Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2018, Blaðsíða 25

25 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15— 2018
TRANSLATIONS
AND CRITICISM
That is not to say, of course, that Ragnar
would be opposed to translations, quite
the contrary. Many of Ragnar’s books
have been translated into German and
French. “In such a horribly small place
like Iceland, I always have the feeling
that ninety percent of the people who
have read my book know me person-
ally,” he says. That way, Ragnar feels
like his persona is blocking the read-
er’s direct access to the book itself, as
does any poet’s persona. “This is why
it’s such a pleasure to read reviews
written by people who have never
met me and know nothing about me,”
he says. “It makes me happy to know
that I am not standing in their way.”
Indeed, the small size of the poetry
scene in Iceland poses yet another
challenge regarding literary criti-
cism within Iceland. “This means that
everybody knows each other and writ-
ing a negative review, for example, is
a sensitive business,” Ragnar explains.

Yet there’s also the problem of a lack
of poetry reviews in general. “The way
I think writing in Icelandic is most
limiting, actually, is in terms of the
critical environment in Iceland. You
don’t have that many people writ-
ing quality reviews,” says Valgerður.
“Papers don't write big reviews of
poetry anymore,” Ragnar adds. He
doesn’t think that this has necessar-
ily a bad impact on the poetic qual-
ity, though. “I think it doesn’t really
matter in a way, because a bad book
doesn’t do any harm, whereas a good
book that doesn’t get published is a real
loss,” he says. Yet he does lament the
lack of a critical discourse on poetry.
SURGE OF SELF-
PUBLISHERS
What exists in abundance, though, is
poets of every age who publish their
own work. Ragnar compares today’s
situation with the 70s: “At that time,
it became possible to photocopy and
make cheaper books, which meant that
the process of manufacturing a book
became accessible for more people,” he
explains. “Nowadays, with the advent
of digital printing, there are many
books published who wouldn’t have
been published 20 years ago,” he says.
Valgerður adds that there are
currently many young people who
start their own presses and even create
their own anthologies together. Self-
publishing is not frowned upon as in
other countries, as many of Iceland’s
most famous authors, like Sjón, have
started their careers this way. Moreover,
Iceland’s small literary scene enables
writers to simply take matters into
their own hands and have their work
sold in bookstores across Reykjavík.
Ongoing trend or on the decline?
“At the moment, there’s a slight broad-
ening of the concept of poetry,” says
Ragnar. “Poetry has become a very
inclusive concept and even hip-hop
lyrics are considered poetry nowa-
days, which would’ve been unimagi-
nable twenty years ago,” he says.
Although Ragnar doesn’t mind
the current surge of hipster poets at
all, he says he’s looking forward for
poetry to become uncool again. “The
only thing I’m really worried about
is these kinds of articles that every-
one will read,” he says. “Poetry needs
to keep a low profile, as it makes for
better poetry when you just throw your
artwork into a black hole,” he says.
Valgerður also wonders how much
longer poetry will be considered cool
and both she and Bergþóra hope that it
won’t decline again. “I hope that people
will continue to experiment with
language and try to find their own ways
of working with it instead of following a
fixed concept of poetry,” Bergþóra says.
Fríða, a philosophy graduate, thinks
these kinds of waves are normal and
remains optimistic. “Younger people
will come and fill the new void—it
only takes little time. Meðgönguljóð
became the main young poets’ publi-
cation within two years,” she explains.
“It’s hard to say who the next generation
of poets will be, but it’s usually some-
body nobody expects,” Ragnar says.
FROM POETRY
TO PROSE
In the meantime, as Meðgönguljóð
comes to an end, Valgerður opens up
a new UK branch of Partus Press. The
Icelandic branch will continue, albeit
with different, more specific projects.
Currently, all eyes are set on the upcom-
ing Christmas book flood and Partus
plans to release, among other things,
a novel by Jónas Reynir Gunnarsson,
the aforementioned short story collec-
tion by Fríða, a poetry collection by
Arngunnur Árnadóttir, an anthology
of all the Meðgönguljóð books, as well
as an Icelandic translation of a short
story collection by Richard Brautigan.
Most of the writers, such as
Bergþóra, Kári, Ragnar and Fríða,
have turned away from poetry for the
moment and are currently pursuing
longer written works. Valgerður says
she sometimes wonders whether part
of the reason why so many poets tran-
sition into novelists is that poetry is a
form of writing from which it is almost
impossible to make a living. Or as
Fríða describes the expectations, “The
novel is the ultimate book, it’s what
sells and if you’re a serious writer,
you’re supposed to become a novel-
ist.” Meanwhile, Forlagið prepares to
publish a selection of the late Sigurður
Pálsson’s poetry later this year.
In a way, it seems like the most
recent surge of interest in poetry
might have reached its breaking
point. However, with more transla-
tions of poetry into English planned,
Icelandic poetry might as well be on
its way to open up new markets and
reach a broader readership than ever
before. And if Meðgönguljóð leaves
a void in its wake, there should be
enough confident and inspired young
poets to create something new.
“IF YOU WANT TO SHOULDER THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF CONTRIBUTING TO
THE CULTURE OF POETRY IN ICELAND,
THAT MEANS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
FOR THE ICELANDIC LANGUAGE.”
“IT’S HARD TO SAY WHO THE NEXT
GENERATION OF POETS WILL BE, BUT IT’S
USUALLY SOMEBODY NOBODY EXPECTS.”
Some of the poets mentioned in the article have had work
translated into English:

Fríða Ísberg: Poems from her collection ‘Slitförin’, translated
by Meg Matich and published in the journal Europe Now.
Valgerður Þorroddsdóttir: While some of Valgerðurs’ Icelan-
dic poetry has been translated into English, she has also
started publishing her own English work, both of which can
be found in the online version of this article (see below)
More of her poetry has recently been published in the
anthology ‘New Poetries VII’ and she has translated Kristín
Ómarsdóttirs work ‘Waitress In Fall’
Kári Tulinius: His translation if the Icelandic poet Elías Knörr
into English will be published soon by BLAH press in the UK
and Larissa Kyzer translated some of his poems which are
available online.
Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson: Readers confident in German or
French can find translations of the following books: « Denen
zum Trost, die sich in ihrer Gegenwart nicht finden können
– Lieder und Texte ». Poetry. To be published by Elif Verlag,
autumn 2017.
« Le meeting du Conseil de la Radiophonie du 14 mars 1984
et son influence formatrice sur la sexualité de l'adolescent -
et autres histoires ». To be published by Editions Passage(s),
in autumn of 2017.« Lettres du Bhoutan – a Novel ». To be
published by Editions Passage(s), summer of 2017.« Briefe
aus Buthan – Roman». Published by Culturescapes/Tunglið,
Basel, 2015. « The meeting of the state broadcasting board
on march 14 1984 and its effects on the sexual feelings of
the boy and other stories ». Published by 1005 Forlag 2015.«
A consolations for those who can not find themselves in the
present ». Poetry. Published by Bjartur 2015. « World Light –
The Movie ». Film-script, 2014 with Halldór Halldórsson and
Ragnar Kjartansson. Premiered at Le Palais de Tokyo, october
2015.
Neither Bergþóra’s nor Sigrún Ása’s work has been translated
yet, although both of them hope it will happen one day.
You can find the links for some of the above works in the
online version of this article at gpv.is/poetry18
EGILL ÖRN JÓHANNSSON
DAGUR HJARTARSON