Gripla - 20.12.2016, Qupperneq 19

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lawman Björn Markússon (1716–1791) had an idea to get the press back
on a sound financial footing. If people liked secular stories so much,
why not print some of them and pocket the profits? He began with two
Robinsonades translated from Danish.37 the first of these was a transla-
tion by Þorsteinn Ketilsson from Hrafnagil (1688–1754) of Den saa kald-
ede Svenske Robinson eller Gustav Landkrons38 while the second was about
Berthold, an Englishman related to Robinson Crusoe, and this story is
probably also ultimately German, unless it is a Danish original.39 In his
Preface to the volume, Björn equivocates over whether the stories he is
presenting are fiction or not — on the one hand, fictional stories can be
morally uplifting and on the other hand, it is not his business to separate
the false from the true in history:
Lærder Menn, sierdeilis i Franka-Rijke, og sijdann Þijsker og
Dansker hafa vitiad fijsa foolk til Dygda og Mannkosta, med
ymsum Dæme-Søgum og Romaner: Hafa adrer vered ødrum
Lagkiænare þat med, og synt sig þeim Gømlu miklu fremre, sem bygt
hafa Kastala i Loftenu, og otrwlegar Søgur i rit fært, af hverium
ver høfum margar  norrænu, ad forlage Hkonar Kongs Gamla
snaradar, og annara vorra froodra Lands-Manna, so sem Jons Biskups
i Sklhollte Halldorssonar, sem silfur hefur ymisleg Æfenntijr
37 Þess Svenska Gustav Landkrons Og Þess Engelska Bertholds Fꜳbreitileger Robinson (1756).
Neither of these texts are identified as being a saga on the title page. Instead a new term is
introduced, ævisaga (‘life-history”, biography) calquing Levnets-beskrivelse used in the title
of the 1743 Danish version. nevertheless, it seems clear that they were indeed read as “his-
tory”, and my copy of the work in an early twentieth-century binding identifies the volume
on the spine as “Gustavs saga, 1756.”
38 It is not known if Þorsteinn Pétursson played any role in encouraging Þorsteinn Ketilsson
to translate the story into Icelandic, or if he was involved in persuading Björn Markússon
that this would be an appropriate text to print, perhaps even being the conduit through
which the translation reached the press, since Þorsteinn Ketilsson by then was deceased.
39 While the history of Berhold claims to be translated from English and to be printed in
London, no such English text has been recorded. there are two versions, both of which
appeared in 1740. the first, of 80 pages, on which the Icelandic translation is based, is:
Engelænder Berthold, den vidt berømte Robinson crusoes nær Beslægtede, hans Liv og Levnet
Forfattet med moralske Anmerkninger. Overs. af det Engelske Sprog (London [i.e. Copenhagen]:
paa det Søe-farende Compagnies bekostning, 1740). the second version, of 238 pages, is:
Englænder Berthold, den vidt berømte Robinson Crusoes mer Beslægtede, hans Liv og Levnet,
som han i 10 Aar til Lands og Vands har ført, ved at opfinde en ubeboet Insul, men efter ud-
standen Møye, Lykkelig er kommen til sit Fæderneland, Forfattet med moralske Anmærkninger
(Copenhagen: n.p., 1740).
HALLDóR JAKOBSSON ON TRUTH AND FICTION