And laughed and roared their ghoulish sound
Sitting in darkness, hypnotized by spinning
Multicoloured lights and chants of pagan dancing?
What matter where they were?
They could have done nothing.
And on his going men gathered
Like ghouls around the blood stained corpse,
To finally fix the fault
Upon some dumb defenceless drug,
That they could cant as chorus
“Salvation lies in control of things.”
That they then purified of blame
The blood bathed from their hands
Could carry on their great crusade.
And what of us? We sat
Into the wakefui moments of the mouming
With memories in our cups
Looking back into the realms of night
And some half light.
Then as always he sat among us
And we aware of the presence of his person
Though part of him
Remained forever focused in the past.
I remember him in restaurants
Writing poetry on napkins.
I recall him in dreary coffee houses
Commenting with Delphic utterance
Upon the maddeningly obvious
While people tried extortion
And jimmying the old jukebox
In the jaundiced candlelight,
As his eyes stared far away
Into the mist of the mid-winter night.
How strange that now is gone
That Delphic utterance and poem
And I am left alone to sing
This mournful song.