Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.11.2018, Side 40

40The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 20— 2018Culture
Words:
Mulan
Photos:
Art Bicnick
“I still have to fight against the fact that people assume that my texts are translations.”
“I want to do my
part in bringing the
world to Iceland.”
Nationalising
Words
Literature as a means of bridging
Iceland with the world
Words: Mulan Photo: Art Bicnick
Festival
Frostbiter 2018 happens from November
23-25th in Akranes. Get further info at
frostbiter.is.
Unlike in most European languages,
þýða, the Icelandic word for transla-
tion, denotes translation as the act of
nationalising a foreign word, making
the meaning agreeable to Icelanders.
For Rúnar Helgi Vignisson, a well-es-
tablished Icelandic writer, translator
and associate professor at the University
of Iceland, the art of translating to and
from Icelandic calls into question what
it means to be an Icelandic author. With
Reykjavík being recognised as one of
five UNESCO cities of literature, it is
no wonder that Iceland defines itself
as a nation of books and boasts a vast
and diverse literary heritage. Starting
with the Icelandic Sagas, all the way to
contemporary Icelandic writing, the
contribution of Icelandic literature to
the world overshadows the underly-
ing fault lines beginning to surface in
the cultural life of this small nation.
Making of an Artist
Growing up surrounded by the fore-
boding mountains in the small town
of Ísafjörður, Rúnar is deeply rooted
in Icelandic culture. The mystery and
magic Rúnar saw in books when he
was young still inspire the author to
keep cultivating the Icelandic language
through his work as a writer, trans-
lator and teacher. An author of eight
books, with his latest short story col-
lection winning the DV Cultural Prize
for Literature, Rúnar currently directs
the Creative Writing program at the
University of Iceland. This creative
program is one of a kind in the world,
being the only creative writing program
taught in Icelandic and tackling the
unique challenge of what it means to
be an Icelandic author in today’s world.
Evolution of the Icelandic
Language
Iceland’s literary landscape is currently
undergoing a transitional period. “We
don’t know where to go from here,”
Rú na r ad m its.
“The most pessi-
mistic people will
tell you that the
language is dis-
appearing in its
current form. All
languages evolve,
that is natural.
How e v er, t h i s
could be viewed
as some form of
mutation. Icelan-
dic as we know
it could be com-
pletely different fifty years from now.
If anyone still reads books, that is,” the
author explains, evoking the very real
possibility of such a dystopian future.
A generational gap is currently drifting
tastes away from literature and toward
faster-paced technological sources of
entertainment. “In a certain sense, we
are about to become dislocated from
ourselves and our national identity.
We are losing contact with our liter-
ary heritage. Young people are mak-
ing a choice to have direct access to
the world by interacting in English.
This begs the question as to whether
we can maintain our national identity,
and at what cost it would come to lose
it. Being dislocated from one’s culture
and roots can have disastrous conse-
quences as has been the case for many
indigenous peoples around the world.”
In an effort to bridge the gap between
the world and Iceland, Rúnar has been
pursuing a literary project for over 20
years that compiles short stories from
different parts of the world and trans-
lates them into Icelandic. Publishing
the third volume of Short Stories of
the World, featuring Asia and Oceania,
embodies the author’s literary odys-
sey. “Through short stories, you get
to see the world from the inside,” the
writer confides. “Short stories are often
about emotions. They are a powerful,
even spontaneous, response to what is
happening around you. It is a glimpse
into the concerns of people from the
inside.” Indeed, by way of showing Ice-
landers what people are thinking and
feeling, Rúnar hopes to address pre-
conceptions about the world in Iceland.
Sowing Seeds
For Rúnar, who has spent his whole life
and career cultivating Icelandic, ob-
serving the changes in attitude toward
Icelandic language and culture today
can be saddening. “It makes you more
aware of your mortality when you come
to the end of your career,” he explains,
“if everything you believed in and the
language you expressed yourself in may
be disappearing.” However, the Creative
Writing Program at the University of
Iceland—which marked its 10-year an-
niversary on October 20th—is a source
of hope for cultivating the Icelandic
literary heritage. In the meantime, the
author continues
working on his
own projects, one
of which he began
working on in 1993
and also includes
an excavation of
Icelandic iden-
tity, this time in
relation to father-
hood. “When writ-
ing, you always
have to invent the
wheel in some
s en s e ,” R ú n a r
confides. “In writing, I want to do my
part in bringing the world to Iceland and
Iceland to
the world.”
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“It makes you more
aware of your mortal-
ity when you come to
the end of your career
if everything you be-
lieved in and the lan-
guage you expressed
yourself in may be
disappearing.”
Grandagarður 7, 101 Reykjavík