Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.02.1982, Page 4

4-WINNIPEG, FÖSTUDAGUR 5. FEBRÚAR 1982
Ritstj órnargr ein
Til áskrifenda á íslandi
Fyrir rúmu hálfu ári voru sendar
rukkanir til áskrifenda á íslandi.
Voru þær fyrir árið 1981 en ekkert
hafði verið rukkað fyrir 1980. Inn-
heimta á íslandi hefur alltaf gengið
illa og því ákvað blaðstjórn að hafa
gjalddaga fyrir 1981, 31. desember.
Vegna verkfalls póstmanna í Win-
nipeg síðastliðið sumar bárust rukk-
anirnar seint til íslands og greiðslur
fóru ekki að berast blaðinu að neinu
ráði fyrr en i október.
Ymsir höfðu samband við um-
boðsmann blaðsins á Islandi,
Magnús Sigurjónsson og kvörtuðu
undan innheimtuaðferðinni. Fannst
þeim óhentugt að þurfa að sækja um
gjaldeyrisyfirfærslu og senda síðan
beint til blaðsins hér i borg. Þetta er
ósköp eðlilegt en aðrar aðfen''--
höfðu ekki gefist betur. Það var
nokkuð óljóst hverjir vildu blaðið og
til að fá það á hreint var beitt
áðurnefndri innheimtuaðferð.
I byrjun janúar þessa árs kom svo
í ljós að u.þ.b. fjórðungur áskrifenda
á íslandi hafði greitt sín gjöld, ýmsir
sögðu upp blaðinu en frá mörgum
hefur ekkert heyrst. Því hefur verið
ákveðið að framlengja greiðslufrest
um tvo mánuði en eftir það verða
nöfn þeirra sem standa í vanskílum
strikuð af áskrifendalistanum.
Undanfarin tvö ár hefur margt
verið reynt til að bæta hag blaðsins.
Öll vinna við það fer nú fram í Win-
nipeg og gerir það öllum sem við
það starfa auðveldara fyrir. Askrift-
argjöld hafa verið óbreytt um árabil
og hefur áskrifendum í Norður-
Ameríku fjölgað jafnt og þétt. Þá
hefur auglýsingum fjölgað í blaðinu
og fjárgjafir til þess eru alltaf
töluverðar.
En betur má ef duga skal. í janúar-
byrjun hækkuðu póstgjöld í Kanada
um helming og kostnaður við setn-
ingu og prentun er nú meiri en
nokkru sinni. I hverri viku eru send
fleiri hundruð eintök til Islands og
kostar það eðlilega mikið. Þegar
þess er gætt að aðeins er greitt fyrir
lítinn hluta þeirra, sést að ísland er
frekar baggi en styrkur. Það er því
af illri nauðsyn að gripið verður til
áðurnefndra ráðstafana.
Margir á íslandi fá blaðið
óreglulega. Svo virðist, í sumum
tilfellum, að blaðið sé meir en
mánuð á leið sinni til áskrifenda á
Isjandi. Ekki kunnum við nokkra
skýringu á því. Blaðið kemur úr
prentsmiðju á hverjum fimmtudegi
og er komið í póst að kveldi sama
dags. Hvað svo verður veit nú
enginn.
An Interview
by Evelyn S. Firchow
Guðbergur Bergsson was born in
1932 in Grindavík, Iceland. He is
best known for his novels, short
stories, and poetry, but he also has a
reputation as a painter and has ex-
hibited in Iceland and in Europe.
