The New International Encyclopædia/Icelandic Literature

ICELANDIC LITERATURE. In order to understand the remarkable brilliancy of the classical Icelandic literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it is necessary' to bear in mind the fact that the early settlers were among the cream of the Norwegian people. In spite of the political dilliculties that had induced these hardy Xorsenion to seek a liome almost in the ocean itself, intercourse between Iceland and the Scandinavian Peninsula continued to be very close, especially as a result of the frequent visits made to Norway by young Icelanders of rank. Another reason for the literary svipremacy of the early Icelanders is closely connected with one of the principal natural drawbacks of the island, its severe cliniate, and the consequent isolation of the people during the greater part of the year. Pcr-ions in Iceland were thus greatly thrown upou their own resources. As a result, the art of story-telling was resorted to for passing away the monotony of the dark winter days. The periodical meetings in summer were used for an interchange of news and of stories and poems, and to this day the Icelanders are probably the greatest lovers of oral literature. The Icelandic classics still fonn the most popular reading mat- ter of the masses of the people. This vitality of the Icelandic literature is again closely con- nected with social conditions. The Icelanders are a homogeneous people, and in reading the accounts of the early heroes of Iceland they read the stories of their own ancestors, whose names liave l)een familiar to them from early childhood. For them the long genealogies!, which the most patient foreign reader finds tiresome, are full of interest as family records of the remote past, and the most insignificant detail is fraught with the vividness of personal association.

Turning to the literature itself, we find, as is the case with the other literatures of the world, tliat the earliest monuments are in verse form. The earliest monument of Icelandic literature, furthermore, the so-called Older Edda, is, like our own Beowulf, the most important and in- teresting work produced, and claims, more than any other single work, the attention of Icelandic scholars. The Older Eddn is not a )>ocm, in the strict sense of the word, but a collection of more or less closely connected poems of varying length and character, which were preserved for a long lime by oral tradition, suffering inevitable changes in the process of transmission. For many centuries the manuscript containing the poems was forgotten, and on its discovery in 164.'? it was attributed to the classical writer Sitmund, called the Wise, who lived in the last half of the eleventh and the first half of the twelfth century. It has since been proved con- clusively that it was redacted by an unknown Icelander. A curious error is also frequently re- pealed with regard to the etymology ol the word Kdda itself, which is explained as meaning great- grandniother. As a matter of fact the name was improjierly extended from a prose work, the so- called Younger Edda, the work of iSnorri Stur- luson (q.v.). The age of the Older Edda has liceii greatly exaggerated, the oldest portions proliably belonging in their present form to the tenth century. (For an account of the poems, see Edua.) The Younger, or I'rose Edda, is of great value, because of the information it gives of Icelandic mythology and the language of the early skalds. It is a sort of «r.s- poetica, and was compiled for the guidance of young poets. Its style is admirable, its tales of the gods and god- desses being related with a due attention to effect. The style of most of the early Icelandic poetry is in marked contrast to the simplicity and directness of the classical prose. The most complicated figures and the most obscure refer- ences are freely used. The form is alliteration combined with assonance, or the agreement of medi.ii vowels. Most of the poems of the skalds are short, eight verses each, but some few longer poems occur. The most striking of the latter are the three poems by Egil Skallagrimsson, the hero of the Egils Saga. They are much simpler than the short poems by the same author, and are full of feeling and dignity. Egil's elegy on his son m,iy be ranked among the great jioems of the world. To the eleventh and twelfth centuries belong poems composed in imitation of the an- cient works, consisting of moral and didactic maxims, the former conceived from an assumed heathen, the latter from a Christian point of view. In the thirteenth century the skaldic art declined and gave place to an inferior literature ba.scd upon biblical stories and legends of the saints. Two centuries later appeared the ri»ia, or ballad, which closely resembles in form and subject matter the ballad as found on the Conti- nent. These continued in popularity until the seventeenth century. Frequently the classical sagas were paraphrased in these ritnas.

