Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.02.2007, Blaðsíða 17

REYKJAVÍK_GRAPEVINE_ISSUE 0_007_FEATURE/ESPIONAGE_17
In 1946 Halldor Laxness’ epic novel Indepen-
dent People was published in America. The
publication and the success of the novel in
the United States caused Laxness and Iceland
to become of interest to both the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation and the Central Intel-
ligence Agency. Laxness was an unknown
author writing about a country and a culture
that to most Americans existed in the realm
of the fantastic. Laxness did little to dispel
that notion, depicting an archaic nation
struggling with a world that was changing,
giving and taking away small crumbs of op-
portunity.
The book became a best seller in the
United States selling 450 thousand copies.
It was a main selection by the Book-of-the-
Month club and mailed to thousands of
households around the country. Before the
advent of television, book clubs and reading
were a main source of entertainment in the
United States. American readers embraced
the often difficult and lyrical novel. There
was even speculation in an article in the New
York Times Book Review as early as August
1946 that Halldor Laxess was shortlisted for
the Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 1955 the highest literary honour, the
Nobel Prize, was awarded to Halldor Kiljan
Laxness. By then, Laxness was no longer a
favourite of the American reading public
and out of print in the United States. In a
front page article on October 28, 1955, The
New York Times chronicled the award of the
Nobel Prize, focusing on Laxness’ past Com-
munist interest and steering away from his
literary accomplishments. The article stated:
“informed sources said the Swedish Acad-
emy, some of whose members disapprove
of Mr. Laxness’ political views, decided to
award him the prize this year only because of
the relaxation of East-West tension.”
American academic and writer Brad
Leithhauser helped to reintroduce Indepen-
dent People to the American reading pubic
by personally taking an interest in the novel
and lobbying a publisher to reissue it, result-
ing in the book being reissued in January,
1997 by Vintage International. Once again
the book sold well to the surprise of the
publishers and began appearing on lists of
the greatest novels of all time. Writers and
academics were rejoicing the republication
of the novel. Halldor Laxness’ reputation
was becoming solidified. The reissuing of his
other novels previously translated soon fol-
lowed.
The Red Scare
Of course the works of Halldor Laxness were
not lost. They were still published and read
with great interest in Iceland and in Europe.
Why was Laxness not reissued in the United
States after he had won the Nobel Prize for
Literature? Certainly there would have been
at least minimal interest in the Icelandic writ-
er after winning the highest literary honour
in the world.
The answer to that question is that Hall-
dor Laxness was blacklisted in much the
same way that many American writers were
blacklisted for their political views. Much
has been written about the blacklisting of
American writers and artists during the “Red
Scare” in the McCarthy era but little is writ-
ten about foreign writers whose works in
translation were not published or reissued
because of pressure from the United States
government.
Two years ago I received information un-
der the Freedom of Information Act which
proved that J. Edgar Hoover and the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation had an interest
in Laxness. Top secret memos to and from
Hoover regarding the income derived from
the sale of Laxness’ book in the United States
show that Halldor Laxness was a person of
interest. There was great concern that the
money gained from the sale of Independent
People would fall into communist hands. In a
memo from the State Department, J. Edgar
Hoover was asked to provide information re-
garding payments to Laxness from the Book-
of-the-Month-club: “Your office should en-
deavor to discreetly ascertain the amount of
money Laxness has received from the sale of
his book in this country through the Book-of-
the-Month-Club. This information should be
furnished to the Bureau promptly.”
Paranoia gripped the FBI players as evi-
dent in another memo to Hoover from the
New York office of the FBI which states “It’s
not deemed advisable to direct a letter to the
Treasury Department for the above informa-
tion in view of the apparent discreetness of
the investigation requested by the State De-
partment.”
American publishers were warned not to
publish works from Communist sympathiz-
ers. Best selling American writer Howard Fast
was jailed for three months for his political
views, and pressure from the United States
government forced Little Brown to cancel
publication of his historical novel Spartacus.
He was forced to publish it himself and it be-
came a huge success and a movie based on
the book was also successful.
The Bureaucratic Run-around
I have previously written an article, published
in Mannlíf in February, 2005, based on my
research regarding Halldór Kiljan Laxness
and the FBI, explaining and detailing aspects
of the “Red Scare” and the firm grip J. Edgar
Hoover had on all branches of government in
the United States at this time.
The day before the Mannlif article hit the
newsstands I received a call from the State
Department. The caller was civil and acted
as if this was common practice. The FBI gets
thousands of Freedom of Information Act
requests every year and many of these re-
quests take years before the information is
forthcoming. I have asked several individu-
als who have requested information under
the Freedom of Information Act and they
never received a phone call. A few had been
waiting for over a year for an answer to their
written request.
I hope you will permit a bit of paranoia on
my part. I had resisted publishing this article
in view of the media’s reporting that there
was domestic spying taking place in the Unit-
ed States. At this time in my career I do not
feel it is in my best interest to make myself a
“person of interest”. I am a literary research-
er, teacher and writer. My interest in politics
is minimal. I sent $10 to Hilary Clinton last
year and I always encourage my students to
vote. I’m hardly a radical.
Although I had received much useful in-
formation from the FBI after many requests
and waiting close to a year, I still did not
have all of the information. After receiving
the documents there were several pages that
were sent “blank” and I had sent a request
asking for the information on these blank
pages.
I was told by the caller that the remaining
three pages I requested were not forthcom-
ing at this time but my request was currently
being taken under advisement. Yes the call
made me a bit nervous. I had published re-
cently declassified documents in another
country. I was the only Laxness researcher
currently with an interest in this topic and
I had some new information so of course I
was going to publish.
I waited a few months and placed a
call to the State Department official. I had
his number and since we are on first name
terms I decided that I would try to find out
the status of my request. He returned my call
and said that the office that handles these
requests did not receive it. My request for
the three missing pages was “lost”. He did
say that he would make sure that it received
immediate attention. I waited a month and
made another call. There was some action
on my lost request. I was informed that the
files in question were not FBI files, but files
from another agency. That particular agency
would make the determination if these files
were to be released. I asked when this would
happen and he said that was up to the other
agency. I asked which Federal agency had ju-
risdiction over the files, but I was not allowed
that information.
Once again I waited several weeks. I was
not surprised to receive nothing from the “al-
leged other agency” regarding the status of
my request. I decided to move in several di-
rections. I sent a letter to the FBI requesting
the three pages that were missing from the
documents. I also tried under the Freedom of
Information Act to find out the agency that
AND THE CIA
Text by Chay Lemoine Illustration by Sara Riel
HALLDÓR LAXNESS
...the Agency can neither confirm nor deny the exis-
tence or nonexistence of records responsive to your
request...
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