Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.06.2017, Page 51

Books 50The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 10 — 2017
Against Perfection
Poet Fríða Ísberg raises her hand
Words: Björn Halldórsson Photo: Kristín Ósk Ingvarsdóttir
Fríða Ísberg has just received the
much-coveted Grassroots Grant
from Icelandic Literature Center,
an award intended to support new
authors in publishing their first
book. She also writes for the Times
Literary Supplement and works as
an editor for local publisher Par-
tus Press, as well as publishing a
recent collection of poetry titled
‘Ég er ekki að rétta upp hönd’ (“I'm
Not Raising My Hand”) with the
poetry collective Svikaskáld (“The
Impostor Poets”), a group of po-
ets who initially met through
the Creative Writing depart-
ment at the University of Iceland.
Poet pride
“The group was formed during a
weekend in a summer house in
the countryside,” Fríða explains.
“It was six of us, all women, who
travelled there with the goal of
writing poetry together. We re-
ally didn't know what the out-
come would be but it soon dawned
on us that we were all struggling
with perfectionism and Impostor
Syndrome, both as poets and in
our professional lives.
The publication of the
book became a way to
take a stand against
perfectionism. Fur-
thermore, as a group
we found ourselves
willing to take some
chances that we might
never have dared as in-
dividuals. It's easier to
take pride in a group
that you belong to
than to take pride in yourself,
so the process was certainly
liberating and empowering.”
The conversations that take
place when writers and poets
work together in groups such as
the Svikaskáld collective are im-
portant, she says. “There's noth-
ing new about poets forming
cliques and supporting one an-
other, but the poetry scene today
is a lot more spread out than it was
when the local poets used to meet
up at Unuhús and Hressingarká-
linn [legendary gathering places
of Reykjavík poets in the early
20th century]. That's why having
umbrellas such as Partus Press
and the Creative Writing depart-
ment at the University of Iceland
to gather under is so effective.”
Pacing, flâneuring
Among her many projects, Fríða
will be spending the summer
creating a new podcast with her
friend and collaborator Brynja
Hjálmsdóttir. “It's called Póetrý
Gó,” she explains. “It's a reference
to Pokémon Go, except we're look-
ing at how poets go out for walks
to capture poems. Me and Brynja
had often heard older authors and
poets talk about the important
part that going for a walk every
day plays in their writing routine.
We decided to look into it, both
from the point of view of writers
but also to examine how walk-
ing repeatedly crops up in poetry.
There will be eight episodes in to-
tal, each one with a specific theme,
and every week we
will be interviewing
a poet. This week we
are discussing flâ-
neurs and talking to
Sigurður Pálsson.”
She is guarded
on the subject of her
forthcoming col-
lection but stresses
the important role
of publication in
the creative process.
“Poems tend to be in a liquefied
state for long periods of time,” she
says. “At some point, you have to
let the poems solidify into a con-
crete form through publication.”
Get Your Read On
Guðbergur Bergsson & other zombies
Words: Björn Halldórsson
Each issue, we take a look at
two Icelandic titles old and new,
available in English translation
at most Reykjavík bookstores. If
you’d like more ideas, or to read
more on Icelandic literature, head
over to gpv.is/lit for in-depth au-
thor interviews, guides, and more
book reviews.
Guðbergur Bergsson -
Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller
Originally published in 1966, ‘Tó-
mas Jónsson: Bestseller’ is often
seen as having ushered in a new
era in Icelandic literature and is
sometimes even called “The Icelan-
dic ‘Ulysses’.” Confined to his base-
ment apartment, Tómas Jónsson, a
senile, retired bank clerk, sets out
to write his autobiography, which
he naturally assumes will be a best-
seller. What follows is a humorous
and at times exhausting barrage
of grievances, rants and intertex-
tual wordplay. As Tómas lashes
out at anything and everything,
his diatribes poke fun at the egoist
national identity of the “blue-eyed
Viking” so readily spouted by the
traditional Icelandic blowhard—a
character readily familiar as that-
drunk-guy-at-the-bar-feeding-cli-
chés-to-the-tourists. What's partic-
ularly scathing is how relevant this
fifty-year-old novel is right now, at
a time when Icelandic patriotism
has reached new heights through a
combination of success in the Euro-
pean football championships, fear
of immigration and the ever-in-
creasing hype that the Inspired by
Iceland campaign unleashed when
it first began to echo across the
internet. The nation has perhaps
never been as much in need of be-
ing confronted by its own raging id.
Nanna Árnadóttir - Zombie
Iceland
You probably won't be able to se-
cure yourself a copy of ‘Zombie
Iceland’ to prepare for your visit,
as it’s only available through a lo-
cal publisher. However, if you're in
the mood for something a bit dif-
ferent I would recommend making
a stop in a Reykjavík bookstore to
secure yourself a copy. The Grape-
vine’s very own Nanna gives you a
book that’s partly a zombie novel/
survival guide á la Max Brooks
and partly a guide to Icelandic cul-
ture—the latter being delivered in
footnotes that expound upon vari-
ous Icelandic idiosyncrasies along
with delivering the occasional
culinary recipe. Accompanied by
illustrations by Icelandic cartoon-
ist Hugleikur Dagsson, author of
such knee-slappers as ‘Should You
be Laughing at This?’ and ‘Is This
Supposed to be Funny?’, the book
also delivers a playlist of Icelandic
music. Each chapter is accompa-
nied with a QR code to retrieve the
relevant song, making the book a
total entertainment package.
gpv.is/lit
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“Poems
tend to be in
a liquefied
state for
long periods
of time.”