Studia Islandica - 01.06.1970, Qupperneq 116

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Marmor was the first work completed by Kamban after his American
visit. It is a satire against the prevailing penal system and against the
corruption of society, both in its sequence of events and in the views ex-
pressed by Robert Belford. The whole play revolves round this one
character; many others are introduced in the course of it, but they have
little independent existence. Nowhere in his treatment of penal ques-
tions does Kamban more clearly put forward Osbome’s theories on the
abolition of punishment; in fact, the play may be considered a straight-
forward exposition of these theories; tliough the disciple is often in-
clined to go further than the master. In Marmor we are told that the
time has come for society to understand that its only expedient against
the growth of crime is to refrain from punishing the criminal. This can
hardly be described as an adequate solution of the problem, yet nowhere
does Kamban hint at any other, and this, of course, weakens the polemi-
cal effect of the play. Of all his works, Kamban rated Marmor highest,
and he not unnaturally resented the cool reception given it in Denmark,
where it was never performed.
However, his next play was an unqualified success. This was Vi Mor-
dere, his most unified and drainatic work. It deals with an unhappy mar-
riage, and the circumstances leading to the murder of his wife by such
a blameless character as Ei-nest Mclntyre. The play is also a satire on
American society, with its adulation of the meretricious, amusement,
and superficial values. The corruption of society is reflected in the
characters themselves; their way of life, attitudes and actions. Each is
well realised and convincing, and has an individual part to play. In
Marmor Robert Belford had remarked that crime was no moral crit-
erion of human worth. Vi Mordere is more or less a commentary on his
words, and he is so close to the play himself that the character Norma
recalls him. In this play Kamban sets out to destroy the deeply-rooted
concept of the bom criminal - the criminal type. In Ernest’s place we
could all have become criminals — no murder is horrible except that by
the State, for it cannot be extenuated by passion. Of such a murder we
all share the guilt - and in this respect we are all murderers. The play
was given its premiere in Copenhagen in the spring of 1920, and re-
ceived with acclamation. It has been performed several times in Iceland,
and is one of the perennials of Icelandic dramatic literature.
Ragnar Finnsson was Kamban’s first novel. It belongs to the category
of his social satire, and shows the life of an Icelander in the merciless
jtmgle of American society, relentlessly heading for disaster. The novel
lacks unity, falling into two loosely-connected parts. The first part tells
of Ragnar’s childhood and schooldays in Iceland, and is based more or
less on personal experience. The second describes the corruption of