Árbók Landsbókasafns Íslands - Nýr flokkur - 01.01.1979, Page 96

ENGLISH SUMMARY
Annemarie Lorentzen: Ávarp. Flutt við aíhendingu þjóðargjafar Norðmanna 11. september
1978. Landsbókasafn íslands. Árbók. Nýr jlokkur 4(1978). Rv. 1979, pp. 5—7.
(An address delivered by the Norwegian ambassador on handing over, in the name of the
Norwegian Parliament, a tapestry to be given a place of honour in the new National and
University Library building.)
The Prime Minister of Norway, Mr Tryggve Bratteli, announced at a luncheon given by the
Icelandic Prime Mininster on July 29, 1974, that the Norwegian Parliament had decided to give
thelcelandicpeopleapresentontheoccasionofthe 1 lOOthanniversaryofthesettlementoflceland.
The present is intended „to strengthen centuries-old ties of friendship between Iceland and
Norway,“ and to serve as a reminder of the heritage shared by the two peoples.
Part of the present is this tapestry, now handed over to the representative of the Icelandic
Minister of Education. 11 is made by Mrs Synn0ve Anker Aurdal, who calls it „Words and space“,
having in mind the literary heritage and the andent highway linking the two countries, the ocean,
its sounds, movement and rhythm. The pattern is meant to indicate how Norwegian culture and
Icelandic culture are interwoven, and how mutual iníluences have been an encouragement to
both peoples.
Harald L. Tveterás: Ibsenrannsakendur og Henrik Ibsen. Landsbókasafn íslands. Árbók. Nýr
flokkur. 4(1978). Rv. 1979, pp. 8-18.
(A lecture delivered in the University of Iceland on September 11, 1978.) It is suggested that
Ibsen should be given an opportunity to explain his own works- or, as it were, discuss them with
his critics and other students of his writines.
Perhaps the most important of these was his friend and adviser Björnstjerne Björnson. When
we look at their relationship, it becomes obvious at once how important and stimulating
Björnson’s influence was on the career of Ibsen. Ibsen’s personal problems and awkwardness can
be contrasted with Björnson’s buoyancy and self-confidence, and this contrast is particularly
illuminating when one considers Ibsen’s reaction to adverse criticism (for example Clemens
Petersen’s criticism of Per Gynt).
The visual element is present at all times in Ibsen’s poetry, and this, together with the fact that
he used his own personality as a model - and made use of his most negative characteristics -
shows clearly his concept of literature and his attitude to what he was doing. This is one of the
points not fully realized by some of his critics.
One of Ibsen’s characteristics was the internal strife between his calling, his will to conquer,
and his fear of losing, but it is true to say that through this conflict his life and his poetry became a
whole, and thus heattained the unity he had found in Björnstjerne Björnson and admired in him.
Vilhjálmur Bjarnar: Ávarp. Flutt við afhendingu Alþingisbókahandrita í Þjóðskjalasafni
íslands 6. janúar 1978. Landsbókasafn íslands. Árbók. Nýr flokkur 4(1978). Rv. 1979, pp. 19-21.
(An address delivered on handing over to the National Archives of Iceland a present of37
manuscripts containing the Proceedings of the Icelandic Parliament from 1667-1762). This
present is given by the Cornell University Library, Ithaca, on the occasion of the lOOth anniver-
sary of Halldór Hermannsson’s birth. D. Willard Fiske, who founded the Fiske Icelandic Collec-
tion there, is reported to have said on one occasion that manuscripts should be kept where they
originated and where they are mostly used. It is hoped that these manuscripts will prove useful
here in the National Archives of Iceland.