The earliest Icelandic prose belongs to the beginning of the twelfth century, when Ari the Wise (1007-1148) composed a histori' of his na- tive island and its population in the Islendinga- bole (The Book of the Icelanders), which is a revision of an earlier work by .ri. The value of this work is liistorical rather than literary, for its facts, while detailed and reliable, are not presented in an interesting style. It has been edited, with a German introduction and notes (llallc. I8!)l). The Landnama-bdk (Landtaking Book), also by Ari, is based upon the earlier l.ilendingabdk. It describes the discovery and settlement of Iceland, and contains detailed ac- counts of .'3000 persons and 1700 places. It was continued by others. There is an English trans- lation by T. Ellwood (London, 1898). These works entered largely into the composition of the annals of the early kings of Norway, com- posed a century later by Snorri Sturhison (q,v.), under the title of Ue rrcim.tkringla (Circuit ot the World), the opening word of the work. This work deserves special notice as being the most im- ]iortant historical contribution of the Middle Ages. It is characterized by a vivid slyle. and so strongly does it appeal to the Itt-lundir eonsfiuiisncss that it is still the most [Kipular liiMik after the Hible in Iceland. A new translation into UanoNor- wefrinn has iM-en made (llHIOl by <i. .Storm, and pul>lished with a subvention by the Norwefrian Parliament. The best edition in the orifrinal is that edited by K. J.'msson ( 18!i:il!l01 ). A con- tinuation of ' the llriiiiskriiiiila was composed by several authors. It has twice been translat- ed into Kn^'lish. by David I.ainK (London, 1844 and 188!l). and by W. Morris and K. Mag- nrtsson (London, IS!l.')). Other histories belong- ing to a later period are h'liiteyarbdk, contain- ing a rather confused selection of sagas, the Fwrcijinga/iafia, which tells of the introduction of Christianity into the Faroe Islands (translat- ed by K. York I'owell, 18!)G), and the Orhncy- ingasiiga. relating the history of the earls of the Orkneys. The parts of the Flalci/arMh relating to the' discovcn* of .merica have been edited by A. Jl. Reeves in The Finding of M'ineland the Hood (London, 181I0). The compilation of the laws of the island attracted the attention of the Icelanders at an early period, and in 1118 a complete code, known as the (IrAgus (gray goose), which had been derived from the ancient Norse law. was submitted to the Althing, or papular assembly, and in 1 123 the canons of the Church, or the krislinrcltr. were settled and reduced to writing. -V collection of these enactments in the ancient and sul.scqucnt codes has been made by Stepliensen and Sigurdsson (Copenhagen, I8,i:M, under the title of Lagasafn handa Is- landice.

Of hardly inferior interest to the Edda and the Heimskringla are the sapis (q.v.). This term in its broadest sense includes all Icelandic prose works of a narrative character. Thus, strictly speaking. Ari's works cited above are .aagas.as is also the Heimnkringla. But as gen- erally used the term saga is applied to shorter narratives, the interest of which centres in one person. The scene of the saga may be laid either wholly or in part in Iceland, or occasionally al- together outside of Iceland. .Sagas are divided into several classes, the first of which is the mythic-heroic. The representatives of this class often give a later version of some well-knowTi storj' which appears in other literatures. This is liotalily tlie case with the most interesting representative, the ViilKiinga Kagn. earlier traces of which ap|M'ar in the Kddas, and a later version in the Xihrlnniiinlicd (q.v.). It has been trans- lated by V. Morris and E. Magndsson (London. 1870). " The Vilkina Snga. treating of Dietrich of Bern, is later, and shows German influence. The Fridthinfs Sagn is of special interest as being the earliest version of the story made famous by the Swedish poet Tegni'r (q.v.). A number of legendary stories were translated into Icelandic prose, the most important of which is the Saga nf Hiirlrtiim and Jnniijthnt (q.v.). The second .and most characteristic class of sagas are the family sagas, accounts of inilividual men and their families. These biographies, as they would now be called, deal with the earliest settlers of the island, and extend to about lO.lO. They are marked by great simplicity of style, with frequent highlv dramatic passages, extreme detail, espe- ciallv in connection with genealogies and chro- nologies, and keen characterization. .A striking feature of all the sagas is the introduction of verses supposed to be the work of the characters. This is particularly noticeable in the hurniaks Hugo, which contains an average of over one ]>oem to each page. The family sagas are subdivided into two classes, the larger sagas and the smaller sagas. To the first belong the Xjah, the Fgils, the Laxdirla, and the Ktjrhyggja. Of these, the first has been admirably translated by G. Webbe Dasent (2 vols., Ediiiburgh. 18CI (", and the last was translated in a oundcnsed form by Sir Walter .Scott. The F.gils Saga has been edited with a German introduction and notes by I'innur ■Tonsson (Halle, 18!)4), and in the same scries the Laxdirla Saga has api)eared. edited by Kr. Kaalund (1896). Among the smaller sagas, the most interesting are the Kurniaka Saga and the Saga of Oiinnlaug 8eri>cnt Tongue, both of which are love tales. Apart from their litcrarj- quali- ties, the Icelandic sagas arc of great value in throwing light upon many Old Norse customs — religious, legal, and social — that would other- wise be entirely unknown. This is especially true of the Fgrbyggja. For the English reader, the introduction to Dascnt's translation of the Kgils Saga is of interest in connection with the general subject of sagas.

