The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1974, Blaðsíða 48

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SPRING 1974
46
STUDIA ISLANDICA (Islenzk fraeOi)
Reviewed by Dr. Richard Beck
Volume 31 and 32
Reykjavik, 1972 and 1973
It is with genuine sadness and deep
sense of loss that I approach the writ-
ing of this review of the two latest
volumes of the important annual
Studia Islandica. Early in April last
year its long-time editor and an
esteemed personal friend of mine Dr.
Steingrimur J. Lorsteinsson, died as
the result of an automobile accident
in Reykjavik.
For two decades he had been Profes-
sor of Literature at the University of
Iceland, specializing in Icelandic liter-
ature of the later centuries. In this
feld his wide and thorough know-
ledge and mastery of the subject was
so rare, that his peer will not soon ap-
pear, as his former student and suces-
sor, Professor Sveinn Skorri Hoskulds-
son, rightly pointed out in his warm-
hearted tribute to him (MorgunblaSiS,
April 15, 1973.) A productive scholar
Dr. Lorsteinsson had contributed
numerous significant articles and
studies to various publications, aside
from his other writings, but it is to be
deeply regretted that he did not live
long enough to write a History of
Modern Icelandic Literature, for
which task he was so eminently quali-
fied in every respect.
Now a brief consideration of the two
last volumes of Studia Islandica, which
he edited. The older one of these, and
one of the more extensive (160 pages)
consists of Grimur Thomsen's study
“On the Character of the Old Northern
Poetry”, edited and introduced by
Edward J. Cowan and Herman Palsson.
The second part is a detailed survey by
Edward J. Cowan
Cowan of “Icelandic Studies in Eigh-
teenth and Nineteenth Century Scot-
land”. The purpose of the volume is
excellently described in the following
paragraphs from the Preface:
“In 1867 The North British Review
carried a remarkable essay entitled
“On the Character of Old Northern
Poetry.” Even now many of its argu-
ments retain a freshness and original-
ity, deserving of a much wider reader-
ship and appreciation than it has
hitherto enjoyed. Like most contri-
butions to that journal, the essay was
anonymous, and only recently was its
authorship established. Among the
manuscript holdings of the National
Library of Scotland is MS 3853 which
contains a number of English trans-
lations, in prose and verse, from Ice-