Lögberg-Heimskringla - 10.05.2002, Page 7

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 10 Maí 2002 • 7
Laxness continued from
page 6
PHOTO COURTESY OF EIÐUR GUÐNASON
David Arnason shares his
impression of Laxness whom
he met in 1983.
those present with four songs
by Icelandic composers, with
lyrics by Halldór Laxness. He
was accompanied by Eygló
Helga Haraldsdóttir, an accom-
plished pianist.
The last item on the pro-
gram was a scene from a play
by Halldór Laxness, Snœfríður
Islandssól. This is a scene
which concludes the play with
a speech which became most
farnous amongst 20th century
playwrights. The scene is a dia-
logue between a German repre-
sentative negotiating to buy
Iceland, read by Tim
Schroeder, and an Icelandic
statesnian, read by Kristín
Jónsdóttir. The offer by
Germany was refused. One sig-
nificant statement made by the
Icelandic statesman was that
“Iceland cannot be bought.”
Freedom and independence are
themes important to Icelanders
and found often in the writing
of Laxness.
This evening truly was a
tribute to -Halldór Laxness, and
rendered to us a vivid picture in
words and story of the man,
Halldór Laxness, whose birth-
day we were celebrating. The
evening concluded with wine
and cheese (and other goodies,
including an excellent vínarter-
ta), and of course, coffee and
camaraderie.
Ég þakka fyrir skemmtilegt
kvöld.
PHOTO COURTESY OF EIÐUR GUÐNASON
Audience members enjoying the entertainment at the
Laxness party.
Birti undir dulnefninu Snær svinni
Published Under the Pseudonym Snær the Wise
Halldór Laxness published
three poems, two ditties,
three short stories, a drama
review and a chapter from a
book in newspapers and peri-
odicals under the pseudonym
Snær the Wise when he was
between fourteen and sixteen
years old. Until now, it was not
public knowledge that he was
the author of these publica-
tiops. This information is from
a chapter of a book by Ólafur
Ragnarsson.
The óldest of these publi-
cations are the poems, which
were published in
Morgunblaðið Tuesday, 13
July 1916, when Halldór was
fourteen years old. The general
thought has been that Halldór’s
first publication was an article
about an old clock, a family
heirloom, which was published
in Morgunblaðið 7 November
1916, but Ólafur says, that
Halldór wrote articles in
Æskan and Sólskin, the chil-
dren’s paper published by
Lögberg, the same year.
Ólafur Ragnarsson, who
was Halldór’s publisher with
Vaka-Helgafell for a decade
and a half, is now working on a
book about his acquaintance
with Halldór Kiljan Laxness,
which he plans to publish this
fall. In this particular chapter,
parts of conversations between
Ólafur and Halldór, which have
not been published before, are
revealed. He also discusses his
research for the articles, stories
and poems which Halldór
wrote under the pseudonym
Snær the Wise in his youth,
before his first book, Child of
Nature, was published.
Ólafur said in an interview
with Morgunblaðið, that
Halldór had told his wife
Auður in 1984 that he used this
pseudonym for poems and
short stories that he published
in Morgunblaðið and
Dýraverndarinn. “Halldór
spoke of this with me in the
spring of 1986 and said he had
used this pseudonym once in
awhile because papers and
periodicals would probably not
publish work by a youth of
fourteen. The respectable edi-
tors of the papers probably
thought that his writings under
this pseudonym had come from
some mature, steady man,
“perhaps a stout country cler-
gyman,” as Halldór worded it,
“and therefore published
them,” said Ólafur.
Ólafur said that besides the
poems in Morgunblaðið it has
been revealed that Halldór had
published two short stories in
Dýraverndarinn 1916 and
1917, one in Skinfaxi, the paper
of the debating society of
Íslendingadagurinn/Icelandic
Festival of Manitoba
34th Annual Fine Art Show,
August 4 and 5, 2002
Submit your art works,
pottery, paintings,
ceramics, photography, carv-
ings, sculpture, etc. for this
juried show. Awards spon-
sored by Investors Group.
Entry form must be complet-
ed and retumed not later than
July 26. Form available on
the L-H website or frorn
Icelandic Festival Art Show,
24 Mossdale Ave.,
Winnipeg, MB R2K 0H3.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MORGUNBLAÐIÐ
Halldór Guðjónsson from
Laxness at about thirteen
years of age.
Menntaskólinn in Reykjavík, a
poem and an article about a
play in the weekly paper
Landinn and besides a chapter
from a book by Snær the Wise
was published in Skinfaxi. The
chapter had the title “The
Worm” and was said to be the
first chapter from the novel
“Child of Nature” by Snær the
Wise. That book was published
the same year, 1919, the
authors name being Halldór
from Laxness.
Information frorn Morgunbladid, Á. H.
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