Icelandic Literature

With the 19th century, a linguistic revival and a resurgence of literary creativity began in Iceland. Throughout the century, the influence of European literary movements was felt. Romanticism, dominant in the 1830s and characteristic of the work of such poets as Bjarni Thorarensen and Jónas Hallgrímsson, was succeeded by realism and naturalism in prose fiction. The modern Icelandic novel may be said to have begun with Lad and Lass (1850; trans. 1890), a description of contemporary life by Jón Thoroddsen, a poet as well as a novelist. This early Icelandic fiction either is introspective in mood—as in the first novels of Einar Kvaran—or is given to clearly detailed pictures of stark rural life—as in Heidarbyýlid (The Mountain Farm, 1908-1911), a four-volume cycle by Gudmundur Magnuússon, who wrote under the pen name Jón Trausti.

Realism, in the form of satire, is manifested in the short stories of Gestur Pálsson and, in the ironic vein, in the poetry of Stephan G. Stephansson. An expatriate who lived as a farmer in Canada, Stephansson was noted for his sensitive use of language. Another major poet who lived abroad for extended periods of time was Einar Benediktsson, a writer in the lyrical vein who instilled his work with a pantheistic vision.

Outstanding prose writers in the 20th century have included Gunnar Gunnarsson, a master of characterization who wrote many of his novels in Danish, and Thórbergur Thórdarson, a superb stylist who won a wide following with his humorous autobiographical writings. The Icelandic author best known outside Iceland is Halldór Laxness, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1955. Among his expressionist, epic novels of Icelandic life are Salka Valka (1931-1932; trans. 1936), Independent People (1934-1935; trans. 1945), and World Light (1937-1940; trans. 1969). Post-World War II works include a novel about a would-be singer, The Fish Can Sing (1957; trans. 1966) and Innansveitarkronika (A Parish Chronicle, 1970). Among the several significant novelists now writing are Ólafur Jóhann Sigurdsson, author of such masterly novellas as The Changing Earth (1947; trans. 1979) and Bréf séra Bödvars (Pastor Bödvar's Letter, 1965); Indridi G. Thorsteinsson, who has recorded the stresses in 20th-century Icelandic society in novels such as North of War (1971; trans. 1981); Gudbergur Bergsson, an ironic commentator on the foibles of ordinary people; and Svava Jakobsdóttir, author of the symbolic Leigjandinn (The Lodger, 1969).

Traditional poetry in the 20th century is represented by the neoromantic Davíd Stefánsson, who sought inspiration in folklore and ballads, and Tómas Gudmundsson, an already classic master of style and diction, who became the city poet of Reykjavík. Newer trends were championed by Steinn Steinarr, whose modernist expression was synthesized in Tíminn og vatnid (Time and the Water, 1948). The most accomplished of contemporary poets tend to merge the traditional with a modern approach. Among them are Sigurdsson and Snorri Hjartarson, both of whom have won the Nordic Council's literary prize, Hannes Pétursson, and Matthías Johannessen.

Drama, a form not significant in Icelandic literature until the turn of the 20th century, is today represented by the work of such writers as Agnar Thoórdarson, whose Atoms and Madams (1957; trans. 1967) is a satire of modern city life, and Jókull Jakobsson, brother of Svava Jakobsdóttir, who wrote brittle, evocative plays in a Chekhovian vein.

Iceland has an exceptionally high rate of literacy—more books are produced per capita than in most other countries in the world.