Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.07.1972, Page 2

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LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 27. JÚLÍ 1972
Högberg-5|etmökrtnsla (TrlUi tt ttt
Theme Extends to Levels of Varying depth
A recent picíure of Lúðrasveil Reykjavíkur, from the Reykjavík newspaper "Tíminn."
The band will play on íslendingadagurinn at Gimli Augusl 6.
The Sword. By Agnar Thórd-
arson. Translated from the
Icelandic with Introduction
and Notes by Paul A. Schach.
The American-Seandinavian
Foimdation and Tw'ayne Pub-
lishers, Inc. 1970. XX + 277
pp. $6.00.
This n o v e 1 was originally
published in 1953 in Reykja-
vík under the title Ef sverð
þiít er slull. It was the au-
thor’s second important work.
Píe has also written a third
novel, Hjarlað í borði, several
short stories, as well as thir-
teen stage and radio plays
which have eamed him pub-
lic recognition.
While the novels of Agnar
Thórdarson w e r e well re-
ceived, he has, from the time
of the publication of his first
novel in the late forties,
shared with other Icelandic
writers of his generation the
difficult position of beinig a
younger contemporary of
Halldór Laxness, the man
who has dominated the Ice-
landic literary scene for al-
most half a century. Although
Laxness’s enormous vitality
and productivity have been a
major stimulating force in
twentieth-century Icelandic
literature, it is equally obvi-
ous that the yoimg Icelandic
novelists who were making
their literary áebut in the
forties, at a time when Lax-
ness had just raised the stand-
ard of the Icejandic novel to
its highest point, were bound
to be overshadowed by him.
Indeed, one may say that the
work under review deserved
Review of a modern lcelandic novel
in English franslation
by HARALDUR BESSASON
Universify of Manitoba
even greater attention than
was accorded it at the time of
its publication. Its neatly con-
structed theme extends to
levels of varying depth. At
its surface there are the tur-
bulences of a society which is
rapidly being urbanized. The
mother of Hilmar Jóhannsson,
the yoimg man who is the
protagonist and the narrator
of the story, is “a farm girl
from a remote valley,” but
the good qualities people ac-
quire in idyllic surroimdings
are quickly tamished by the
unstable ways of city life.
And so, the young lady falls
victim to the seductive forces
of Reykjavík. Out in the coun-
try the natural elements were
the chief enemy of the people,
but this was an enemy they
were able to comprehend. The
inimical forces of the city are
different. They present a less
immediate danger, but their
influences are of a subtler na-
ture which is revealed by
people’s growing inclination
to exploit others and to flout
time-honored moral princi-
ples.
This background of urba-
nization creates in the present
work a sociological dimension
which parallels the appear-
ance of certain political-eco-
nomic conditions in a society
w h e r e ill-gotten wealth is
seen, as a dehumanizing in-
fluence. In combination the
sociological and the political
economic ingredients make up
the surface level of Agnar
Thórdarson’s book. Then
there are deeper levelis con-
taining highly problematic
situations of a universal na-
ture. Markús Ólafsson not
only exemplifies the kind of
corruption resulting from the
unrestrained freedom charac-
teristic of capitalistic societies
but is the very embodiment
of uncontrolled greed.
Through his sinister design
this partly mythical character
obtains control over Hilmar
Jóhannsson’s family, driving
the father to suicide after in-
volving him in unethical busi-
ness transactions and seduc-
ing his wife. Gradual'ly the
suspicion takes hold of young
Hilmar that he himself may
in fact be the son of his tor-
mentor, Markús Ólafsson, and
understandably this suspicion
a d d s considerablý to the
young man’s emotional up-
heaval. His dilemma is that
of having to choose between
thé unpleasant altematives of
ailowing corruption to con'
tinue or jeopardizing the re-
putation of his faimily. The old
tradition of honorable conduct
demands the more difficult
solution, namely that of an
open conflict with the sus-
pected enemy. But the very
preparations for the inevit-
able showdown not only
betray in young Hilrnar thethrough with his apocalyptic
symptoms of mental derange-
ment but make it increasingly
difficult to distinguish fact
from fancy. Critics have poin-
ted to Hamlet-like features in
the protagonist. But as in-
triguing as the line between
reality and the world of the
paranoid may be, the author’s
scrutiny of certain moral prin-
ciples is more important. The
execution of justice, to give
only one example, is quite
carefully examined both from
the point of view of those
who administer justice as well
as from the angle of the ac-
cused. Whichever angle is
chosen justice is shown to be
elusive and unattainable. At-
tempts to enforce it either fail
for Hack of moral courage or
they lead to violence. And the
reason why Hihnar Jóhanns-
son is unable to defeat his
evil overlord is merely that
in trying to achieve his end
he adopts the reprehensible
tactics for which he had come
to hate his oppressor.
The work under review
contains allusions to Christian
allegory and also evokes im-
ages from OM Norse mythol-
ogy. Touches of this kind tum
our attention to the bound-
aries between myth and real-
ity, i.e. the world in which
the laws of nature prevail and
the more distant plane where
such laws are suspended.
However, the background of
the novel is Iceland in the
nineteen-forties, and this fea-
ture alone presupposes too
definite a reality to enable
Hilmar Jóhannsson to go
scheme of destroying the ene-
my forces. He is only a hu-
man being whose world is
govemed by llaws different
from those of the deities to
whom the novel repeatedly
alludes and whose divine na-
ture allowed some of them to
survive their own doom.
The author’s many excur-
sions t h r o u g h time from
twentieth-century life in the
capital of Reykjavík back into
the mist of heathenism are
sometimes marked by subtle
stylistic nuances which owe
their existence to the skillful
way in which the author
draws upon the long and un-
broken continuity of his na-
tive tongue. Although one
would expect such nuances to
have posed problems for the
translator, his work shows no
signs of them. This is only one
of many reasons why the
translator deserves the high-
est praise for his accurate and
readable translation as well
as for his informátive intro-
duction. The English produc-
tion of The Sword reflects fa-
vorably on everyone concem-
ed while it testifieS to the
good literary judgment of
The American-Scandinavian
Foundation.
The American Scandinavian
Review
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