Romanticism and Realism
Nineteenth-century literature is characterized by using the Romantic motion (added to the us of a from Denmark) and by the strong nationalism which turned into formed by using Icelanders’ battle for independence. Many of the country’s maximum adored poets are from this time and they're usually known as the “countrywide poets.” The maximum well-known and dearly cherished of these poets is, absolutely, Jónas Hallgrímsson (1807-1845), who composed some of the maximum beautiful poems to be located in the Icelandic language. He changed into an lively campaigner during Icelanders’ battle for independence, assisting their fight with poems like Gunnarshólmi and Ísland, poems which, to these days, gas Icelanders’ nationalism.
Realism made its first look in Icelandic literature in 1882 when 4 Icelandic college students in Copenhagen, below the impact of the Danish literary critic Georg Brandes, started out ebook of the periodical Verðandi. Three of those students are considered among the most vital realist authors: Gestur Pálsson (1852-1891), who became a pioneer of Icelandic short tale writing, and Einar Kvaran (1859-1938), a extraordinarily influential writer at the start of the 20th-century but who fell into obscurity when nevertheless a younger author. The third creator turned into Hannes Hafstein (1861-1922), who turned into best twenty-one year old when he published his first poems in Verðandi. Hannes came as a breath of clean air in Icelandic poetry and a lot of his poems are nonetheless famous. Hannes changed into a stately man and turned into well known by means of many, not merely on account of his poetry however also for his political position. He become Icelanders’ first Prime Minister when they gained home rule in 1904. Of the equal era as this poet turned into Stephan G. Stephansson (1853-1927). He moved to America when he was young, but is one of the maximum incredibly esteemed poets to have written in Icelandic.
The First Decades of the Twentieth-Century
1900–1930 is the length of the New Romantic movement in Iceland.
At the start of the 1900s, there had been approximately eighty,000 Icelanders. Reykjavík was the biggest metropolis, with some 6,000 citizens. In 1925, the range of citizens had grown to 20,000. Rapid social modifications made there mark at some point of this time, and political struggles again revolved around the country wide sovereignty issue. The poets did their utmost to heighten nationalist sentiment among the humans. Amongst different matters, many so-called “flip of the century poems” (this is, “aldamótaljóð”) were composed, stressing the harmony of the people and an positive perception in destiny progress.
The ebook marketplace within the in moderation populated Iceland become small. In the first decade of the century, 46 unique prose works were posted, or approximately five in step with year. Books of poetry were more commonplace, with a few ten collections of poetry posted every yr. Under such conditions, it turned into now not to be predicted that authors may want to see their way to devoting themselves to their literary work. As such, many left Iceland’s shores with their artwork, in particular to Scandinavia. The high-quality-known of these authors is Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889-1975). He lived in Denmark and wrote his works in Danish. Amongst his works is Saga Borgarættarinnar (1912-1914).
Þórbergur Þórðarson changed into a present day of Gunnar’s but lived in Iceland. He has had a massive have an effect on on Icelandic literature, but few of his works are to be had in translation. His works include Ofvitinn, Bréf til Láru, Íslenskur aðall and Í Suðursveit.
Women within the Circle of Authors
The first lady to make her livelihood with the aid of writing become Torfhildur Hólm (1845-1918). However, it turned into difficult for girls to observe in her footsteps as it become concept that such interests had been now not inside the variety of girls’s abilties. In Mánaðarrit Lestrarfélags kvenna Reykjavíkur (1913), the woman poet Theodóra Thoroddsen(1863-1954) made the subsequent factor approximately girls and literature:
"The state of affairs concerning poetic talent is that, as with most different intellectual capabilities, we girls are taken into consideration not so good as men. The reason of this may be left unsaid right here, whether our wits ought to stability poorly in contrast to theirs, as some could have it, or that it has its roots in lots of centuries of highbrow and bodily oppression."
Theodora changed into recognized, especially, for her nursery rhymes.
Nevertheless, one of the maximum talented poets of the period was a female. Her call changed into Unnur Benediktsdóttir Bjarklind (1881-1946), however took the pen name Hulda. She wrote many poems, brief tales, and the unconventional Dalafólk (1936-1939), a mature story with a girl within the essential function.
