The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1967, Síða 51

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
49
his essays, reflecting as they do a sur-
prisingly extensive knowledge of the
literatures of many lands.
In commenting on his own poetry,
Stephansson referred to himself as the
descendant of both Egill Skallagrlms-
son, a tenth century Icelandic poet,
and of Loftur Rfki (1375-1432). “Name
me an Icelander who is not descended
from these men”, he wrote (4, 81). With
these words the poet emphasized the
literary ties between himself and these
two ancient authors—ties which re-
main unbroken through the entire hi-
story of the Icelandic people.
It is necessary to point out that even
though the Iceland which Stephan G.
Stephansson knew was a land of
meagre material resources and limited
opportunities, it was nonetheless, the
intellectually reawakened Iceland of
the 19th century. Aspirations for in-
creased political autonomy and reassess-
ment of the Icelandic heritage were im-
portant elements in many of the Ice-
landic -works which were published dur-
ing the first half of that century. The
authors of these works were among
the men who laid the foundation for
modern Icelandic nationhood. As a'->
example -one should mention the writ-
ings of Jonas Hallgrimsson and J6n
SigurSsson, some of which had just
been published when Stephan G.
Stephansson was born. Stephansson
was therefore in a better position than
Icelandic poets had been one or two
generations before him in that he had
richer contemporary sources to draw
upon.
Ill
As early as 1868 Stephansson com-
posed a verse in which he described in
a poetic manner the sense of boredom
which laziness can create. This verse
he entitled SjalfskaparvitiS (i.e., “the
self-inflicted punishment”, I. 11). One
cannot help thinking that in this verse,
which marked the beginning of a long
and fruitful literary career, Stephans-
son declared that it was his own
responsibility to dispose of one of the
arch enemies of intellectual endeavour.
The importance of taking respons-
ibility first on one’s own shoulders is
indeed a major hallmark of Stephans-
son’s philosophy which emphasizes that
all progress depends upon self-im-
provement. Framforin er Iffsins sanna
ssela (‘progress is the only true enjoy-
ment in life’, IV, 39), he wrote. It was
only natural that his concern for hu-
man progress would eventually prompt
him to condemn “the idleness and
wealth which thrives on the labours
of the poor” (I, 211). His frequent
criticisms of capitalistic exploitation
were based on the belief that the
exploited class is ever deprived of the
benefits which a continuously expand-
ing civilization can bring.
In his evaluation of history Stephans-
son observed that “even in remote
antiquity the human mind attained
intellectual goals comparable to those
which it is now capable of attaining.
What then constitutes our gain?” the
poet asks himself (I, 212). His reply
contended that even though the
average life span of man is not long
enough to afford any one individual
an opportunity to notice the differ-
ence, enlightenment had constantly
been extending its course so as to
reach individuals who in the past had
not been in a position to get to realize
its presence (Loc. cit.).
The above assertion reveals an inter-
esting aspect of Stephansson’s concept
of intellectual progress. One might
perhaps call this a horizontal view of
civilization which regards the task of