The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2006, Page 18

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 60 #3
Tales from Liceland
The Outdated Aspects of the Modern Icelandic
Canadian Identity
by Sara Weselake
“Without a poet you and yours/will
disappear and leave no trace.” This quote,
taken from the Icelandic Canadian immi-
grant poet, Stephan G. Stephansson’s poem
“Bragamal,” epitomizes the revered and
relied upon position literature holds among
people of Icelandic descent. According to
Daisy Neijmann, “literature constituted ...
the main cultural baggage of the Icelandic
immigrants and it remained the main vehi-
cle for cultural expression in the New
World, as well as the most important link
with the Icelandic past.”
Focusing on this consistently empha-
sized literary presence, the work of Charlie
Thorson and Guy Maddin, first and second
generation Icelandic Canadians respective-
ly, can be examined in terms of their artis-
tic contributions to the Icelandic Canadian
identity. The Icelandic Canadian identity
as absorbed by Thorson and Maddin is pre-
sented as therapeutic myths of identity
borne from their immigrant predecessors.
Both animator Charlie Thorson’s poem
“Liceland” and Guy Maddin’s film Tales
From the Gimli Hospital present a carica-
ture of the Icelandic Canadian identity as it
has permeated subsequent generations and
create a more radical perspective derived
from their own ethnic experiences and a
perceived stagnancy and inaccessibility of
the tradition identity.
The Icelandic quality experienced by
Thorson and Maddin is a remnant of the
tradition created by the Icelandic immi-
grants as a means of dealing with their new
environment. The beginning of the
migrants lives in Manitoba and the sur-
rounding areas tested the group’s resilience
in dealing with unknown methods of agri-
culture, unknown climate and food, and
the travesty of the small pox epidemic. The
result of these experiences combined with a
growing level of resentment from the
homeland expanded this perseverance into
more concrete aspects of the Icelandic-
Canadian identity. This identity is com-
posed of three beliefs emphasizing the
“Viking spirit of proud independence,
noble courage, and... utpra”, the unbear-
able nature of life in Iceland, and the atti-
tude that “Western Icelanders must be
shown to be both the best Icelanders and
the best Canadians.”
The fact that this identity was built to
be an unflinching shelter against the chal-
lenges of Old and New Iceland suggests a
potential unsuitability for times when the
storms subside. Writer Kristjana Gunnars
raises such questions about the usability
of an ethnic identity for first and second
generation Icelandic Canadians:
We do not really know where the
Icelandic culture in Canada has gone ... Is
belonging to a group like this in Canada
something you carry with you, as in cul-
tural roots that pervade your whole out-
look, or is it something contrived, as in
taking part in activities about which you
have no real feelings?”
Without a doubt, for the Icelandic
people who first encountered the New
World, the self-image they created for
themselves infiltrated all aspects of their
lives and could be readily applied to the
needs of the society. The pride of the
Icelandic Canadian identity itself has per-
sisted. Neijmann notes that it is “still quite
difficult to find works by Icelandic
Canadians which give a less idealistic and
more realistic picture of the Western
Icelanders” and that “those who did write
more critical works were certainly not the
more popular for it.”
One such artist who challenged the
modern conception of this traditional