Icelandic Literature Society
   HOME
*





Icelandic Literature Society
The Icelandic Literary Society (Hið Íslenzka Bókmenntafélag), founded in 1816, is a society dedicated to promoting and strengthening Icelandic language, literature and learning. The society was founded in 1816, when the Icelandic independence movement was in its infancy, at the instigation of Rasmus Rask and Árni Helgason. Its stated purpose was "to support and maintain the Icelandic language and literature, and the civilization and honor of the Icelandic nation, by the publication of books or by other means as circumstances would permit."Halldór Hermannsson, ''The Periodical Literature of Iceland Down to the Year 1874,'' ''Islandica'' XI (1918)p. 26 The first meeting of the Copenhagen branch was held on 13 April 1816, and the first meeting of the Reykjavík branch on 1 August 1816. Rask was the first president of the Copenhagen branch; the first president of the Reykjavík branch (until 1848) was Árni Helgason. Jón Sigurðsson, an Icelandic cultural hero, served as presi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Icelandic Language
Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely related to Faroese, western Norwegian dialects, and the extinct language, Norn. The language is more conservative than most other Germanic languages. While most of them have greatly reduced levels of inflection (particularly noun declension), Icelandic retains a four- case synthetic grammar (comparable to German, though considerably more conservative and synthetic) and is distinguished by a wide assortment of irregular declensions. Icelandic vocabulary is also deeply conservative, with the country's language regulator maintaining an active policy of coining terms based on older Icelandic words rather than directly taking in loanwords from other languages. Since the written language has not changed much, Icelandic speakers can read classic ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Icelandic Independence Movement
The Icelandic Independence movement (Icelandic: ''Sjálfstæðisbarátta Íslendinga'') was the collective effort made by Icelanders to achieve self-determination and independence from the Kingdom of Denmark throughout the 19th and early 20th century. Iceland received a constitution and limited home rule in 1874. A minister for Icelandic affairs was appointed to the Danish cabinet in 1904. Full independence was granted in 1918 through the Danish-Icelandic Act of Union. This was followed by the severance of all ties to Denmark with the declaration of the republic in 1944. Background Through the signing of the Old Covenant in 1262, following the civil strife of the Age of the Sturlungs, Icelanders had relinquished sovereignty to Haakon IV, King of Norway. Iceland remained under Norwegian kingship until 1380, when the death of Olav IV of Norway extinguished the Norwegian male royal line. Norway (and thus Iceland) then became part of the Kalmar Union with Sweden and Denmark, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Rasmus Rask
Rasmus Kristian Rask (; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist and philologist. He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology. Rask traveled extensively to study languages, first to Iceland, where he wrote the first grammar of Icelandic, and later to Russia, Persia, India, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Shortly before his death, he was hired as professor of Eastern languages at the University of Copenhagen. Rask is especially known for his contributions to comparative linguistics, including an early formulation of what would later be known as Grimm's Law. He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1829. Early life Rask was born to Niels Hansen Rasch and Birthe Rasmusdatter in the village of Brændekilde near Odense on the Danish island of Funen. His father, a smallholder and tailor, was well-read and had a decently-sized book collection. As a child, Rask's scholastic ab ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan area has 2,057,142 people. Copenhagen is on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the Øresund strait. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road. Originally a Viking fishing village established in the 10th century in the vicinity of what is now Gammel Strand, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century, it consolidated its position as a regional centre of power with its institutions, defences, and armed forces. During the Renaissance the city served as the de facto capital of the Kalmar Union, being the seat of monarchy, governing the majority of the present day Nordic region in a personal union with Sweden and Norway ruled by the Danis ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a population of around 131,136 (and 233,034 in the Capital Region), it is the centre of Iceland's cultural, economic, and governmental activity, and is a popular tourist destination. Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which, according to Landnámabók, was established by Ingólfr Arnarson in 874 CE. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was officially founded in 1786 as a trading town and grew steadily over the following decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national centre of commerce, population, and governmental activities. It is among the cleanest, greenest, and safest cities in the world. History According to lege ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Jón Sigurðsson
Jón Sigurðsson (17 June 1811 – 7 December 1879) was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement. Biography Born at Hrafnseyri, in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of Þórdís Jónsdóttir and pastor Sigurður Jónsson. In 1833, he moved to Denmark to study grammar and history at the University of Copenhagen. While in Denmark, Jón developed syphilis and was bedridden for an extended period. According to historian , Jón showed little interest in politics prior to his bout with syphilis. After completing his education, Jón began to work at the Arnamagnæan Institute, which was then the home of the manuscripts of the Icelandic sagas. He became an expert on the sagas and on Icelandic history. He never graduated from university, as Icelandic politics grew to consume all his time. Before Jón moved to Denmark he proposed to his cousin, , and she and her father, Jón's uncle, accepted the proposal. However Jón and Ingibjörg ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Björn M