Modern Icelandic literature begins with the introduction of printing ( l.^.'JO) by the last Ro- man Catholic Bishop of Iceland. The first Ice- landic translation of the New Testjimcnt was made in 1540. During the seventeenth century many learned works were written, the leader in this movement being Amgrim Jonsson (1508- 1648). JIany manuscripts were collected and copied, and communication between Icelandic and Danish and Swedish scholars was close. Grammars and dictionaries were compiled, and many antiquarian works were published. Among the principal scholars of this period were Thor- mod Torfa>us (1636-1710) and .mi Magnfisson (q.v.). During this same period, and without intcrniplion down to the present day. Iceland has produced a surprisingly large nnmlx-r of poets — the largest number, indeed, in proportion to the population, of any country in Europe.. Among these poets may be mentioned llallgrimur Pje- tursson (1614-74). the leading Icelandic psalm- writer: Stefan Olafsson (1620-88) ; Eggert Olafs- son (1726-67 I : and .Jon Thnrlaksson (17441810). The latter made an excellent translati.in of Para- dise Lost and Klopstock's .Utssias. Among nine- tecnth-centurv poets may be noted Bjiirna Thora- rcnson (1786-1841), who is probably the most popular recent Icelandic poet ; J6nas Ilallgrims- son (1807-45), who introduced several foreign verse forms, notably the hexameter. Of the younger poets we may mention Ge.stur Pfilsson '(18.52-91); Slatthias Jochumsson ( IS.IS — ). one of the most productive Icelandic poets and au- thor of one of the few successful dramas; Tlior- steinn Eriingsson (1858 — ): and llanncs Ilaf- .steinn (1861 — ). The principal Icelandic novels are .T6n Thordarson's Pi/(ur ok Stulka (The Bov and the Girl) and ilathur ok Kona (Man and Wife).

Bibliography. The standard history of Old Norse literature is Finnur Jflnsson's Den Old- nnrske og Oldislanske I.itteraturs Historic (3 vols., Co^nhaeen, 1803-1000). The only treat- ment of the whole subject in English is Winkel Horn. History of the Literature of the (feandi- naiian Xorth. translated by Anderson (Chicago, 1884). This contains a useful bibliography. The Prolegomena to Vigfflsson's edition of the 8tur- liiitga Saga (Oxford, 1878) discusses the classical literature, and the same author's Corpus Poeti- eum Boreale ( ih., 1883) contains a complete col- lection of the iK>etrj' down to the thirteenth cen- tury, with English translations, notes, etc. The value of this work is impaired by the arbitrary arrangement of many of the poems, especially those of the Older Fd<Ia. Extracts from the literature will be found in Vigfusson and Powell, Icelandic Prose Reader (London. 18G8), and in other similar works. Consult also the introduc- tions to the translations of individual sagas in the Saga Librar;/, edited by Morris and ilagnfis- son (London, 1S84).