The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2009, Page 51

Vol. 62 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
193
^nophobes®guide
TO THE
Xenophobe’s Guide to the
Icelanders
By Richard Sale
Oval Books, London, 2009
Reviewed by Henry Bjornsson
This is part book report and part reso-
lution of a bit of mystery. First, the book
report.
Xenophobe’s Guide to the Icelanders is
part of a series published by Oval Books in
England. A xenophobe is a person with a
morbid fear of foreigners or strangers, and
the series includes books written for the
benefit of such folks, with a focus on coun-
tries a xenophobe might particularly fear.
Most of the books in the series concern
larger countries, like the United States,
England, Russia, Germany, Japan, etc. A
small nation like Iceland would seem
unlikely to arouse much such fear, but the
book has been written and is available, and
it is certainly entertaining--maybe some-
body actually fears the Icelanders! It was
written by someone who obviously has
spent a fair amount of time in Iceland.
This is the kind of travel book that is
not afraid to step on a few toes, so it
includes some fairly barbed references to
drinking habits, some of the more exotic
foods, and the huldufolk, among other
aspects of Icelandic life a foreigner might
find different from home. It also includes a
critical look at the Icelandic economy and
factors leading to last year’s financial crash.
This is a short book of 86 pages. I
found it a fun read, but some Icelanders
and others protective of Icelandic sensibili-
ties may object to some of its observations.
On the last page, the author states, making
reference to himself: “He would like to
thank several Icelandic friends for their
(sometimes inadvertent) assistance with
this guide. Sadly, none of them is willing to
be identified.”
So much for the book report, now for
the mystery. In the last section of the book
is a poem called “The Icelandic Language,”
which is called a poem in Icelandic by
William Jon Holm. The poem, obviously
never written “in Icelandic,” is a version of
one of Bill Holm’s poems, leading to the
following email correspondence between
me and Oval Books:
To Oval Books (re: Xenophobe's
Guide to the Icelanders)
July 31, 2009
I am a second generation Icelandic
American; my father was born there, as
were my mother's parents. I do not speak
Icelandic, and had never made a visit until
last year, when I finally made it at age 75. It
is a wonderful and somewhat puzzling
place. Your observations and mine are
quite similar. I thoroughly enjoyed your
book, and will recommend it to others.