Baldur Ragnarsson (25 August 1930 – 25 December 2018) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

ic poet and author of

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

works. He was a teacher and a superintendent of schools in Iceland.

Esperanto

Baldur learned

at school in 1949 and was active in the movement to promote the use of this language since 1952. He was president of the

Icelandic Esperanto Association The Icelandic Esperanto Association ( eo, Islanda Esperanto-Asocio; is, Íslenska esperantosambandið, ''Esperantosamband Íslands'') is one of the national associations of the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA). It was founded in 1950 and jo ...

for many years. He presided over the

World Esperanto Association The Universal Esperanto Association ( eo, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA), also known as the World Esperanto Association, is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with 5501 individual members in 121 countries and 9215 th ...

's literary contest from 1975 to 1985. He was president of the organizing committee for the 1977 World Esperanto Congress at

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 pop ...

and vice-president of the

in charge of culture and education from 1980 to 1986. He was thereafter an honorary member of this organization. A Member of the Esperanto Academy since 1979, he was editor of the journal ''

Norda Prismo ''Norda'' is a wooden sailing vessel that was commissioned in 1928, originally used as a research vessel in Poland. It served as research vessel, fishing vessel and is now a yacht. History Research vessel The vessel was commissioned in 1928 by M ...

'' from 1958 to 1974. In 2007 the Association of Esperanto-speaking authors (''Esperantlingva Verkista Asocio'') nominated him as their candidate for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 ...

following the death of William Auld in 2006.Announcement of Esperantlingva Verkista Asocio's Nobel nomination
/ref>

Works

Baldur composed poetic works in Icelandic as well as books on the

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 r ...

. He was also written two collections of Esperanto poems: ''Ŝtupoj sen nomo'' and ''Esploroj''. In 2007 Edistudio published ''La lingvo serena'', his complete works. In addition to the poems of his two previous collections, the book contains all the poems he was published subsequently, as well as all the essays he has written on literature and linguistics. All subsequent poetry books (2008 to 2016) were published by Mondial in New York. Poetry * ''Ŝtupoj sen Nomo'', 1959 * ''Esploroj'', 1974 * "Deflorazione" and "Malvirgigo" in ''El la nova ĝardeno (Dal nuovo giardino)'', Dante Bertolini, ed., Pedrazzini: Locarno, 1979, 100 pp. * ''La lingvo serena'', 2007 * ''La neceso akceptebla'', 2008 * ''La fontoj nevideblaj'', 2010 * ''Laŭ neplanitaj padoj'', 2013 * ''Momentoj kaj meditoj'', 2016 Translations into Esperanto * ''Sub stelo rigida'', two collections by the Icelandic poet Þorsteinn frá Hamri, 1963 * ''Islandaj pravoĉoj'', three tales and a poem from Old Icelandic literature, 1964 * ''Sagao de Njal'',

Njáls saga ''Njáls saga'' ( ), also ''Njála'' ( ), ''Brennu-Njáls saga'' ( ) or ''"The Story of Burnt Njáll"'', is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020. The saga deals with a process of blood feuds in the I ...

, the greatest of the Icelandic sagas, 2003 * ''Sendependaj homoj'', Halldór Laxness's Independent People, a novel about rural Iceland at the turn of the 20th century, 2007 * ''La Edda de Snorri Sturluson'',

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...

, 2008 * ''Vundebla loko'' (Translation of poems by the award-winning Icelandic author

Gerður Kristný Gerður Kristný (born 1970) is an Icelandic writer who is best known for her poetry and books for children. Early life Gerður Kristný was born on 10 June 1970 and brought up in Reykjavík. She graduated in French and comparative literature f ...

), 2009 * ''Sagao de la Volsungoj - kaj ĝiaj fontoj'' ("'' Saga of the Völsungs'' - and its sources", translation of the most famous of the

legendary saga A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991 ...

s, the theme of which is the Old Norse-Germanic mythological heroes) 2011 * ''Sagao de Egil'' (Translation of ''

Egil's Saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the year ...

'', one of the 40 so-called

Sagas of Icelanders The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early e ...

) 2011 In addition, he has published dozens of translations in various journals, in recent times principally in the journal
La tradukisto
' . Essays * ''La Sagaoj kaj Zamenhof: stabiligaj faktoroj'' 1982 * ''Studado de alia lingvo'' 1982 * "Esperanto kiel anti-lingvo" in ''Serta gratulatoria in honorem Juan Régulo''. Universidad de La Laguna, Salamanca, 3,266 pp., 1986 * ''La proza poemo: la ĝenro, ĝiaj latentoj kaj aplikoj'' 1987 * ''La Poezia Arto'' (Five lectures) 1988 * ''Cent jaroj de poezio en Esperanto". 1989 * ''La poezio de la skaldoj'' * ''La poemoj de Armand Su'' 1993 * ''Kombino de poeta virtuozeco kaj ties instrumento'' 1994 * ''Tradukante la antikvan islandan literaturon en Esperanto'' 1998 * "La fono kaj la fronto: kelkaj konsideroj pri semiotikaj aspektoj de la Esperanta poezio" in ''Lingva arto''. Vilmos Benczik, ed.,

Universala Esperanto-Asocio The Universal Esperanto Association ( eo, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA), also known as the World Esperanto Association, is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with 5501 individual members in 121 countries and 9215 t ...

, Rotterdam: 1999, 217 pp. * ''La lingvo serena'' 2007 * ''Tungumál Veraldar'' 2009

References

External links

Prezento pri Baldur Ragnarsson in la ttt-ejo de la Islanda Verkista Asocio

in

i

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ragnarsson, Baldur Translators to Esperanto Writers of Esperanto literature Akademio de Esperanto members Baldur Ragnarsson Baldur Ragnarsson 1930 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Icelandic poets 21st-century Icelandic poets 20th-century translators

Esperanto

Works

See also

References

External links