Straight Chatting from the LIbrary: Sverrir Sigurdsson

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What is a saga? The Chinese have their Great Wall, the Egyptians the Pyramids, the Germans have Beethoven, and the Italians Leonardo de Vinci. Iceland has the Sagas. (In the Scandinavian languages the word saga means story or history.) Written in the Icelandic vernacular language from about 1200 to 1350 when all self-respecting scholars in Europe were writing in Latin, the Sagas tell about events that happened a few hundred years earlier. In that way, it’s similar to the Bible and many other ancient texts.

One of the first sagas, The Book of Settlements tells us about the first settlers in the country— where they put down roots in the uninhabited island, whom they married, and who their descendants were. It is a dry, and some would say boring, account of who’s who in Iceland in the 9th century. As a historical account it is invaluable. As time went by, various writers embellished the stories and turned them into what’s comparable to today´s historical novels. The heroes and heroines talk to us, they love, hate, and fight. When the hero, Gunnar in Niall´s saga, asks his wife for a lock of her hair to replace his broken bow string during an attack on his home, she refuses, reminding him of how he slapped her in the face during a domestic dispute. Gunnar is killed in that battle. Over time, the Sagas continued to evolve. The stories became increasingly fantastical and the realistic historical novels gave way to tales of superheroes performing magical feats. The writing finally ceased during the Little Ice Age in the 14th century, when the country descended into poverty and misery. But itinerant story tellers told and retold the stories as they traveled from farm to farm to entertain the inhabitants.

During the 18th century, the Icelandic scholar Árni Magnússon collected all the Saga manuscripts that he and his associates could lay their hands on in Iceland. Because Iceland was then a colony of Denmark, with Copenhagen as capital, the manuscripts were archived in the library of the University of Copenhagen. During a disastrous fire in Copenhagen in 1728 which destroyed more than a quarter of the city, some of the collection was destroyed. Fortunately, most of it was rescued. Since Iceland became independent in 1944, it has built a special institute in Reykjavik to house a major part of the collection, including the aforementioned Book of Settlements. A sister institute in Copenhagen, the Arnamagnæan Institute, still retains the rest of the collection.

The authorship of the Sagas is not known although there have been guesses. Chieftain Snorri Sturluson, who died in 1241, is believed to be one of the authors, and a museum in west Iceland is dedicated to him. The manuscripts were written on calf’s skins, also called vellum, and because of the cost of such commodity, some of the writing was erased to allow the vellum to be reused for a different story. Modern x-ray techniques have allowed some of the erased text to be restored. To save space, much of the writing was in shorthand, which renders it illegible to the casual reader. On my bookshelf in the DC area, you will find the entire 42 hardbound volumes of the sagas occupying some six feet of shelf space. In this version, the shorthand has been expanded into a legible form. The ancient language has changed so little during these hundreds of years that I can read the prose without difficulty. The convoluted poems, however, are a different story.

Every Icelandic child studies the sagas in elementary school, and more in-depth in the higher grades. The most popular are the ones akin to historical novels, such as Niall’s saga, which is considered among the best written. It’s a story of Niall and his sons, feisty, complex characters who become embroiled in feuds with their neighbors. Although Niall is a wise, peaceful man, he can’t escape the scourge of vengeance. The book presents a comprehensive picture of Icelandic life in the 13th century. For anyone interested in reading the sagas, this is a good one to start with.

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This vivacious personal story captures the heart and soul of modern Iceland. Born in Reykjavik on the eve of the Second World War, Sverrir Sigurdsson watched Allied troops invade his country and turn it into a bulwark against Hitler’s advance toward North America. The country’s post-war transformation from an obscure, dirt-poor nation to a prosperous one became every Icelander’s success. Spurred by this favorable wind, Sverrir answered the call of his Viking forefathers, setting off on a voyage that took him around the world.

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I left Iceland to pursue university studies in Finland in August 1958. I was a nineteen-year-old embarking on my quest to see the world. In my youth I had deeply admired the adventures of the Vikings. Even after the Viking Age was over, young Icelanders often did a stint in Norway, serving a king or nobleman and performing heroic feats in battle. In the modern era, this tradition takes the form of studying overseas and competing in international business and professional arenas. Like my forefathers, I needed to travel to distant lands to prove myself, and then I would return home and use my skills to help make my country one of the greatest in the world.

I was giddy with optimism in those days. Actually, it wasn’t just me. The whole nation was in a state of euphoria. Everything was going right for our newborn republic. With financial aid from the U.S. Marshall Plan, the country reconstructed the ageing fishing fleet that had been decimated by war and neglect. The World Bank, a United Nations affiliate that would employ me many years later, provided loans to Iceland to build the groundwork for an economic boom. Many more bonuses came our way during the Cold War, when the two superpowers contended for our loyalty. Iceland played hard to get, driving the rival suitors to shower her with gifts.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Sverrir Sigurdsson grew up in Iceland and graduated as an architect from Finland in 1966. He pursued an international career that took him to the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the U.S. His assignments focused on school construction and improving education in developing countries. He has worked for private companies, as well as UNESCO and the World Bank. He is now retired and lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and coauthor, Veronica.

Veronica Li emigrated to the U.S. from Hong Kong as a teenager. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master’s degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University. She has worked as a journalist and for the World Bank, and is currently a writer. Her three previously published titles are: Nightfall in Mogadishu, Journey across the Four Seas: A Chinese Woman’s Search for Home, and Confucius Says: A Novel.

Veronica Li Website: http://www.veronicali.com
Sverrir Sigurdsson Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Sverrir-Sigurdsson/e/B08LFYCCPD
Veronica Li Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Veronica-Li/e/B001JOSCAQ
Sverrir Sigurdsoon Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tssigurdsson
Veronica Li Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veronica.li.39
Sverrir Sigurdsson Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sverrir_Sigurds
Veronica Li Twitter: https://twitter.com/VeronicaLi5
Veronica Li Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/142534.Veronica_Li
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