Social Realism 1930-50
Nationalism was still some thing of a winning pressure in literature of the length 1920-1930, but within the following decade massive changes came about. Most of the crucial authors of the length were supporters of socialism. Authors did their nice to jot down sensible works set in their own time. Emphasis changed into placed on what mild origins and social conditions ought to shed on characters depicted in the testimonies, stories wherein society became made chargeable for the fate of its members and their rise up towards their conditions. Literature in the course of this time frequently result in political turmoil in society. This turned into on account of the criticisms which those works made approximately the scenario of the poor and those with less social influence.
The predominant Icelandic writer of the 20th-century, Nobel Laureate Halldór Kiljan Laxness, changed into the most influential creator of the length. The length commenced approximately the time that his novel Salka Valka (translated into English below the identical identify), came out and ended around the time of the ebook of Atómstöðin (1948, The Atom Station). In the time between those dates, the author produced Sjálfstætt fólk (1934-1935, Independent People), a work which generated a amazing deal of cultural and intellectual disquiet. Many have been angered via the picture which the author drew of proletarian, independent farmer, Bjartur of Summerhouses, and his manner of existence: it was felt that the writer dealt harshly with Icelandic farming subculture. Next, he published Heimsljós (1937-1940, World Light) and Íslandsklukkan (1943-forty six). He additionally posted many different pieces all through the period, consisting of poetry, plays, and essays. Those who've an hobby in getting to know about Icelandic literature ought to examine paintings written by means of Halldór: his novels had been translated into many languages. Halldór Kiljan Laxness obtained the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955.
Heyday for the Novel
During the duration recognized for social realist fiction (1930-1950), there has been actual heyday for the radical. Radical authors followed the type of difficulty count number selected with the aid of Halldór Kiljan Laxness and dealt with the “little humans” of society and their unjust treatment. Here, possible cite Halldór Stefánsson (1892-1979) and Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson (1918-1988), the latter prevailing the Nordic Council Literature Prize for 1976 for poetry, the primary Icelander to do so.
In 1938, the radical Sturla í Vogum by Guðmundur G. Hagalín was posted. The novel changed into seemed on as a reply to Sjálfstætt fólk (posted in English as Independent People). Sturla, the important person of the radical, is a grand hero inside the New Romantic fashion, the complete opposite to Bjartur of Summerhouses.
One of the maximum popular Icelandic authors is Guðrún Árnadóttir from Lundur (1887-1975). She wrote a superb many novels (which enjoyed exceptional favour) approximately lifestyles inside the united states of america, including Dalalíf I-IV (1946-1951). She wrote her remaining novel, Utan frá sjó I-III in 1970-1972.
Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir (1895-1967) is best regarded for her books for youngsters and youngsters, and her books approximately Dóra and Vala have been very famous. Yet, among 1941-1967 she additionally wrote 9 novels for a mature readership. They are approximately women’s inner and outer conflicts for the duration of a period of the state’s records whilst substantial social adjustments have been taking location. Dr. Dagný Kristjánsdóttir wrote her doctoral thesis, Kona verður til, about these testimonies: it's far the first doctoral thesis to be written about Icelandic ladies’s literature.
Other authors set their mark at the period, consisting of Guðmundur Daníelsson (1910-1990), a very productive novelist, and Kristmann Guðmundsson (1901-1983), who lived for a long time in Norway and wrote his tales in Norwegian. After he back to Iceland, he became a debatable author. His works consist of Félagi kona (1947) and he become one of the first in Iceland to write down a technological know-how fiction novel, Ferðin til stjarnanna (1959). Guðmundur Kamban (1888-1945) became resident in Denmark. His satisfactory-known paintings is the ancient novel, Skálholt I-IV, which he posted in Danish and Icelandic (1930-1935).
Elínborg Lárusdóttir (1891-1976), wrote and posted a number of books on mediation and occult subjects as well as novels and Þórunn Elfa Magnúsdóttir (1910-1995) wrote Dætur Reykjavíkur (1933-1938), pioneering amongst works on Reykjavík.
