New Music Festival - Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

NMF ESSAY – DR. BIRNA BJARNADÓTTIR
Icelandic Culture
The poet Matthías Jochumsson’s
(1835–1920) vision of Iceland
and its thousand year history was
that of eternity’s flower, watered
by a shivering tear. The poet’s
idea could be considered a
contradiction to the country’s
geographical realities; Iceland,
placed on the edge of Europe, a
volcanic island in the Atlantic
Ocean, this “grave of fire” where
the “wastelands of earth appear”
– to quote Hannes Pétursson
(1931), another major poet of
Icelandic literature. How to
reconcile this fragile flower and
its shivering tear with an
unforgiving nature teetering on a
spectacular, oceanic edge? It is
the task of a vibrant cultural
heritage to explore and perceive
even the greatest paradoxes. In
this case, one that crosses
centuries, oceans and continents.
For those interested in the
origins of Icelandic culture,
medieval Iceland becomes an
unavoidable destination. In fact,
it was Europe’s smallest and
most isolated nation that – in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries
– pursued and preserved the
cultural heritage of Scandinavia
at large. The results can be
measured in the most significant
sources available on Norse
mythology – namely, the two
Eddas – along with several other
important texts, including The
First Grammatical Treatise, The
Book of Settlements, and the
equally fantastic Grágás, a source
on medieval law. The sagas of
kings, saints, and bishops –
which constitute no small
collection in themselves – have
not failed to impress. The same
holds true of the so called
contemporary sagas, these
16 OVERTURE I January – February 2012
reality–bites of Iceland’s
thirteenth century epic power
struggle. On top of all of this, a
group of anonymous writers
reinforced this already solid
foundation in committing to
vellum Europe’s first novels, the
Sagas of Icelanders. Widely
considered a unique literary
genre within the context of
world literature, the fictional
sagas tell of the lives of the
settlers and their descendants
during the Age of Settlement
(ca. 870–930) straight into the
rise and fall of The Icelandic
Commonwealth (ca. 930–1262).
But how did it happen that the
smallest and most isolated nation
in Europe became the
storehouse and creative centre
of Northern culture? Snorri
Sturluson (1149–1241), the
politician, lawspeaker,
mythographer, historian and
poet, may, in part, be held
responsible. Considered one of
the most important interpreters
of medieval European culture
and society, his Edda is a
brimming source on the art of
poetry that had been dying out
in the newly Christianized
Europe. Simultaneously, when
approaching the Norse
Olympus, Snorri’s Edda provides
us with an earthbound sense of a
mythic direction. His key source,
the poem Völuspá (The
Seeresse’s Prophecy), is the most
sacred text originating from
Northern paganism. Preserved
in the Codex Regius manuscript,
(also known as the Poetic Edda),
the poem reveals – with its
shattering description of the
beginning and the end of the
world – the enigmatic remains of
a pre–Christian worldview.
By the sheer force of a mythic
legacy, a certain cultural passage
into the world had been created.
In turn, the bridge leading from
the unforgiving and spectacular
edge of Europe can be perceived
as it crosses centuries, oceans and
continents. This is not intended to
suggest that the story of the
Icelandic cultural heritage is a
story of an unbroken victory
march. Iceland’s golden age – the
medieval miracle – came to an
end, only to be replaced by various
episodes of both natural and manmade
disasters. It was thus only
recently that eternity’s flower was
watered by a shivering tear.
No wonder, then, that the subject
of Icelandic language, literature
and culture is taught in over one
hundred universities world wide.
Of all the programs and centres
of study and research, however,
there is only one Department of
Icelandic Language and
Literature that exists outside of
Iceland. Thanks to a group of
Icelandic nineteenth century
immigrants and their
descendants, this department is
fostered here, in this city, by the
University of Manitoba. Embraced
by the continuous support of the
Icelandic community across
North America, the old country’s
equally generous mindset, and
the profound cultural
contribution of members of the
Icelandic community on both
sides of the water, the
department’s task is to pursue and
promote in North America a
certain cultural passage in the
world. Thanks to the 2012
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s
New Music Festival, people will
now be able to hear the sound of
this passage.
Dr. Birna Bjarnadóttir,
Chair and Acting Head
Department of Icelandic Studies
University of Manitoba