Halldór Laxness

Halldór Laxness
Born (1902-04-23)23 April 1902
Reykjavík, Iceland
Died 8 February 1998(1998-02-08) (aged 95)
Reykjavík, Iceland
Nationality Icelandic
Notable awards Nobel Prize in Literature
1955
Spouses Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir (m. 1930–40)[1]
Auður Sveinsdóttir (m. 1945–98)

Halldór Kiljan Laxness (Icelandic: [ˈhaltour ˈcʰɪljan ˈlaxsnɛs]; born Halldór Guðjónsson; 23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was a twentieth-century Icelandic writer. Laxness wrote poetry, newspaper articles, plays, travelogues, short stories, and novels. Major influences included August Strindberg, Sigmund Freud, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Bertolt Brecht and Ernest Hemingway.[2] In 1955 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature; he is the only Icelandic Nobel laureate.

Early years

Laxness was born in 1902 in Reykjavík. In 1905 his family moved to a farm near the town of Mosfellsbær, about 15 km east of Reykjavík. He started to read books and write stories at an early age. In 1915 and 1916 he attended the technical school in Reykjavík and by 1916 he had an article published in the newspaper Morgunblaðið.[3] By the time his first novel was published (Barn náttúrunnar 1919), Laxness had already begun his travels on the European continent.[4]

1920s

In 1922, Laxness joined the Abbaye Saint-Maurice-et-Saint-Maur in Clervaux, Luxembourg. The monks followed the rules of Saint Benedict of Nursia. Laxness was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church early in 1923. Following his confirmation, he adopted the surname Laxness after the homestead on which he was raised and added the name Kiljan (the Icelandic name of Irish martyr Saint Killian).

Inside the walls of the abbey, he practiced self-study, read books, and studied French, Latin, theology and philosophy. While there, he composed the story Undir Helgahnjúk, published in 1924. Soon after his baptism, he became a member of a group which prayed for reversion of the Nordic countries back to Catholicism. Laxness wrote of his experiences in the books Undir Helgahnúk (1924) and, more importantly, in Vefarinn mikli frá Kasmír (The Great Weaver from Kashmir). The novel, published in 1927, was hailed by noted Icelandic critic Kristján Albertsson: "Finally, finally, a grand novel which towers like a cliff above the flatland of contemporary Icelandic poetry and fiction! Iceland has gained a new literary giant - it is our duty to celebrate the fact with joy!"[5]

"Laxness's religious period did not last long; during a visit to America he became attracted to socialism."[6] Between 1927 and 1929 Laxness lived in the United States, giving lectures on Iceland and attempting to write screenplays for Hollywood films.[7] He was "enamored" of Charlie Chaplin's film City Lights.[8] Laxness said that he "did not become a socialist in America from studying manuals of socialism but from watching the starving unemployed in the parks."[9] Also due, in part, to the influence of Upton Sinclair "... Laxness joined the socialist bandwagon... with a book Alþýðubókin (The Book of the People, 1929) of brilliant burlesque and satirical essays... "[10] "Beside the fundamental idea of socialism, the strong sense of Icelandic individuality is also the sustaining element in Alþýðubókin. The two elements are entwined together in characteristic fashion and in their very union give the work its individual character."[11]

1930s

By the 1930s Laxness "had become the apostle of the younger generation" and was "viciously" attacking the Christian spiritualism of Einar Hjörleifsson Kvaran, an influential writer who had been considered for the Nobel Prize.[12]

"… with Salka Valka (1931–32) began the great series of sociological novels, often coloured with socialist ideas, continuing almost without a break for nearly twenty years. This was probably the most brilliant period of his career, and it is the one which produced those of his works that have become most famous. But Laxness never attached himself permanently to a particular dogma."[13]

In addition to the two parts of Salka Valka, Laxness published Fótatak manna (Steps of Men) in 1933, a collection of short stories, as well as other essays, notably Dagleið á fjöllum (A Day's Journey in the Mountains) in 1937.[14]

Laxness's next novel was Sjálfstætt fólk (Independent People, 1934, 1935) which has been described as "… one of the best books of the twentieth century."[15]

When Salka Valka was published in English in 1936 a reviewer from the Evening Standard stated: "No beauty is allowed to exist as ornamentation in its own right in these pages; but the work is replete from cover to cover with the beauty of its perfection."[16]

This was followed by the four-part novel Heimsljós (World Light, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940), which was "… consistently regarded by many critics as his most important work."[17] It was loosely based on the life of Magnús Hjaltason Magnusson, a minor Icelandic poet of the late 19th century.[18]

Laxness also traveled to the Soviet Union and wrote approvingly of the Soviet system and culture.[19]

1940s

In 1941 Laxness translated Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms into Icelandic, which caused controversy because of his use of neologisms.[20]

Laxness' "epic" three-part work of historical fiction Íslandsklukkan (Iceland's Bell) was published, 1943–46.[21]

In 1946 Independent People was released as a Book of the Month Club selection in the United States, selling over 450,000 copies.[22]

By 1948 he had a house built in the rural countryside outside of Mosfellsbær. He then began a new family with his second wife, Auður Sveinsdóttir, who also assumed the roles of personal secretary and business manager.

