Ný saga - 01.01.1998, Page 105

Summaries
Vésteinn Ólason
Halldór Laxncss and tlic Sagas
of Medieval Iceland
(Halldór Kiljan Laxness og forn sagnahefð)
As a child Halldór Laxness read Ihe sagas and
they engaged his mind through his long life. In his
youth he revolted against their austere economy
of presentalion, but laler he praised their narra-
tive art in superlalive terms. He loathed the bru-
tality of the Viking and condemned the absurd
willingness of saga heroes to offer their lives for
pirate kings. Yet he admired their unbending will
and integrity which enabled them to accept terri-
ble fate without trepidation. Halldór Laxness
wrote important literary criticism about the sagas
and published numerous essays discussing their
value as statements on history. He was well
informed about contemporary scholarship and
his views developed accordingly. l'he sagas
deeply influenced Laxness as a novelist, and yet
his great ironic saga pastiche, Gerpla, is definite-
ly a modern novel responding to its own age. The
influence of the sagas in Laxness’ novels is seen in
increased objectivity and reticence of the narra-
tor and in numerous characters of saga-like sim-
plicity and ethical integrity.
Hörður Vilberg Lárusson
The Anierican Occupation
of the Icelandic Mind
The Influence of the American Military Base
Television on Icelandic Culture
(Hernám hugans. Hugmyndir manna um áhrif
Keflavíkursjónvarpsins á íslenskt þjóðerni)
Right from the start, the American military base
at Keflavík, set up under the agreement between
Iceland and the United States in 1951, was a mat-
ter of bitter conflict and heated polilical debate.
One of the most controversial issues surrounding
the base was its cultural influence on the small,
nationalistic Icelandic society through radio
broadcasting, starting already in 1951, and even
more so with the advent of television broadcast-
ing in 1955. For many years the Anterican radio
and television reached the largest part of the pop-
ulation in the south-west. The author examines
the attitudes and responses of Icelanders towards
the American “cultural invasion", perceived by a
large part of the population as a threat to the
national culture. The opposition to the base and
its cultural influence intensified during the early
1960s, putting pressure on the Icelandic govern-
ment to prepare for domestic television broad-
casting. As a result, the State Television Broad-
casling Service was established in 1966.
VISUAL HISTORY (SJÓN OG SAGA)
The Centenary
of the Town Centre School
(Miðbæjarskólinn í aldarspegli)
One hundred years ago Reykjavík Primary
School moved into a new building by the Pond in
the town centre. Since then the building has been
an important place in the city’s life, serving dif-
ferent functions and it has also been a popular
meeting place for many historical events. Up until
1930 the building accommodaled the only gener-
al primary school in Reykjavík, in 1969 it was
lurned into a grammar school, soon to be
replaced by Reykjavík Municipal Evening
School, but from 1997 it has housed Reykjavík
Department of Education. The pictures give a
glimpse of the building’s long history.
Óskar Guðmundsson
Magnús Kristjánsson:
A carpenter and a writer
(Sískrifandi smiður)
Every day for nearly 70 years Magnús
Kristjánsson kept a diary in which he wrole about
his everyday life in the village of Ólafsvík in the
Snæfellsnes peninsula. He also wrote numerous
short essays on local life and history, leaving pos-
terity with valuable historical sources. Born into a
poor peasant family in Snæfellsnes in 1875
Magnús lived and worked there until his death in
1963. The article gives a brief description of
Magnús Kristjánsson’s life and family back-
ground, followed by two short accounts written
by him. The first describes the tradilional way of
peat culling, the second deals with the move of
the parish church from the old site of Fróðá in the
rural area to the village of Ólafsvík and the split
this caused in the local community.
ANNIVERSARY (AFMÆLl)
Guðmundur Hálfdanarson
Sovereignty Coniniemorated
(Fullveldi fagnað)
On December 1,1918, Iceland received the status
as an independent, sovereign, state. Allhough
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