Gripla - 01.01.1975, Qupperneq 185

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THE RISE OF LITERATURE IN 'TERRA NOVA’
situation and the events of the beginning. For these reasons the tradi-
tions were considered extremely important, thus providing an essential
supposition for their being passed on.
In my view these are the most important factors concerning psycho-
logy and tradition in the Icelandic literary development. But they
would hardly have led to such an impressive literature, if there had
not also existed a receptivity to literary influences from outside. In
order to combine native traditions with foreign literary impulses it
was necessary to have men of literature, who were familiar with the
traditions of the country, who were attached to these, and at the same
time were experienced in foreign literatures.
To me the shaping of literature in Iceland is a multifarious and
complex process, and we can only follow it with our present know-
ledge to a limited extent; in many respects we depend on hypotheses.
The development of the old Icelandic literature is however a model
and exemplum of the interaction of the most diverse vigours within
and outside literature, which probably has no parallel in world-
literature.