The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2004, Side 45

Vol. 58 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
191
location of the settlement and the names of
the main settlers before going on to
describe their pioneer struggles, economic
resourcefulness, community spirit, and
either their triumph over adversity or move
to greener pastures. This journey quickly
takes us through such places as Langruth,
Manitoba, Foam Lake, Saskatchewan,
Markerville, Alberta, and Blaine,
Washington. Some readers will be confused
by the countless Bjorns, Gudmundurs, and
Jons, and the occasional Sigrfdirs and
Gudruns, that are mentioned along the
way, especially since there is little time to
distinguish them from one another.
The solution to this problem is not
more detail—there is more than enough.
What is lacking is a way for the reader to tie
all the facts together, and understand why
they are relevant to the bigger story of the
Icelanders in North America. This could
have been easily done, but Thor misses key
opportunities. For example, in chapter
thirteen (p. 246) he tells us that most of set-
tlers of Point Roberts came from the
Myradalur district in Iceland, but does not
say why this is important. Migration from
one location to another—whether across
the country or around the world—often
begins with one person who explores a new
region and sends favourable accounts to his
family and friends back home. These peo-
ple follow the initial pioneer and them-
selves inspire others to follow. This is the
phenomenon of chain migration, and there
is ample evidence to suggest that it was an
important characteristic of the Icelandic
experience. By making this or some other
argument the organizing principle of the
latter chapters, all of the detail would have
seemed worthwhile.
The descriptive settlement accounts
peppered throughout the book are based
on printed Icelandic-North American
sources, particularly the community and
settler narratives in Olafur S.
Thorgeirsson’s Almanak (1898-1954),
Porsteinn P. Porsteinsson and Tryggvi
Oleson’s five-volume opus Saga Islendinga
I Vesturheimi (1945-1953). One of the great
strengths of the book is that by paraphras-
ing from these Icelandic language sources
and translating direct quotes, Thor has pro-
vided English-language readers with access
to information that would otherwise be
off-limits.
Paradoxically, Thor’s reliance on the
Almanak and the Saga Islendinga I
Vesturheimi, as well as the English-lan-
guage histories of Wilhelm Kristjanson and
Walter Lindal, is also one of the book’s
greatest weaknesses. Apart from the chap-
ter on the religious controversy, there is
very little in the way of original research
based on rare manuscript sources such as
diaries and letters. Thor does use letters
and diaries, but they are generally from the
printed sources and are the same ones that
appear in the notes of Thor’s historian pre-
decessors. Because he does not attempt to
find new sources, or use the old ones in a
significantly new way, the potential for
originality is limited.
Still, Thor’s book can be seen as a way
for readers—especially people of Icelandic
descent—to reconnect with the history of
the Icelanders in North America. This is a
positive contribution; it may very well
spark readers on this side of the Atlantic to
ask questions that Thor does not, and
inspire a renaissance in Icelandic-North
American history-writing similar to what
is currently happening in Iceland.
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