Studia Islandica - 01.07.1982, Síða 183

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i véum, Úlfur Ljótsson, has much in common with Dostoyevsky’s
“criminals” - not least Stavrogin in The Devils — characters who sacri-
fice customs and morality in their desperate, unconditional search for
inner freedom. Like these men, Úlfur is unable to confirm his freedom
in positive ways so he destroys himself through increasingly painful
banishment. Lacking strength to tum his potential to good advantage,
he is unable to reconcile his will and what he needs.
Úlfur is a social outcast, forever in opposition to the human system,
to existence itself. As he defies the ethics of his class and common
decency, he is not tolerated anywhere and lives in self-imposed banish-
ment as a drunkard; society has no place for such a person. Essentially,
his problem is a twin one; his personality is split and disoriented;
secondly, his desires urge him toward goals beyond human possibilities.
The split is both intemal and between him and the world. He swings
helplessly between the most exalted ideals and the lowest instincts.
Driven by an inner force that pays no heed to his intelligence, Úlfur
cannot apply himself wholeheartedly to anything for long.
Úlfur cannot resolve his problems because lethargy, confusion and
irresolution dominate his life. One reason why he cannot cope is that
he dislikes himself. A captive of his own degradation, he makes diverse
efforts to find a purpose, to flee from the reality confronting him; but
passion, politics, hope and work all lead him to a wall in defeat. Root-
lessness and self-contempt, compounded by a death wish, bring about
his perdition.
He, nevertheless, finally achieves a salvation of sorts. In the hour of
his death, he proves man enough to shoulder the burden of his fate, to
fight the inevitable. Only then does he triumph over irresolution; he
prevails against his negative outlook and achieves the power of the fear-
less man. Only then does he rebel meaningfully, becoming a whole man.
But it should be noted that his fate is like that of other “outlaws” in
Gunnarsson’s fiction; his uprising leads to a worse form of banishment:
his utter elimination. Accordingly, the “victory” of Úlfur reflects both
human potentials and the absolute limitation of human existence; in a
word, he is both positive and negative at the same time.
The description of Úlfur has universal significance. It is a picture
showing the author’s conception of modem life — of people who have
lost their faith in God and keep stumbling in a world without clear
paths.
Úlfur is commonly likened to the crucified Christ, to the Son of Man
who carries the yoke of existence on his shoulders, suffering the pain
that results from being. He is the innocent one who is condemned by
a merciless society, banished by life itself. Like Stavrogin, he is the