Lögberg-Heimskringla


Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.12.2003, Qupperneq 10

Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.12.2003, Qupperneq 10
page 10 * Lögberg-Heimskringla • 5 December 2003 FRÉTTIR • NEWS living room floor; we palmed glasses of wine, and connected the way writers do wherever they meet in the world. Ragnheiður and Kristín, com- menting on my lecture — a rambling paean to the prairie landscape that had spawned me — told the others, “We kept nudging each other and saying, Yes! Because Martha’s experi- ence of landscape and ours is the same!” Our journey in Iceland was a scant ten days in which time, mystically, expanded. Here is the moment we felt we had truly arrived in the land of giants and trolls and elves; of Christianity and sagas; of poets and pastors and singers and fishermen. It really began on the first day of November in the living room of my new- found third cousin, Hanna Pálsdóttir and her husband, Jón Vestur Islendingur Visits Iceland - Martha Brooks on the INL/NA Cultural Exchange Martha Brooks WlNNIPEG, MB flowers and exquisite china, butterflied chicken on a bed of curried cream, grapes and peaches. Strong coffee served in gold-rimmed demitasses. And on every available wall, Icelandic paintings in blues and greens with splashes of red. Jón’s Icelandic translation of a Norwegian poem, tenderly conveyed to me in English, brought me to tears. “Where else in the world,” I thought, “would complete strangers be treated with such grace and affection just because they are distantly related?” Well, evidently that’s Iceland. And it certainly wasn’t the last we saw of those two dear people. I must explain here, that the Icelandic quotient is only fifty percent of my blood. My mother’s people came from Iceland in the late 1800’s - Amma Ingunn from Svartárkot, Bárðardalur, to live with her beloved brother A.S. Bardal, in Winnipeg, and Afi Runólfur Marteinsson, from Gilsárteigur, Norður Múla- Martha and her trio giving a full house what they came for Bjarman, a retired Lutheran sýsla, to live in Manitoba’s chaplain, two gorgeous human Interlake. beings who tenderly ministered our jet lag. A table set with Continued on Page 11 Enjoying breakfast at Hotel Loftleiðir, Reykjavík. From left: Ted Warren (drummer) and his wife Kate, Dave Restivo (pianist) Mike Downes (bassist) and Martha Brooks In his book, PrairyErth, the American writer William Least Heat-Moon says: “Whenever we enter the land, sooner or later we pick up the scent of our own histories, and when we begin to travel verti- cally, we end up following road maps in the marrow of our bones and in the thump of our blood.” I was slated to give a pub- lic lecture at the University of Iceland at four o’clock on November 3, at the invitation of Guðrún Björk Guðsteins- dóttir, head of the English Department. She will be teach- ing a class on Canadian Young Adult writing this coming spring, and in preparation had told some of her young stu- dents to be there, and to have read my latest book, True Confessions of a Heartless Girl, as well as an earlier one called, Bone Dance. It was the latter book that had Guðrún curious. She and my husband Brian and I spent part of the afternoon together, visiting the bitterly cold windswept tower at the top of beautiful Hallgrím’s Church, examining ancient manuscripts at The Culture House, laughing and swapping stories. And so she was in a carefree mood when she said, “I thought when I read Bone Dance — what is this woman doing? Her characters are Native Canadian but they all seem so Icelandic. Why did- n’t she just make them Icelandic? Then I thought, weli maybe she’s just trying to make a point. Native Canadian view of the natural world ánd myth, and Icelandic view of the natu- ral world and myth — it’s pret- ty close to the same thing! Did you intend that?” “No,” I replied, laughing. “No! Really?” Of course I was beginning to understand, after only two days in Iceland, what had drawn me to my subject matter. Fourteen days later, back at home, my lifelong friend, Pauline Wood, who hails from Island Lake, a reserve in Northern Manitoba, would say with her usual perfunctory wis- dom, “Ah, yes. You found your roots.” I gave the lecture, and a couple of the people who attended were Icelandic writ- ers, Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, Chairman of SIUNG, the Association of Icelandic Writers for Children and Youth, and Kristín Steinsdóttir. I saw them later that evening at a reception in my honour at Gunnar’s House, the residence of the late great writer, Gunnar Gunnarsson, and now home to the Icelandic Writer’s Association. There, sitting in a circle, our feet caressing the gleaming warm wood of the Solmundson Gesta Hús Hecla Provincial Park (204) 279-2088 twltz@wb.sympatico.ca • Enjoy luxurious European-style hospitality in a completely modernized lcelandic home • Rooms furnished with brass beds and colourful duvets. • Verandah and gazebo overlooking Lake Winnipeg •Tranquil and peaceful atmosphere • Evening meals available: specialty is fresh fish and garden fresh vegetables. • Full breakfast and evening coffee included • Pets in house • VISA and M/C accepted. LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA Tin: Icelandic Weekly ijpragi iáÉP > 1. Register to read the L-H online. Contact logbergadmin@mts.net or click on the link at our new website www.iogberg.com. All 2003 issues avaiiabie. mmmm wwwJog&ergxom *Nonsubscríbers may read the L-H free online until December 31st, 2003. After that a subscripton rate will apply. ICELAND GIFTSTORE KAMMAGERBIN www.icelandgiftstore.com Rammagerðin ehf. Hafnarstreeti 19. P.O. ðox 751 1S- 121 Reykjavík Iceland Tel: +354 551 1122 Fax: +354 561 2001 E-mail: vikíng@centrum.is <»i ih unn* fiin* xm mv wmm m r rwmr .NiiY'mm 4t nm \ nn 'n^'m^i^iHK

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