The Icelandic connection - 01.09.2010, Page 40

90
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 63 #2
Dickens’s characters would find daunt-
ing, as he finds himself careening
between poverty and comfort, family and
its absence, educational opportunity and
dawn-to-dusk labor.
Eirrkur's story doesn’t end with his
arrival in North America. Over two-thirds
of the novel is focused on Eirrkur’s life on
the new continent, as he grows up in
Nova Scotia and later moves to Manitoba
in adulthood. Bjarnason fills his story
with memorable characters and dramatic
incidents that paint a much different pic-
ture of the North American “Wonderland”
that enticed the nineteenth century
Icelandic settler. Far from being the
utopia they envisioned on their ash blan-
keted farm in Iceland, the North
American continent becomes a mysteri-
ous and challenging world, filled with
human kindness as well as shocking mis-
ery and despair.
Bjarnason has crafted a remarkable
tale providing today’s reader with a fasci-
nating glimpse into the life of a nine-
teenth century immigrant to these shores.
Borga Jakobson has complemented
Bjarnason’s work with her lively transla-
tion, making the fictitious young Eirfkur
as alive for us today as he was for those
Icelandic settlers who saw much of their
life story in his. And readers fascinated
with the Icelandic experience in North
America, can hail 2009 as a watershed
year, as they sample this bounty.
PHOTO BY MARSHALL BURGESS
Borga Jakobson and granddaughters Sara and Signy Perlmutter at the Markland Cairn. June 5, 2010.
Borga had a book launch for The Young Icelander in the afternoon.