Bjorn (English, Dutch), Björn (Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, and German), Bjørn (Danish, Faroese and Norwegian), Beorn (Old English) or, rarely, Bjôrn, Biorn, or Latinized Biornus, Brum (Portuguese), is a Scandinavian male given name, or less often a surname. The name means "bear" (the animal). In Finnish and Finland Swedish, sometimes also in Swedish, the nickname Nalle ("teddy bear") refers to Björn. Surname *Claus Bjørn, Danish author, historian, and television and radio broadcaster *Evert Björn, Swedish Olympic athlete *Hugo Björne, Swedish actor *Kristian Bjørn, Norwegian skier * Lars "Lasse" Björn, Swedish Olympic ice hockey player *Thomas Bjørn, Danish golfer Given name Acting *Björn Andrésen, Swedish actor and musician *Björn Bjelfvenstam, Swedish actor *Björn Granath, Swedish actor *Björn Gustafsson, Swedish comedian and actor *Björn Kjellman, Swedish actor and singer *Björn Skifs, Swedish singer and actor Art and music *Björn Afzelius, Swedish musician ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sturlunga Saga
''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlungs, a powerful family clan during the Age of the Sturlungs period of the Icelandic Commonwealth. ''Sturlunga saga'' mostly covers the history of Iceland between 1117 and 1264."Sturlunga saga", Rudolf Simek and Hermann Pálsson, ''Lexikon der altnordischen Literatur'', Kröners Taschenausgabe 490, Stuttgart: Kröner, 1987, , pp. 339–41 It begins with '' Geirmundar þáttr heljarskinns'', the legend of Geirmundr heljarskinn, a regional ruler in late 9th-century Norway, who moves to Iceland to escape the growing power of King Harald Finehair. Jan de Vries, ''Altnordische Literaturgeschichte'', Volume 2 ''Die Literatur von etwa 1150 bis 1300; die Spätzeit nach 1300'', Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 16, 2nd ed. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1967, OCLC 270854789, p ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Þorsteinn Gylfason
Þorsteinn Gylfason (12 August 1942 – 16 August 2005) was an Icelandic philosopher, translator, musician and poet. Þorsteinn distinguished himself in Icelandic public life with his writings in newspapers, journals and publications. His life and accomplishments Early life Þorsteinn was born and raised in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. His parents were Guðrún Vilmundardóttir and Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslason, a university professor and government minister. He was the brother of Vilmundur Gylfason, a politician, and Þorvaldur Gylfason, an economist. Þorsteinn graduated from the Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík gymnasium in 1961 and subsequently received a grant to study at Harvard University. He left Harvard with a B.A. degree in philosophy, having studied under the tutelage of Willard Van Orman Quine. He returned home for graduate studies in Icelandic, and later attended the University of Munich and Magdalen College, Oxford from 1965 to 1971. At Oxford, he studie ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recognized as a significant writer in the German language.Biography: Rainer Maria Rilke 1875–1926
Poetry Foundation website. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
His work has been seen by critics and scholars as having undertones of , exploring themes of subjective experience and disbelief. His writings include one novel, several collections of poetry and several volumes ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




The Notebooks Of Malte Laurids Brigge
''The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge'', first published as ''Journal of My Other Self'', M. D. Herter Norton (tr.). New York: W. W. Norton, 1949, 1992. Translator's Foreword, p. 8. is a 1910 novel by Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The novel was the only work of prose of its length that he wrote and published. It is semiautobiographical and is written in an expressionistic style, dealing with themes of alienation, unfamiliarity, death by illness, longing, childhood memories and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It was conceptualized and written whilst Rilke lived in Paris, mainly inspired by Sigbjørn Obstfelder's ''A Priest's Diary'' and Jens Peter Jacobsen's ''Niels Lyhne''. English translations * John Linton (Norton, 1930; Hogarth Press, 1930). Originally published under the title ''The Journal of My Other Self''. * Mary D. Herter Norton (Norton, 1949) * Stephen Mitchell (Random House, 1982) * Burton Pike (Dalkey Archive, 2008) * Michael Hulse (Penguin, 2009) * Robert ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Íslenzk Fornrit
Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, or The Old Icelandic Text Society is a text publication society. It is the standard publisher of Old Icelandic texts (such as the Sagas of Icelanders, Kings' sagas and bishops' sagas) with thorough introductions and comprehensive notes. The Society was founded in 1928 by Jón Ásbjörnsson and launched its text series of medieval Icelandic literature known as ''Íslenzk fornrit'' in 1933. The series was founded as an Icelandic language edition along the lines of the German language series ''Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek'' (published 1892–1929). The Society's publications are distributed by the Icelandic Literary Society (''Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag''). The president of the company (2019) is Halldór Blöndal Halldór Blöndal (born 24 August 1938, Reykjavík, Iceland) is a politician of the Independence Party (Iceland). He is the son of Kristjana Benediktsdóttir, Bjarni Benediktsson's sister. He worked as a teacher and a journalist from 19 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]