Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.12.2016, Page 12

Whether you don’t understand a word
of Icelandic but want to get familiar
with the country’s literature, or you
have some degree of Icelandic compre-
hension and want a good beginner’s
guide, there is a wealth of choices at
your disposal. It’s important to know
what awaits you, so let’s start with
translated Icelandic.
Icelandic literature in English
Most Icelandic literature that has been
translated into English is by best-
selling authors, a significant portion
of whom write genre fiction, particu-
larly crime stories. But there are still a
number of titles you should look into,
some less obvious than others.
Halldór Laxness is probably the
best-known Icelandic writer of them
all. Indeed, his talents have been
known to the world for decades; it’s
what got him a Nobel Prize for litera-
ture in 1955. Laxness has an extensive
body of work that has been translated
into English, but if you’re going to
start anywhere, you could do worse
than with ‘Independent People’. This
book is pretty essential to understand-
ing Laxness and his take on the Icelan-
dic character. Laxness was himself
very critical of Icelandic society, and
few books sum up his criticisms of Ice-
landers like ‘Independent People’ does.
Most folks start reading it thinking
the protagonist, Bjartur, is some kind
of admirable underdog. By the end of
the book, you will very likely change
your opinion. A great starting point.
Gerður Kristný. You’re going to
need some fresh modernism flavoured
by medieval Icelandic history to chase
back that Laxness, and Gerður Kristný
is a good author to turn to for that. In
particular, her book ‘Bloodhoof’, which
won the 2010 Icelandic Literary Prize.
Here, Gerður takes the ancient poem
Skírnismál and turns it inside out:
while the original is based on the story
of the god Freyr falling in love with the
giantess Gerður, Gerður Kristný turns
it into a story of abuse, rape and re-
venge with modern relevancy. Not ex-
actly light reading, but a pretty power-
ful take on ancient Icelandic writing,
and what it has to say about modern
contexts.
Guðbergur Bergsson is seen by
many as Iceland’s first hipster, by oth-
ers as the enfant terrible of Icelandic
literature. Even Icelanders have dif-
ficulty reading him in his native lan-
guage. Fortunately, you can experi-
ence part of what makes him so great
through his novel ‘The Swan’. Very
little of his work has been translated
into English, but ‘The Swan’ was an ex-
cellent choice. In this story, Guðbergur
invites us to follow a nine-year-old girl
into the Icelandic countryside, where
she’s to serve her probation for shop-
lifting. There, we experience how she
acclimates to her new surroundings,
while Guðbergur sheds insightful
light on just how different the country
is outside of the capital area.
Steinunn Sigurðardóttir. Now
we start to make our way into a wholly
modern Icelandic world. Steinunn is
a force of nature: an esteemed novel-
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 18 — 2016
12
ist and poet who continues to surprise
readers. ‘The Thief of Time’, with its very
modern story of loss, tragedy, new love
and new betrayal, could work in pretty
much any context in the world. It’s a
fine testament to Iceland as a nation
of modern writers who can tell stories
that anyone can be moved by, no matter
how much or little they may understand
Icelandic culture, because Iceland is pri-
marily irrelevant to the story itself.
Hallgrímur Helgason. You can’t
understand the image Reykjavík en-
joys today without reading ‘101 Reyk-
javík’. This dry, sardonic, at times
breezy novel put Iceland’s capital on
the map as a hive of slackers and art-
ists when it was adapted into a movie
of the same name in 2000. The story
meanders through several charac-
ters and storylines, but the common
thread is the existential alienation of
the story’s protagonist, Hlynur Björn.
Icelandic literature in Icelandic
So you have some degree of under-
standing in Icelandic. Maybe you’re in
the process of learning (and let’s face
it, you never really stop learning Ice-
landic). If so, Icelandic for you might be
a solely utilitarian language—you use it
for shopping, for talking to co-workers,
directions, and maybe small talk. It
might not have even occurred to you
that you can read Icelandic for pleasure,
too. How do you get into it, then?