In response to the establishment of a permanent US military base in Keflavík, he wrote the satire Atómstöðin (The Atom Station), an action which may have contributed to his being blacklisted in the United States.[23]

"The demoralization of the occupation period is described... nowhere as dramatically as in Halldór Kiljan Laxness' Atómstöðin (1948)... [where he portrays] postwar society in Reykjavík, completely torn from its moorings by the avalanche of foreign gold."[24]

1950s

Halldór Laxness by Einar Hákonarson, 1984

In 1953 Laxness was awarded the Soviet-sponsored World Peace Council Literary Prize.[25]

An adaptation of his novel Salka Valka was filmed by Sven Nykvist in 1954.[26]

In 1955 Laxness was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "… for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland":

"His chief literary works belong to the genre… [of] narrative prose fiction. In the history of our literature Laxness is mentioned beside Snorri Sturluson, the author of "Njals saga", and his place in world literature is among writers such as Cervantes, Zola, Tolstoy, and Hamsun… He is the most prolific and skillful essayist in Icelandic literature both old and new…"[13]

In the presentation address for the Nobel prize E. Wesen stated:

“He is an excellent painter of Icelandic scenery and settings. Yet this is not what he has conceived of as his chief mission. ‘Compassion is the source of the highest poetry. Compassion with Asta Sollilja on earth,’ he says in one of his best books… And a social passion underlies everything Halldór Laxness has written. His personal championship of contemporary social and political questions is always very strong, sometimes so strong that it threatens to hamper the artistic side of his work. His safeguard then is the astringent humour which enables him to see even people he dislikes in a redeeming light, and which also permits him to gaze far down into the labyrinths of the human soul.”[27]

In his acceptance speech for the Nobel prize he spoke of:

“… the moral principles she [his grandmother] instilled in me: never to harm a living creature; throughout my life, to place the poor, the humble, the meek of this world above all others; never to forget those who were slighted or neglected or who had suffered injustice, because it was they who, above all others, deserved our love and respect…”[28]

Laxness grew increasingly disenchanted with the Soviets after their military action in Hungary in 1956.[29]

In 1957 Halldór and his wife went on a world tour stopping in: New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Madison, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Peking, Bombay, Cairo and Rome.[30]

Major works in this decade were Gerpla, (The Happy Warriors and Wayward Heroes) 1952, Brekkukotsannáll, (The Fish Can Sing) 1957, and Paradísarheimt, (Paradise Reclaimed) 1960.

Later years

In the 1960s Laxness was very active in the Icelandic theatre, writing and producing plays, the most successful of which was The Pigeon Banquet (Dúfnaveislan, 1966.)[31]

In 1968 Laxness published the "visionary novel"[32] Kristnihald undir Jökli (Under the Glacier / Christianity at the Glacier). In the 1970s Laxness published what he called "essay novels": Innansveitarkronika (A Parish Chronicle, 1970) and Guðsgjafaþula (A Narration of God's Gifts 1972), neither of which have been translated into English.[33]

Laxness was awarded the Sonning Prize in 1969.

In 1970 Laxness published an influential ecological essay Hernaðurinn gegn landinu (The War Against the Land).[34]

He continued to write essays and memoirs throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. As he grew older he began to suffer from Alzheimer's disease and eventually moved into a nursing home where he died at the age of 95.

