Studia Islandica - 01.06.1970, Page 112

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menon in the cultural history of a country, and can be attrihuted to a
variety of causes; though in this instance there is little doubt that the
principal cause is to he found in the contemporary weakness of Icelandic
society. The nation was small and impovished, and lacked the social and
cultural resources to provide those wishing to devote themselves to creat-
ive writing with the necessary support, appreciation and conditions of
growth. Thus Icelandic writers had scarcely any alternative hut to look
to other countries able to provide a more spacious and culturally fruitful
environment. It was virtually impossible to get Icelandic works trans-
lated on any appreciable scale into one of the world-languages, so this
outlet was denied to writers of ambition. The struggle to make ends meet
made writing a spare-time occupation, and inevitably set a detrimental
mark on the outcome - of this there are many examples. The political ties
between Iceland and Denmark made it easiest for Icelandic authors to
settle in the latter and write in Danish, rather than in a world-language
such as English that would have opened a wider field.
The year 1912 was a milestone. This year Jóhann Sigurjónsson’s play
Fjalla-Eyvindur (- Eyvind of the Hills -) was performed in Copenhagen
and received with great enthusiasm; its author, lauded to the skies, be-
coming a celebrity overnight. Jóhann’s triumph transfused new life into
Icelandic playwriting. Back in Iceland established novelists like Jón
Trausti and Einar H. Kvaran took to writing drama, while in Copenhagen
a young Icelandic student, Guðmundur Kamban, composed his first play
in Icelandic and Danish.
Guðmundur Jónsson Kamban was born 8th June 1888 on a small farm
in Álftanes, near Ileykjavík. His father was a poor farmer-fisherman
with a large family to support. While Guðmundur was still a child the
family moved to Arnarfjörður, in the north-west of Iceland, and things
became so much better for them that he was sent to school. He completed
his studies at the Grammar School (Menntaskóli) in Reykjavík in the
year 1910.
Guðmundur had shown signs of talent at an early age, his first play,
since lost, beirtg written when he was only thirteen. During his school
years in Reykjavík he worked for the journal Isafold. Under the in-
fluence of its editor, Björn Jónsson, and the author Einar Hjörleifsson
(Kvaran) he became interested in spiritualism and took part in spirit-
ualist activities. He turned out to be a successful medium and produced,
by “automatic writing”, articles, stories, poems and proverbs ascribed to
departured authors, both Icelandic and foreign. In 1906 a small but novel
publication appeared in Reykjavík. Called Úr dularheimum 1 (- from
unseen worlds -), it was a collection of five stories described as auto-