Studia Islandica - 01.06.1970, Page 118

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better society and happier life. It is more ambitious in its scope than
earlier works, inasmuch as the satire is directed, not only against society,
but also against man himself, and the whole human race. But if the
satire is comprehensive, the action of the play is thin. The ambassador
from Jupiter visits Earth and wonders at the moral backwardness of
men, compared with his own people. As in Marmor, the action revolves
round a single character, the other persons merely providing a back-
ground. The ambassador is the author’s ideal man and a mouthpiece for
his opinions, but he has not succeeded in bringing the character to life.
None of the ambassador’s noble doctrines is particularly original or out-
of-the-ordinary, but they are presented with all the novelty of revelat-
ions from heaven. The play is painfully solemn and lacking in humour,
as is so often the case with Kamban. Added to this, the satire is only in
the words, and not implicit in the fates of living persons, as in Ragnar
Finnsson and Vi Mordere. It is therefore not suprising that Sendiherr-
ann frá Júpiter misses the mark, or that it was a failure. The play’s re-
ception was a disappointment to Kamban, and he became finally dis-
illusioned with satire.
At tliis point there is a clear division in Kamban’s literary output. In
his later works he retums to the life of his native land; though now
finding his material in the past.