Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.07.2017, Page 48

Books 48The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 12 — 2017
A Captive Of The Mind
Transcending the barriers of language
with Eunsan Huh
Words: Björn Halldórsson Photo: Byron Hawes
Young writer and illustrator Eun-
san Huh already had several lan-
guages under her belt when she be-
came infatuated with
the Icelandic tongue.
Having been born in
Korea and raised in
Canada, she’d always
lived in a multilin-
gual environment,
and appreciated the
specific qualities of
other languages. But
she was uniquely cap-
tivated by Icelandic.
“Every language is
unique and special in
its own way, because
it’s so closely intertwined with the
history and culture of the people
who speak it,” she explains. “Many
of the words I’ve come across in
Icelandic strike me as quite poetic.
Like ‘hugmynd’ (‘idea’)—a picture
in your mind—or  ‘hugfanginn’
(‘fascinated’)—a captive of the
mind. When I think of the people
who came up with these words I
can’t help but think they must
have been a rather creative bunch.”
Currently resid-
ing in New York, she
started visiting the
country every year,
and even took knit-
ting classes at Man-
hattan’s Scandinavia
House in order to
make her own lopa-
peysa. “I’ve been to
Iceland seven times
in the last six years,”
she says. “After a
while, I started learn-
ing Icelandic to bet-
ter understand the country’s cul-
ture and history. Although I'm far
from fluent, learning the language
has given me a deeper apprecia-
tion for the land and the people.”
The allure of icons
Eunsan’s fascination has now
birthed the book ‘Iceland in Icons’,
sold and distributed by local
publisher Forlagið. It sets out to
break down Icelandic compound
words into their individual parts
to make them more approach-
able to non-Icelandic speakers.
“It’s something we do naturally
when we are learning a new lan-
guage,” says Eunsan. “Breaking
words down into smaller pieces
and try to pronounce each section.”
Being a visual thinker, she was
naturally drawn to using images
and icons to provide for a more in-
clusive learning experience. “Icons
seemed rather appropriate, since
they transcend the barriers of lan-
guage,” she says. “The whole thing
started out as a hobby project, but
two years later, I’m still drawing.”
The first word that she drew was
Eyjafjallajökull, the name of the fa-
mous volcano that was mangled in
its pronunciation by newscasters
the world over. “After deconstruct-
ing the word, I thought ‘island,’
‘mountain’ and ‘glacier’ would
make a good icon set,” she recalls.
“After I made these three icons, I
realised Icelandic is full of similar-
ly wonderful compound words and
that there were many more I could
draw as simplified icons. This
made learning a lot more fun—I'm
terrible at studying, so the project
kept me motivated to learn more.”
Folklore in icons
She has no intentions of stopping
any time soon, as can be seen by
the name of her website, Every
Single Word in Icelandic (www.
everysingle.is), where many of her
icons made their first appearance.
“Recently, I’ve been enjoying Ice-
landic folklore,” she says. “Particu-
larly when they offer contemporary
reference points, like why a certain
lake is called this or who climbed
this mountain and why. I think it
goes a long way to add context and
history for your travels. I’m cur-
rently exploring how to retell clas-
sic Icelandic folk stories with icons
and illustrations, so stay tuned.”
Get Your Read On
Your summer page-turners
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.
Helen Mitsios ed. – Out of
the Blue: New Short Fiction
from Iceland
This ambitious collection put out by
the University of Minnesota Press
is one of a kind. It gathers twenty
short stories by some of Iceland's
most prominent contemporary
writers, many of whom have not
found their way into English trans-
lation before. The stories tackle a va-
riety of subjects and are not bound
by the coastline of Iceland. Some are
faithful to a traditional narrative
form, some make use of folklore and
myth, while others defy the stan-
dard bingo card of Icelandic fiction
entirely. The authors of the stories
vary greatly and yet they all share
what local author Sjón, in his fore-
word to the collection, refers to as
a unique tendency among Icelandic
writers, who “while recognizing no
literature except that which springs
from reality [...] reserve the right to
distort the truth according to the
demands of their tales.”
Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson –
The Flatey Enigma
‘The Flatey Enigma’ is quite differ-
ent from most of the other Scandi-
Noirs out there, which is perhaps no
wonder as it was published in 2002,
before the genre had risen to its
current, internationally renowned
stature. The novel is set in the 1960s
in Flatey, an inhabited island with a
rich history situated in the middle of
Breiðafjörður. A horribly disfigured
body is found by seal hunters on a
nearby island. Soon, more deaths
follow and it becomes apparent that
the murders have some relation to
the 14th century manuscript known
as The Flatey Book. The historical
murder mystery that follows may
at times feel a bit stretched but I
would recommend giving this book
a chance. Its depiction of an iso-
lated Icelandic locality in the 1960s
has a true sense of otherness to it:
a world just beyond the modern,
filled with lore and folk wisdom
and memorable characters with a
distinct worldview very different
from that of today’s Icelander.
gpv.is/lit
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“Learning
the language
has given
me a deeper
apprecia-
tion for the
land and the
people.”
‘Every Single Word In Icelandic’ is out now.