Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1963, Page 85

GUTTORMUR J. GUTTORMSSON:
Know Thyself
Translaied by Vilhjálmur Bjarnar
Guttormur J. Guttormsson (1878-
) is one of a small number
°f Canadian-Icelandic writers in the
■taftguage of their fathers who were
k°rn on this side of the Atlantic, his
ifthplace being Riverton, Mani-
i°ba. Largely a self-educated man,
has successfully combined writ-
in§ with farming as did the giant
among Canadian - Icelandic writers
and poets, Stephan G. Stephansson
(1853-1927). Like Stephansson, too,
Cuttormsson is primarily a poet,
Wlth six volumes of poetry to his
oredit: Jón Austfirðingur (Jonh of
iile Eastfjords, 1909), Bóndadóttir
(Earmer’s Daughter, 1910), Gaman
alvara (Jest and Earnest, 1930),
unangsflugur (Honeybees, 1944) —
hese were later published in a one-
^olume edition entitled Kvœðasafn
(Collection of Poems, 1947) — and
Kanadaþistill, (Canadian Thistle
iy58).
In contrast to Stephansson, who
as (eft us no dramatic works, Gut-
Ofmsson has written a number of
s ort plays, ten of which appeared
;\1930 in a volume entitled Tíu
eikrit (Ten Plays). Since then, he
Itns Published two more plays —
( yltingin” (The Revolution) and
Cikblæjan” (The S'hroud)—in the
Ponodical öðinn (1935-36), where
e others plays previous had also
f°undspace.
Eejecting a naturalistic approach
to dramatic creation, Guttormsson
sees the play as the proper medium
for symbolic expression of the real-
ity which he perceives under the
illusory surface of earthly things.
His plays as a rule wrestle with so-
cial or philosophical problems and
contain some message, which in case
of the first-mentioned tends to take
the form of social satire.
Among the social satire plays the
following may be noted: “Hinir
höltu” (The Lame Ones), “Spegill-
inn” (The Mirror), “The Revolu-
tion,” and Ódauðleiki” (Immor-
tality).
The philosophical plays — such as
“Skugginn” (The Shadow), “Uppris-
an” (The Resurrection), “Hring-
urinn” (The Circle), and “The
Shroud” — deal with the themes of
life and death, of love and hate, of
man faced with his destiny, of youth
versus age. The motif of unity with
dual aspect recurs in these plays
and receives even greater emphasis
in “Þekktu sjálfan þig,” the play
here presented in English transla-
tion.
The dual unity of life-death,
dream-reality, and happiness-unhap-
piness is the main theme of the play,
with particular stress on man’s pur-
suit of happiness. Man’s personality
is considered dual also, and the
thesis of the play is that the secret
of happiness lies in knowing one-