Modernism 1950-1970
The length around the 1950s and on is referred to as the modernist duration in Icelandic literature. At that point, there was a actual surge in Icelandic poetry which challenged antique Icelandic poetic traditions and which, a bit later, stimulated a similar surge in prose fiction. Short story writers allowed themselves extra freedom in form than had, to this point, been customary and used diverse features of poetic composition. The style of those tales became greater poetic and much less importance become attributed to an thrilling plot, before considered the significant function of a quick tale.
Thor Vilhjálmsson (1925-2011) is one of the chief pioneers of modernist prose in Icelandic literature. He wrote books about the “current man” for the duration of the seventies and eighties in a totally poetical and pictorial way. His modernist novels are Fljótt, fljótt sagði fuglinn (1968, in English Quick, Quick said the Bird) and Óp bjöllunnar of 1970 (lit. “The Bell’s Cry”). In 1972, he posted the novel Folda, which enjoyed extensive reputation. In the historical novel, Grámosinn glóir (1986, lit. “The Grey Moss Shines”), Thor applies his stylistic capabilities to full and fantastic impact: the ebook earned him the Nordic Literature Prize.
Ásta Sigurðardóttir (1930-1971) changed into an writer and artist. She had a sturdy affect at the course of modernism together with her brief story Sunnudagskvöld til mánudagsmorguns (1951, lit. “Sunday Evening to Monday Morning”), which both moved and shocked humans.
There turned into something of a decline in wide variety in literary fiction between 1950–1960, but the maximum important novel of the last decade is, absolutely, Gerpla (1952, posted in English as The Happy Warriors) by means of Halldór Kiljan Laxness. Gerpla is a parody of the Old Icelandic saga Fóstbræðra saga (The Foster Brothers’ Saga). Amongst different matters, the tale reveals how the writer offers with the past. The next of Halldór’s novels, Brekkukotsannáll (posted in English as The Fish Can Sing), changed into published in 1957, Paradísarheimt in 1960 (Paradise Reclaimed), Kristnihald undir jökli in 1968 (Under the Glacier), and Innansveitarkronika in 1970 (The Bread of Life).
The destiny of the technology of individuals who moved in another country and into metropolis is well illustrated by way of Indriði G. Þorsteinsson (1926-2000) in his novels 79 af stöðinni (1955, lit. “Seventy Nine Leave the Station”) and Land og synir (1963, lit. “Of Land and Sons”).
Jakobína Sigurðardóttir (1918-1994) awakened hobby in her unusual narrative strategies within the tales Dægurvísa (1965), which was the primary “hópsaga” in Iceland (or tale with a couple of fundamental man or woman or hero), and Snaran (1968, lit. “The Trap” or “The Noose”).
Svava Jakobsdóttir (1930-2004) has advanced a very good recognition, specially for her short testimonies. Her fine recognized tale, Legjandinn (1969), has been interpreted keenly as a symbolic illustration of the relations between the Icelandic human beings and the American troops. But she has also been read from the point of view of girls’s liberation.
Guðbergur Bergsson b. 1932 published his first novel, Músina sem læðist, in 1961 and in 1966 he published the most incredible e book of the last decade, Tómas Jónsson: Metsölubók. Guðbergur’s stories are typically visible as protests against the conventional constraints of the unconventional form, along with the manner time is reckoned and characters delineated. Guðbergur’s testimonies stimulated a energetic dialogue, even debate, approximately literature and related subjects.
The Contemporary from 1970
Student protests associated with the technology of ’sixty eight, and with the doubts over bourgeois values and other social problems which marked that technology, had their effect on literature. There become loads of dialogue about peace and environmental subjects in these years, and the Vietnam War performed its component on this. The battle for same rights for ladies increased in electricity and manifested, amongst different matters, in the debate about girls’s area in society. Important articles on this problem seemed around the mid-Eighties, along with the ones by way of the literary scholar Helga Kress. Many of these papers may be observed in a collection of her articles published below the identify of Speglanir in 2000.
