Reykjavík Grapevine - júl. 2021, Blaðsíða 26

It’s not that Icelanders are full on
megalomaniacs (we are though,
in general), but our history and
culture have affected the west-
ern world in myriad ways that we
could make a strong case that Ice-
land shaped the world on a deep
level. In some ways, Iceland is the
butterfly effect of the North.
Now we can even prove this—
well, to a point. Egill Bjarnason
has made quite a name for him-
self as a journalist, writing for
the likes of The New York Times, Al
Jazeera, Associated Press and Lone-
ly Planet. He also teaches media
and political science part-time at
the University of Iceland. But what
matters most for us Icelanders—
forever burdened by our delusions
of grandeur—is that he has writ-
ten the book called ‘How Iceland
Changed The World’, published by
Penguin Random House and re-
leased in the US and Europe, in
which he navigates the various ef-
fects of Icelandic culture on the
world at large since the year 1100.
Iceland’s effect on
Tolkien
“I wrote up three chapters and
sent some cold emails to literary
agents in the US,” Egill explains
when asked how on earth he end-
ed up with the biggest publisher
in the world. Of course, when
reading the book, it comes as no
surprise that it was picked up by
the publisher—there was actually
an auction for the right to publish
it—it’s witty, accessible and very
enjoyable.
In it, Egill covers everything
from an Icelandic (originally Nor-
wegian) Viking, Leifur ‘the lucky’
Eiríksson, discovering North
America and losing it again; and
the story about how a young Ice-
landic woman, Arndís !orbjar-
nardóttir, influenced J.R.R Tolk-
ien by telling him about Icelandic
folktales (Icelanders see very
clearly when reading or watching
‘The Lord Of The Rings’); to the
invaluable lessons other nations
can take from Iceland’s gender
equality reforms.
Dull freedom fighters
“In Iceland, there is a lot of em-
phasis on the big Icelandic novel,”
Egill explains. “I had worked for
years in my father’s bookstore
and I felt like there was some-
thing missing in Icelandic litera-
ture, something about Icelandic
history,” he says. He adds quickly
that of course there are many ex-
cellent books about Icelandic sa-
gas, many are even outstanding,
but everyone in Iceland can agree
that they are not very accessible.
Or fun. Or anything that would
catch the interest of non-Icelan-
dic readers.
“Also, people other than Ice-
landers are not that interested in
our old politics, and let’s just face
it, Jón Sigur"sson (Iceland’s in-
dependence hero) is probably the
dullest freedom fighter you can
find,” Egill says, making the au-
thor of this article laugh out loud.
There are not many that are so
blunt about our national heroes.
1100 years of history in
a small book
“But I still wanted to tell the story
of Iceland and just kind of slam
the first 1100 years of history on
the table,” he adds. And that’s
just what he did. In his 255-page
book, Egill explains how an Ice-
landic volcano triggered climate
change in the late 18th century
that possibly contributed to the
French revolution and, therefore,
the modern republic. And then
of course there is the story of
how Iceland played a big role in
US space exploration. Egill also
reminds Icelanders of the inter-
esting bond between this small
island and Israel, which have
soured over the past decades. Ice-
land’s ambassador at the UN was
the one leading the committee
that submitted the bill for a new
Israeli state. Icelanders found a
deep connection to this old nation
of Israel for many reasons. But,
this is a history almost forgotten
in Iceland today.
Nationalism, the good
type
How did Egill choose his subjects?
“Well, a lot ended up not find-
ing its way into the book and I
learned a great deal about the pro-
cess of writing,” he explains. Egill
says that he ended up writing
about the subjects that carried
the most weight and, although
Icelanders are aware of many of
these connections that the book
explains brilliantly, Egill goes to
new depths that will be complete-
ly new for many Icelandic readers.
For example, the effects of Icelan-
dic nationalism on other former
colonies in the 18th century, when
Icelanders reshaped their dignity
and their self-image in the fight
against overwhelming weight of
the Danish crown to the point of
Danish even slowly overtaking the
Icelandic language.
“In some ways, Icelandic free-
dom fighting has become a road
map for many smaller countries
that used to be colonies,” Egill
explains. The clearest example
is that Icelanders demanded the
crown to return Iceland’s most
important historical cultural val-
ues, our old scripts. We have re-
claimed many of our important
scripts, but not all of them. And
there are a lot of cultural values
still stored in museums in old
empire’s around the world, far
away from their true owners.
A lot of discipline
Of course, because Icelanders can
be very egocentric, we have to ask:
how is the world reacting to the
book?
“Surprisingly well, even the pub-
lishers are surprised by the inter-
est,” Egill answers modestly. He
admits he did not expect anyone
to be interested in this tiny little
island and its big story. What’s
more, the New York Times and Wall
Street Journal have written about
the book and it’s currently the
best seller in Scandinavian his-
tory on Amazon.
Asked if he plans on following
up on his success, Egill is reticent.
But he admits that he has an idea
and, who knows, perhaps some-
one will like it. Until then, he says
that he’s going to keep on doing
what he enjoys: writing for maga-
zines, news outlets and teaching
at the University of Iceland in be-
tween.
“We’ll see how this goes. It
takes a lot of discipline to write,”
he says, seemingly unaware of his
own contribution to Iceland’s im-
pact on the world.
26The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07— 2021

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E!ill Bjarnason on how Iceland chan!ed the world
Words: Valur Grettisson Photo: Art Bicnick
Iceland's not in the bunker anymore