Bear in mind that literary Icelan-
dic is a far cry from everyday Icelan-
dic. In many cases, anyway. You may
find yourself having to consult the
dictionary, and there are references
and puns that you’re not likely to get.
This is fine. The point here is rather
to get yourself used to reading fiction
in Icelandic; the references and word-
play can come later. With that in mind,
here’s where you can dig in:
Absolute beginner stage: Snúður
og Snælda. Yes, these are children’s
books. And I mean like kindergarten-
aged children. Be that as it may, you
will find yourself charmed and de-
lighted by the antics of these two kit-
tens as they get into trouble, make
hilariously clumsy attempts at prob-
lem-solving, and bestow some gentle
moralising to impressionable kids.
Not exactly groundbreaking stuff but
it will get you familiar with reading
Icelandic for pleasure (albeit maybe
not on the bus).
Early stage: ‘Kósýkvöld með Láru’.
Again, young children’s literature.
However, this tale (“A cosy evening
with Lára,” in English) by pop singer
Birgitta Haukdal is more than just
a curiosity. Here, you will encounter
Icelandic that is more modern, more
everyday, and still simple enough for
first-year Icelandic students to be able
to read and understand. Maybe not to
be cracked open at your favorite café,
but a good next-level and fairly short
book to dig into.
Intermediate stage: ‘Carpe diem’.
This book, by Eyrún Ýr Tryggvadót-
tir, is decidedly for teenaged Iceland-
ers. Which is good for you—you’re be-
ginning to read longer sentences using
more complex concepts. Moreover, this
tale of a 10th grader with a troubled
home will introduce you to more mod-
ern uses of Icelandic (e.g., to say that
something “sökkar feit” as a way of say-
ing you find the experience unpleasant),
while also giving you a less rosy picture
of modern Icelandic family life.
Advanced stage: ‘Dóris Deyr’.
This collection of short stories by lit-
erary wunderkind Kristín Eiríksdót-
tir is in no way for the squeamish.
Kristín writes in a modern, conversa-
tional Icelandic with relatively simple
sentence constructions. However, in
keeping with her background as a poet,
there are passages which are decidedly
lyrical, poetic and dreamlike, however
simply they may be written. This will
introduce you to how Icelandic can con-
vey a lot of information with very few
words, and will exercise your brain sig-
nificantly as you plunge into the dark,
stormy and at times nightmarish world
of these elegantly disturbing stories.
Master level: ‘Sjálfstætt fólk’. Now
you’re feeling confident enough to
read one of Iceland’s masterpieces in
its original language. But be warned:
Laxness’s language is not only a bit
dated, it is also rife with references
and wordplay. Maybe not to a Joycean
degree, but you’re still going to strug-
gle with this one, even if you’ve lived
here for years. Don’t be shy about ad-
mitting you had to read a single para-
graph several times because, while you
knew all the words, you didn’t quite
get the meaning. Get used to it. This is
Laxness. It’s bound to happen.
Wizard level: ‘Tómas Jónsson,
metsölubók’. What’s that you say?
You find postmodernism too trite and
simplistic in English, and you want
a book to literally snap your mind in
half? You’re in luck. This early work
of Guðbergur Bergsson is here for the
job. While you try to navigate through
the free-associative thoughts of an
old man living in 1960s Iceland and
his criticisms of society, you will run
headfirst into many brick walls. Don’t
let that deter you. Once you’ve finished
the book, you can impress Icelanders at
parties by disclosing you read this book
in the original Icelandic. Just be sure to
be ready with answers when asked to
explain what you thought of it. While
it’s likely to be a book you will read sev-
eral times before you “get” it, tackling
it from cover to cover will give you the
confidence you need to open pretty
much any novel written in Icelandic,
opening a whole new world of literature
for you to enjoy. Congratulations!
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Walk
into any Icelandic bookstore and you’ll
find loads of translated books to choose
from. For more tips, you can also refer to
the list of our contributors’ favourite trans-
lated titles on page 40.
Words
PAUL
FONTAINE
Photo
HALLDÓR
LAXNESS
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Icelandic
Literature:
A Beginner’s
Guide
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