Orð og tunga - 26.04.2018, Page 63

Orð og tunga - 26.04.2018, Page 63
52 Orð og tunga 6 The atom poet in The Atom Station Halldór Laxness’ Atómstöðin (1948) describes the experiences of a country girl Ugla from “the north” who has gone to Reykjavík and is working as a domestic helper for a member of parliament Búi Árland while she learns to play the harmonium. It is set immediately after the Second World War; the title refers to the decision on the part of the leaders of the newly independent country to allow foreign powers to build an “atom station” in Iceland, i.e. the NATO base in Keflavík. Atóm in Halldór’s novel refers to the general context of the dawn of the Cold War and Iceland’s entry into NATO. Bizarre nicknames, epithets and titles, such as atómskáld, are a central aspect of the narrative technique of Atómstöðin, associated with the turmoil of a society in rapid transition. The sense of an alien milieu is emphasized by continual renaming. Búi Árland’s children are called Dídí, Dúdú, Bóbó and Bubu. Ugla has a diffi cult time con- necting these nicknames to their baptismal names Guðný (Dúdú), Þórður (Bóbó), Þórgunnur (Dídí), and Arngrímur (Bubu). Their fa- ther explains, “Þau komast ekki af með minna en Afríka einsog hún er svört ust: bu-bu, dú-dú, bó-bó, dí-dí” [But they cannot get by with any less than Africa at its very darkest - bu-bu, du-du, bo-bo, di-di ... (Halldór Laxness, transl. Magnús Magnússon 1961:4)]. These redu- plicative nicknames are particularly associated with the time around World War II in Iceland. Laxness, in a brief essay “Ónöfn” [Un-names] (1942:285), condemns this innovation in similar terms. Nýr gælunafnasiður hefur komist á í kaupstöðum á síð ustu tímum, sérstaklega telpunafna. Fögrum íslenskum kven heit- um, sem veita þeirri konu tign og virðuleik, sem ber þau, eins og dýrir skartgripir fornir (nöfn einsog t.d. Ragnheiður, Ást- hildur eða Guðrún), er snúið í hin herfilegustu orðskrípi, líkt og fyrirmyndir væru sóttar í dreggjar útlends stórborgamáls eða til villiþjóða: Dídí, Sísí, Fífí, Gígí, Dúdí, Gógó, Dódó. Af- káraleg orðskrípi af þessu tæi fara senn í bág við íslenskt mál- far og mentaðan smekk. (Halldór Laxness 1942:285) [A new nickname practice has been introduced in towns in recent times, especially for girls’ names. Beautiful Icelandic feminine names which grant elegance and dignity to the woman who bears them, like precious and ancient jewelry tunga_20.indb 52 12.4.2018 11:50:36
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Orð og tunga

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