----- Original Message -----

From: Alfta

To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 6:45 AM

Subject: RE: [norse_course] Book translation recommendation

Sæl Alfta!

 

I´ve just visited your site and was very impressed.  But it made me realise that my original idea probably isn´t appropriate... but here it is anyway - Olafur Ragnarsson has recently written a book about Halldór Laxness which I´m sure many English-speaking people would love to see in translation, but I don't think it fits very well with the ethos of your site... what do you think?

 

Kveðja,

Sarah.

 

 

Heil Sarah!

 

That is an interesting suggestion.  There are certain of his works that do seem, from their description, to be a bit beyond the scope of our site but others sound intriguing to me, especially his tetralogy, Ljós heimsins. One of our goals is to promote Northern European culture in general so Ljós Heimsins I think I will definitely consider recommending. I would think the person volunteering to do this would only be able to translate one work in this series but then it would serve as a good introduction to his work for readers of English, I would think.  Do you know if his work has been translated into English before?  Being a Nobel Prize winner the thought occurred to me that it might have been. I found his acceptance speech moving, especially in dealing with the importance of kin and community in his life.  I thought I might quote a section from his acceptance speech when he received the Nobel that honors those nameless writers of the sagas who, in his words, “live in their immortal creations.”

 

“My thoughts fly to the old Icelandic storytellers who created our classics, whose personalities were so bound up with the masses that their names, unlike their lives' work, have not been preserved for posterity. They live in their immortal creations and are as much a part of Iceland as her landscape. For century upon dark century those nameless men and women sat in their mud huts writing books without so much as asking themselves what their wages would be, what prize or recognition would be theirs. There was no fire in their miserable dwellings at which to warm their stiff fingers as they sat up late at night over their stories. Yet they succeeded in creating not only a literary language which is among the most beautiful and subtlest there is, but a separate literary genre. While their hearts remained warm, they held on to their pens.”

 

We all are indebted to them for the great gift they have selflessly left for us.

 

Many thanks!

-Alfta

Sumir hafa kvæði...
...aðrir spakmæli.

- Keth

Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
norse_course-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com


Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.