After 1970, a brand new technology of authors got here forward, born in a country which turned into now an impartial republic and present process fast social trade. The paintings of these authors changed into, to begin with, realistic however later they got here to lay their emphasis on fashion, and lots of the paintings through current Icelandic authors could be very lyrical. In precise, one may cite authors like:
Vigdís Grímsdóttir (b. 1953), who has received observe for her in particular lyrical style: her novel Kaldaljós (1987) is a great instance of magical realism in Icelandic literature;
Einar Már Guðmundsson (b. 1954), one of the maximum completed novelist of the 1990s: he turned into presented the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize (In Icelandic, “Bókmenntaverðlaun Norðurlandaráðs”) in 1995 for his novel Englar alheimsins and a film primarily based at the tale, directed via Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, became launched in 2000 and;
Steinunn Sigurðardóttir (b. 1950), regarded, particularly, for brief memories and novels written within the modernist and postmodernist spirit: her works include Tímaþjófurinn (1986) and Hjartastaður (1995).
Other widely recognized present day authors are:
Pétur Gunnarsson (b. 1947), who made his breakthrough (and obtained terrific praise from readers) together with his first novel Punktur punktur komma strik (1976). A continuation of the tale came out in 3 volumes among 1978-1985;
Fríða Á. Sigurðardóttir (1940-2010) become awarded the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize for 1992 for her novel Meðan nóttin líður;
Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson (b. 1962), who has written both short memories and novels within the spirit of the sensible lifestyle. His most latest novel, Endurkoman, came out in 2015;
Þórarinn Eldjárn (b. 1949) is a poet and novelist. He has loved brilliant reputation for his poems and, among different matters, has published funny books of poetry for children. He has written some of historical novels, the maximum latest being Hér liggur skáld (2012);
Einar Kárason (b. 1955) is known for his novels approximately life in Reykjavík’s barracks district. Barracks left from the years of army profession (for the duration of World War II) had been used as residences within the years after the warfare when there has been a shortage of housing within the town. Einar makes life in these one of a kind regions his theme in a 3-element tale: Þar sem djöflaeyjan rís (1983), Gulleyjan (1985), and Fyrirheitna landið (1989). The movie with the aid of Friðrik Þór Friðriksson referred to as Djöflaeyjan (or Devil’s Island, 1996) is primarily based on those tales;
Kristín Ómarsdóttir (b. 1962) is a novelist and playwright. She is counted amongst the maximum bold experimentalists of Icelandic literature of the last few years. Amongst her works is the novel Elskan mín ég dey (1997);
Gyrðir Elíasson (b. 1961) is a poet and novelist. He has drawn note for his eloquent style and one-of-a-kind use of figurative language. He changed into awarded the Nordic Council Literature Prize for 2011 for a set of brief memories referred to as Milli trjánna (2011);
Guðrún Helgadóttir (b. 1935) acquired the Nordic Book Prize for Children’s Literature (in Icelandic, “Norrænu barnabókaverðlaunin”) for the novel Undan illgresinu (1992);
Hallgrímur Helgason (b. 1959) is an novelist and poet. His works include one zero one Reykjavík, a unique about modern-day society in Reykjavík. A film based totally at the tale and directed by way of Baltasar Kormákur, has been made below the equal identify.
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir (b.1958) is a novelist and a lector in artwork history and idea on the University of Iceland. Amongst her works is Afleggjarinn (2007) and her most latest novel, Ör, got here out in 2016.
Arnaldur Indriðason (f.1961) is one of the most popular writer today. Arnaldur has twice received The Glass Key for the fine nordic crime novel and inside the year 2005 his e-book Silence of the Grave (Grafarþögn) gained the CWA Golden Dagger Award.
Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson, Sjón (f. 1962) is a novelist and a poet. His e book Skuggabaldur (e. The Blue Fox) gained the Nordic Council Literary Prize in 2005.
There are young authors who've stepped into the highlight in the ultimate decade, along with Gerður Kristný, Andri Snær Magnason, Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir, Stefán Máni and Auður Jónsdóttir.
A Small Note on Poetry
Period of the countrywide poet
The nineteenth-century become the heyday of the Romantic movement in Icelandic literature. The maximum exceptional subject matter of the literature of the duration, not least of all poetry, became the Icelandic struggle for independence. Poets took an energetic part in the struggle by means of composing intensely patriotic poems. The first-rate acknowledged and maximum loved national poet, Jónas Hallgrímsson (1807-1845), changed into alive all through this time. His poems are as alive amongst the humans these days, with lovely melodies set to many of them. A choice of his paintings can be determined on a special web website online which has been installation through Dick Ringler of the University of Wisconsin-Madison inside the United States.
