The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1968, Side 10

8
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Autumn 1968
EDITORIAL
The Icelanders Elect A New President
On June the 30th this year Dr.
Kristjan Eldjarn, Curator of the Na-
tional Museum of Iceland, was elected
the third President of the Republic
of Iceland with an overwhelming
majority of votes. Dr. Eldjarn succeeds
Dr. Asgeir Asgeirsson who earlier in
the year had made the announcement
'that he would not seek reelection.
The decisive mandate given Dr. Eld-
jarn assumes added significance when
it is taken into account that his rival
candidate for the presidency, Dr. Gun-
nar Thoroddsen, was also well qual-
ified for this high office as an experi-
enced academic, statesman, and dip-
lomat.
Dr. Kristjan Eldjarn has not been
associated with any particular polit-
ical organization; as a result, his qual-
ifications for the presidency were not
of a political nature. Rather it is
obvious that his academic accomplish-
ments as well as the way in which he
has discharged his responsibilities as
guardian and interpreter of Iceland’s
ancient treasures must have weighed
heavily with the people. Of prime im-
portance are his numerous books,
essays and articles, which have won
him international recognition as a
scholar. In addition, he is a dis-
tinguished speaker and lecturer whose
inspiring addresses have been greatly
lauded.
To the undiscerning eye of the lay-
man an ancient museum piece may
seem quite uninteresting. Therefore it
is all the more noteworthy that through
the sure touch of Dr. Kristjan Eldjarn
the artifacts in the National Museum
of Iceland have assumed the vitality
of Iceland’s time-honored literary tra-
dition. This he has achieved by relating
his archeological research to other
fields of cultural history. By follow-
ing an interdisciplinary approach he
has found it possible to give his themes
a wide enough perspective to arouse
the interest of readers and audiences
far beyond the limited circle of scien-
tists. One may go further stall and
state that aside from their scholarly
content, the writings of Dr. Kristjan
Eldjarn have been widely acclaimed
for their marked literary quality.
Therefore he may be classified with
Iceland’s most important authors and
essayists. It should perhaps be added
here that he is a competent translator
of poetry and indeed a poet in his own
right.
The President of Iceland speaks and
writes with a style which is at once
unassuming and aristocratic—a style
which is closer to the culture of the
Icelandic countryside, where his mo-
ther tongue has been best preserved,
than to the stilted idioms of the ivory
towers. One is reminded of a famous
saying which implies that it is all but
impossible to differentiate between an
author’s mode of writing and his own
character. A similar statement would
be highly relevant in our present con-
text, since the works referred to above
certainly relfect the attributes of their
author. He is a man of rare integrity,
a true humanist in whom one rec-
ognizes both genuine warmth and