Hjálmar Jónsson: Selected Poems reviewed

The book has been reviewed in the journal Scandinavian-Canadian Studies. An excerpt:

Though his work is still widely read in Iceland, Hjálmar is less well-known outside of the country than many other poets of his era, most of whom were educated in Copenhagen and were closely associated with Icelandic Romanticism and the independence movement (e.g. Jónas Hallgrímsson, Matthías Jochumsson, and Benedikt Gröndal). The publication of Hjálmar’s poetry in English translation thus offers hope that more poets from the nineteenth and early-twentieth century well-known within Iceland but less so outside of the country (e.g. Sigurður Breiðfjörð, Ólöf Sigurðardóttir, and Unnur ‘Hulda’ Benediktsdóttir Bjarklind) will have the opportunity to find their own English readership. Hjálmar Jónsson’s Selected Poems introduces readers to the work of a remarkable Icelandic poet in a well-executed translation, but the volume also helps to advance a richer image of Iceland’s vast and varied literary history.

Hjálmar Jónsson - Selected Poems

John Brown Press of Kansas, U.S.A. have published a book of my English versions of poems by the nineteenth century Icelandic poet  Hjálmar Jónsson ("Bólu-Hjálmar", 1796-1875), edited by Ólafur Gunnarsson. In addition to introductions and the poems themselves, the book also contains an Afterword consisting of a new translation of a biographical essay on Hjálmar by the Icelandic statesman, politician and poet Hannes Hafstein (1861-1922).

From the book:

A stream I heard within a gorge
it rushed on loud, and said:
I never halt, for time is short
to reach the goal ahead.

Thus does time cry out to me:
Take care now and beware,
I wait a moment for nobody,
for no one I wait there.

Hurry now, as I flow free
I'll move you, bear you high:
out to the sea of eternity
swiftly I do fly. 

October 2011: Iceland

Words Without Borders has published an Icelandic issue.

Biophilia

The seventh full-length album from Icelandic singer Björk is called Biophilia. According to the singer herself, the album springs from a wish to explore the structures of nature and music, to find out where they meet, and then to write the songs about it. One track, Crystalline, was released on June 27, and the whole album is expected to appear on September 26. The album has been recorded as a series of IPad apps as well as a standard CD, and also involves the use of At the present time it's not clear who wrote the lyrics of some of the songs, though Icelandic poet Sjón (Sigurjón B. Sigurðsson) is the author of 'Solstice', featured earlier in this blog.

Björk is currently introducing songs from the album at the Manchester International Festival, and the live performances include the use of images and back projections. According to the Wiki,

Björk will be performing "Biophilia" tracks and music from her back catalogue with a small group of musical collaborators, including an Icelandic female choir. The show will feature a range of specially conceived and crafted instruments, among them a bespoke pipe organ that accepts digital information and a pendulum that harnesses the earth’s gravitational pull to create musical patterns. Stephen Malinowski designed some animations on the show, creating videos that changed and fitted according to the music produced by the iPad: the animations are displayed for Björk to see them as a teleprompter, and also another animation is shown to the public created by the music produced by the iPad. Malinowski also designed the iPad apps animations, every song in the album has an animation within the app.

Solstice

by Sjón

when your eyes
pause on the ball
that hangs on the third branch from a star
you remember why it got dark and why it is getting light again

the earth (like the heart) leans back in its seat
and like that it travels along an orbit
drawn in the darkness

unpolished pearl in sky-black palm of hand
flickering sun-flame

you remember
that you yourself are a light-bearer
who receives her radiance from others

translated from Icelandic by David McDuff


sólhvörf

þegar augu þín
nema staðar við kúluna
sem hangir á þriðju grein frá stjörnu
þá manstu afhverju dimmdi og athverju birtir á ný

jörðin hallast í sætinu (eins og hjartað)
og þannig ferð ast hún eftir sporbraut
teiknaðri í myrkrið

ófægð perla í himinsvörtum lófa
flöktandi sólarlogi

þá manstu
að sjálf ertu ljósberi
sem þiggur ljóma sinn af öðrum

Anne Frank in Iceland

A poetry reading with a difference - Gerður Kristný presents one of her poems in an unusual time/space continuum. Click the arrow to watch.

The World of Alfreð Flóki

Reykjavík Art Museum has been holding a retrospective exhibition of the work of the Icelandic graphic artist Alfreð Flóki (1938-1987). As Sjón, the exhibition's curator and organizer, says in his introduction to the catalogue,

Alfreð Flóki holds a unique place in the history of Icelandic art. He was inspired by symbolism and surrealism, theories of mystics and poets, and did not shun away from offending his countrymen with the daring ideas that those dark wells fostered.

Flóki was a good friend to many of Iceland's poets, writers and artists. I also knew him at one time, and the influence of his tragic but vital personality went far beyond the limits of the everyday. It's good to see that his work is being honoured and appreciated now.

Letters from Iceland

Auden and MacNeice travelled to Iceland in 1936 and this joint publication, which came out the following year, is a scrapbook of original writing, quotations, travelogue and reflections on the difficulties of travelling round the saga island and the unbelievable awfulness of the food. Auden was of course a keen student of, and enthusiast for, all things Nordic. I am not sure if MacNeice fully shared these enthusiasms.

It is not always clear which author wrote which segment of the book, but the delight in the quirkiness of the Icelandic language which emanates from the following extract suggests Auden to me. The first four-line stanza (on the left) should of course be read from top to bottom (Falla .. daga), then it can be read in reverse (daga .. Falla) which replicates the stanza on the right.

In the second pair of stanzas, the one on the right is a translation (by Auden?) of the Icelandic original on the left.

(p.112)

They seem to have preserved a passion for ingenuity helped by their damnably inflected language, since the days of the Scald's [sic], whose verse would have broken St. John Ervine right up. Even now they write palindrome verses which can be read forwards or backwards, like this:

Falla tímans voldug verk Daga alla stendur sterk

varla falleg saga. Studla ríman snjalla

Snjalla ríman studla sterk Saga falleg varla verk

Stendur alla daga. voldug tímans falla.

Sentiment: Art is long and life is short or life is short and art is long. Or verses like this in which the second half is made up of the beheaded words of the first:

Snuddar margur trassin traudur Many a lazy idler lounger

Treinist slangur daginn And finds the day long;

Nudda argur rassin raudur The wicked one rubs his red bottom

reinist langur aginn. And finds discipline irksome.

Harry