Family and legacy

Laxness had four children: Sigríður Mária Elísabet Halldórsdóttir (Maria, 10 April 1923 - 19 March 2016), Einar Laxness (9 August 1931 - 23 Mai 2016), Sigríður Halldórsdóttir (Sigga, b. 26 Mai 1951) and Guðný Halldórsdóttir (Duna, b. 23 January 1954). He was married to Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir (3 Mai 1908 - 22 January 1994) from 1930 (divorced in 1940), and Auður Sveinsdóttir (30 June 1918 - 29 October 2012) from 1945 (until his death in 1998).[35]

Gljúfrasteinn, his house and grounds (as well as his personal effects), is now a museum operated by the Icelandic government.[36]

Guðný Halldórsdóttir became a filmmaker whose first work was the 1989 adaptation of Kristnihald undir jōkli (Under the Glacier).[37] In 1999 her adaptation of the Laxness story Úngfrúin góða og Húsið (The Honour of the House) was submitted for Academy Award consideration for best foreign film.[38]

In the 21st century interest in Laxness increased in English-speaking countries following the re-publishing of several of his novels and the publication of Iceland's Bell (2003), The Great Weaver from Kashmir (2008) and Wayward Heroes (2016) in new translations by Philip Roughton.[39]

A biography of Laxness by Halldór Guðmundsson, The Islander: a Biography of Halldór Laxness, won the Icelandic literary prize for best work of non-fiction in 2004.

In 2005, the Icelandic National Theatre premiered a play by Ólafur Haukur Símonarson, titled Halldór í Hollywood (Halldór in Hollywood) about the author's time spent in the United States in the 1920s.

Bibliography

Works by Laxness

Novels

Stories

Plays

Poetry

Travelogues and essays

Memoirs

Translations

Other

References

  1. ↑ "Halldór Laxness love letters published". Iceland Review. 28 October 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Halldór Guðmundsson, The Islander: a Biography of Halldór Laxness. McLehose Press/Quercus, London, translated by Philip Roughton, 2008, pp. 49, 117, 149, 238, 294
  3. ↑ Kress, Helga; Tartt, Alison (2004). Stevens, Patrick J., ed. "Halldór Laxness (23 April 1902-8 February 1998)". Dictionary of Literary Biography.
  4. ↑ Guðmundsson, pp. 33-34
  5. ↑ Albertsson, Krístian, Vaka 1.3, 1927
  6. ↑ Halldór Laxness biography. nobelprize.org
  7. ↑ Einarsson, p. 317
  8. ↑ Guðmundsson, p. 173
  9. ↑ Laxness, Halldór,Alþýðubókin, Þriðja útgáfa (3rd edition), (Reykjavík, 1949), p.9
  10. ↑ Einarsson, Stefán A History of Icelandic Literature, New York: Johns Hopkins for the American Scandinavian Foundation, 1957, p. 292 OCLC 264046441
  11. ↑ Peter Hallberg, Halldór Laxness, Twayne Publishers, New York, 1971, p.60
  12. ↑ Einarsson, pp. 263–4
  13. 1 2 Sveinn Hoskuldsson, "Scandinavica", 1972 supplement, pp. 1–2
  14. ↑ Hallberg, p. 211
  15. ↑ Jane Smiley, Independent People, Vintage International, 1997, cover
  16. ↑ Guðmundsson, p.229
  17. ↑ Magnus Magnusson, World Light, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969, p. viii
  18. ↑ Hallberg, p.125
  19. ↑ Guðmundsson, p.182
  20. ↑ Guðmundsson, p.279
  21. ↑ Brad Leithauser, New York Times, February 15th, 2004
  22. ↑ Chay Lemoine (9 February 2007) HALLDÓR LAXNESS AND THE CIA.
  23. ↑ Chay Lemoine (18 November 2010). The View from Here, No. 8. icenews.is
  24. ↑ Einarsson, p. 330
  25. ↑ Guðmundsson, p. 340
  26. ↑ Guðmundsson, p. 351
  27. ↑ Presentation address for the Nobel prize by E. Wesen, 1955
  28. ↑ acceptance speech for the Nobel prize, 1955
  29. ↑ Guðmundsson, p. 375
  30. ↑ Guðmundsson, pp. 380–384
  31. ↑ Modern Nordic Plays, Iceland, p. 23, Sigurður Magnússon (ed.), Twayne: New York, 1973
  32. ↑ Susan Sontag, p.xv, introduction to Under the Glacier, Vintage International: New York, 2005
  33. ↑ Halldór Guðmunsson, Scandinavica, Vol. 42, No. 1, pg 43
  34. ↑ Reinhard Henning, Phd. paper Umwelt-engagierte Literatur aus Island und Norwegen, University of Bonn, 2014
  35. ↑ Guðmundsson, pp. 70, 138, 176, 335, 348, 380
  36. ↑ About Gljúfrasteinn – EN – Gljúfrasteinn. Gljufrasteinn.is. Retrieved on 29 July 2012
  37. ↑ Under the Glacier (1989) . imdb.com
  38. ↑ The Honour of the House (1999). imdb.com
  39. ↑ The man who brought Iceland in from the cold – Los Angeles Times. Latimes.com (23 November 2008). Retrieved on 29 July 2012
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