There become a positive amount of increase in nationalistic poetry all through the establishment of an independent Republic of Iceland in 1944 and inside the years proceeding. This is exemplified by Snorri Hjartarson (1906-1986) who composed one of the most well-known country wide poems of the length. It starts offevolved with the following stanza.
Land, þjóð og tunga, þrenning sönn og ein,
þér var ég gefinn barn á móðurkné;
ég lék hjá þér við læk og blóm og stein,
þú leiddir mig í orðs þíns háu vé.
Modernism in Icelandic Poetry
Icelandic poetry has, from its origins via to the mid twentieth-century, been characterized via alliteration (typically), of the begin of strange traces referred to as "höfuðstafir", and by way of rhyme. In the years 1945-1965, Icelandic poetry saw poets casting traditional constraints apart and begin to compose unrestricted poetry. Steinn Steinarr, Jón from Vör, Hannes Sigfússon, and Snorri Hjartarson are amongst the maximum prominent poets of the time. With his series of poems referred to as The Time and the Water (in Icelandic, Tíminn og vatnið), which first appeared in 1948, Steinn Steinarr became the most crucial pioneer of the modernist movement in Icelandic poetry. The first of the poem reads:
Tíminn er eins og vatnið,
og vatnið er kalt og djúpt
eins og vitund míns sjálfs.
Og tíminn er eins og mynd,
sem er máluð af vatninu
og mér til hálfs.
Og tíminn og vatnið
renna veglaust til þurrðar
motel í vitund mín sjálfs.
The metre is uncommon, although it has been composed with conventional rhythm as well as rhyme. Yet the poems ordinary image is impenetrable and those who had been accustomed to poems "being about some thing" discovered it hard to make out the that means. Little by using little modernism acquired its area in Icelandic poetry and one may additionally say that, with the near of the 1970's, it had gained a respected position in Icelandic literature.
The Origins of Icelandic Theatre
The Herranótt
It has been commonplace to look the records of Icelandic theatre as starting at Skálholt across the middle of the eighteenth-century with the so-referred to as “Herranótt”. The “Herranótt” changed into a form of play which faculty boys might perform once at some stage in wintry weather. The subject depend of the play is a coronation whereby the excellent pupil could, each yr, be crowned king. Others performed the bishop, monks, lawyers and different high workplace bearers. While the crown is being set at the king’s head, a speech is read out in Latin, the so-known as “Skraparotsræða” (in French, “Sermon joyeux”). Next, the noble guys technique the king and recite a congratulatory verse to him in Latin. Later, in 1785, the play (in a rather altered version) moved with the school from Skálholt to Reykjavík. The birthday party turned into banned in 1798, when the king within the play were given the idea to discard his energy as he did now not wish to be more than others, who prefer to work for the happiness of the country in cooperation with others. The authorities notion this to be dangerous, being afraid that it is able to bring about the type of revolution that happened in France.
The first play
The oldest play written in Icelandic is typically reckoned to be Sperðill, composed round 1760 via the Reverend Snorri Björnsson at Húsafell. However, humans disagree about whether or not the play became ever intended for performance. The first Icelandic play which is thought to have been composed for an target market is Bjarglaunin or Brandur (1790) by Geir Vídalín (1761-1823), later bishop of Iceland.
The father of Icelandic theatre
Sigurður Pétursson (1759-1827) has been named the daddy of Icelandic theatre: he changed into the primary to prepare what may be taken into consideration to be a mature creative play in Icelandic. As such, despite the fact that he wrote only plays, he become a pioneer of Icelandic theatre. The performs had been satires in the style of Holberg and were accomplished through school boys inside the Reykjavík School on 28 January 1799, twelve months after the Herranótt were banned. The first play changed into called Hrólfur or Slaður og trúgirni and the latter Narfi or Sá narratugi biðill, a comedy in 3 parts. It tells of Narfi, who suggests up at Guttorm the legal professional’s farm. Narfi claims to be the “assistant” of a Danish service provider. He woos legislator’s daughter and reckons that his prospects are most promising if he holds forth in Danish as much as feasible. The outcome is a ridiculous gibberish and he is defeated with the aid of his rival, Nikulás the labourer. The author deals with Icelanders’ upstart ways in the play, approaches which result in the entirety overseas being idea better and, in the technique, which downplay the values which have, for a long term, been the country’s dearest, language and subculture. It is notion that with this paintings Icelanders succeeded for the first time in creating a creative play.