His two volumes of short stories
(Leikföng leiðans, Toys of Ennui,
1964 and Astir samlyndra hjóna, The
Love Life of an Areeable Couple,
1967) established Guðbergur as one
of the most innovative authors in
Icelandic. The latter collection also
brought him the critics' prize for the
best book of the year in 1967. In
Guðbergur's fiction the same
characters tend to appear and they
inhabit a generally bleak and dismal
world. But it is, paradoxically, not a
world lacking in humor or at least in
')black humor." During the last
twenty-five years Guðbergur has
lived mainly abroad, mostly in
Spain; through this close contact
with another culture he has become
a fervent translator. Recently he
completed a translation of Don Quix-
ote into Icelandic. Now he lives in
Reykjavík where he keeps on
translating and writing on the
average of a novel per year (his two
latest novels are Sagan af manni sem
fékk flugu í höfuðið, The Story of the
Man Who Got a Fly in His Head,
1979, and Sagan af Ara Fródasyni og
Stjórn Lögbergs-Heimskringlu er
fyllilega ljóst að við þessar aðgerðir
missir blaðið e.t.v. helming lesenda
á Islandi. Við því er lítið að gera,
efnahagur blaðsins leyfir ekki
núverandi ástand. Það er því von
okkar að þeir sem vilja fá blaðið
áfram en hafa ekki borgað ennþá,
bæti úr því hið fyrsta. Það er leittjil
þess að vita að áhugi fyrir Lögbergi-
Hugborgu konu hans, The Story of
Ari Fródason and His Wife
Hugborg, 1980). He also hopes to be
able to take up painting again now
that he has settled down in his own
apartment and has room to work in.
I interviewed Guðbergur in fall
1980 while I was Fulbright Research
Professor at the University of
Iceland. Earlier on I had translated
one of his short stories, included in
my anthology, Icelandic Short Stories
(Twayne American-Scandinavian
Foundation, Boston 1974).
Evelyn S. Firchow: Guðbergur,
you belong to the first generation of
Icelandic "exiles" who did not go to
another Scandinavian country.
What did Iceland look like to an
Icelander who wént to Spain?
Guðbergur Bergsson: When I
left this country and went abroad I
thought I was more or less decently
educated. I discovered, however,
that when I met educated people, I
developed a tremendous inferiority
complex. At first, I thought it was
because I was simply silly, but then
I met a lot of people from bigger na-
tions who admitted that they would
simply disregard my views because
I came from a small country. When
I met such people, well educated
and upper class people who
represented perhaps only two per-
cent of the nation, I partly admired
them, but of course I realized they
were the oil floating on a sea of
social injustice. Sociologically this
society is wrong, but you can’t help
admiring these people nevertheless.
I didn't want to be in an inferior
situation, so I studied and mastered
Spanish and after that I came to
know the culture intimately.
Spanish culture was completely
unknown in Iceland, so I began to
translate, but to get my translations
published was very, very difficult.
It took years and years. And since
no dictionary exists, I often had to
create a dictionary for myself. Now,
to be sure, a pocket dictionary ex-
Heimskringlu, þessu næstum
aldargamla blaði, sé ekki meiri en
raun ber vitni. Á öðrum stað í
blaðinu í dag bendir Stefán Jasonar-
son réttilega á tilgang útgáfunnar,
það er "ómetanlegur hlekkur í
samstarfi Austur-og Vestur-íslend-
inga."
J.Þ.
ists, but this dictionary is just for
tourists.
E.S.F.: How did you learn
Spanish? Did you just pick it up in
Spain?
G.B.: I didn't know a word of
Spanish when I left. I was working
in a weaving factory in Iceland and
well, you know, I couldn't go on
weaving carpets. I suffered from a
kind of claustrophobia here; the
thought of staying in this country
weaving carpets and meeting people
who are always weaving carpets —
intellectual if not physical carpets, I
couldn't stand that. so one day I saw
an advertisement in the newspaper
from the University of Barcelona
and I decided to go there. I began to
save money; I worked night shifts
and after a while I had enough
money to go. I intended to study
something there, though I didn't ac-
tually know what. I just wanted to
go away from this country because
my development had stopped.
E.S.F.: Why didn't you think of
studying in Iceland?
G.B.: Actually I couldn't. I
wanted to go to Germany with a
grant because German was the only
language I could speak and read,
though now I have quite forgotten
my German. And I tried to get to
Germany but West Germany was
terribly expensive and so I tried to
get to East Germany, to Leipzig. To
get there one had to go through a
political party, and I preferred my
freedom, my individual and per-
sonal freedom. Maybe I could stand
being a member of some political
party, but I don't want to put that
possibility to the test.
As a matter of fact, I did go to the
head of the Socialist Party here in
Iceland. I was told I had to do ths if I
wanted to go to Leipzig. The thing
was to make it appear as if I had
committed some political offense
here. I held certain views that were
disliked by the authorities, and as a
Continued on page 8
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The world of
Guðbergur Bergsson