The First Steps
In the rural society of the beyond centuries, the inhabited elements of Iceland had been decentralized and transport was frequently difficult. Theatre changed into tied to faculties in that it needed spectators for you to thrive. At the near of the eighteenth-century, city areas started to form in Iceland and Reykjavík and a number of other towns had been granted municipal rights. In the primary decade of the 19th-century, only about three hundred–four hundred humans lived in Reykjavík, but grade by grade Reykjavík got here to be appeared upon as the capital. It was to there that maximum positions were moved, including those which have been worried in governing the united states of america. With urbanization and the advent of a middle-class, a basis for theatrical life changed into fashioned.
The first legitimate performance
In the wintry weather of 1853-fifty four, the primary reliable overall performance in Iceland changed into held (i.E. To which tickets have been bought). The desire changed into the Danish play Pak by Thomas Overskous. The play turned into completed in Icelandic and, for the first time, women took part in the play.
The Outlaws
A turning factor in Icelandic theatre got here in 1862 with the overall performance of the play The Outlaws (in Icelandic, Útilegumennirnir or Skugga-Sveinn) with the aid of the country wide creator Matthías Jochumsson (1835-1920). The work was produced by using Sigurður Guðmundsson (1833-1874), a painter who turned into very influential in Icelandic cultural life in the course of his short life (he is, among different matters, acknowledged for having designed the Icelandic countrywide gown). Events in The Outlaws are drawn from Icelandic countrywide life of the 17th-century. The play enjoyed substantial recognition and has been put on level extra often than every other play in Iceland, each in theatres and via novice theatre groups, in sports venues, depots and storehouses spread some distance and extensive over the country.
New Year’s Night
When executed in a reconstructed model in 1907, New Year’s Night (in Icelandic, Nýársnótt) by Indriði Einarsson (1851-1939) announced the begin of a heyday in Icelandic theatre. The play virtually premiered in 1872, ten years after Matthías’s The Outlaws. New Year’s Night comes subsequent in popularity after The Outlaws. For the primary time, a play used elves for its characters (in Iceland, there has been sturdy interests in elves). In his coping with of drama, the play became idea to expose symptoms of the brilliant talent of this younger writer.
Sorcerer-Loftur and Mountain-Eyvindur
In the wake of the 1907 New Year’s Night there got here, amongst others, Jóhann Sigurjónsson’s (1880-1919) play, Sorcerer-Loftur (in Icelandic, Galdra-Loftur, 1914) and Mountain-Eyvindur (or Fjalla-Eyvindur, 1911), each based totally on Icelandic folk memories. These plays are among the maximum amazing performs inside the Icelandic theatrical corpus.
Guðmundur Kamban (1888-1945) wrote Vi mordere in 1920: Guðmundur wrote the fictitious paintings in Danish however the play came out in an Icelandic version in 1969, known as Vér morðingjar (that is, We Murderers).
The National Theatre 1950
When the National Theatre became mounted in 1950, Icelanders came into possession of a professional theatre residence. The Reykjavík Theatre Company (that is, “Leikfélag Reykjavíkur) had, due to the fact 1897, operated at a building called Iðnó. With the establishment of the National Theatre it become concept that the pastime of the Reykjavík Theatre Company could fall away, but that become not the enjoy, instead the life of professional theatres. With that, Icelandic theatrical life got here into bloom and Icelandic playwriting began to thrive. During the 1960s, 13 new Icelandic plays were premiered.
Most Productive Playwrights
Amongst the most efficient playwrights is Jónas Árnason (1923-1998). His performs encompass musicals with his brother, the musician Jón Múli (1921-2002), which have loved fantastic popularity.
Jökull Jakobsson (1933-1978) was the most effective playwright of the first years of the professional theatre. At the identical time, he wrote many thrilling radio plays. One of his plays, Hart í bak (1962), turned into performed extra than 2 hundred times.
Ólafur Haukur Símonarson (b. 1947) is the maximum productive playwright of latest years. He writes sensible plays wherein he tries to shed light on the lives of regular humans.
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