Jón Árnason (17 August 1819 – 4 September 1888)
[''Mannslát'' (Obituary) in '' Ísafold'']
5 September 1888
was an
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
ic author,
librarian
A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...
, and museum director who made the first collection of Icelandic
folktales.
Career
Jón Árnason was educated at the
Latin School in
Bessastaðir.
["Jón Arnason", ''Library of the World's Best Literature: Ancient and Modern: A-Z'', ed. Charles Dudley Warner et al., Volume 2, New York: Peale and Hill, 1896, OCLC 1182898]
p. 802
From 1848 to 1887, he was the first librarian at what became the
National Library of Iceland in Reykjavík;
[ in 1881 its name was changed from ''Íslands stiftisbókasafn'' (Foundation library of Iceland) and his title became ''Landsbókavörður Íslands'' (National Librarian of Iceland). Meanwhile he also served as the first librarian of the Iceland branch of the Icelandic Literary Society.][
He was also the first curator of the ''Forngripasafns Íslands'' (Icelandic Antiquities Collection), which became the National Museum of Iceland, when it was founded in 1863.][ For a long time he ran both the museum and the library.
In addition, he supplemented his small salary][Jacqueline Simpson, ''Icelandic Folktales and Legends'', London: Batsford, 1972, ]
p. 2
by working as secretary to the Bishop and as a teacher and custodian of the library at the Latin School, which had moved to Reykjavík.[ In 1877, when he was put forward as one of two Icelandic representatives to the centennial celebration of ]Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
, the government in Copenhagen objected to a "porter" representing Iceland because he was "janitor of the Iceland High School", as Guðbrandur Vigfússon anonymously worded it in an obituary.
Folk tales and other publications
Inspired by the brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...
's ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' ('' Grimm's Fairy Tales''), Jón began to collect and record folktales, together with Magnús Grímsson, a friend who was a schoolmaster and later a clergyman.[ Their first collection, ''Íslenzk Æfintýri'' (Icelandic Folktales) appeared in 1852, but attracted little notice. The two only resumed collecting after Konrad Maurer, the German legal historian and scholar of Icelandic literature, toured the country in 1858 and encouraged them.][ After Magnús Grímsson died in 1860, Jón Árnason finished the collection on his own.][ It was published in 2 volumes in 1862 and 1864 in Leipzig with Maurer's help, as ''Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri'' (Icelandic Folktales and Legends), comprising over 1300 pages. In 1954–61 it was reissued in Reykjavík in 6 volumes.
Jón and Magnús lacked the time and means to travel much to collect tales, instead relying on present and former pupils and other contacts to send them tales in writing.][ Also either they or Jón may have "touched up" the wording. However, the changes he is known to have made are slight, and the universal admiration for the ]saga
Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia.
The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...
style and relative lack of educational and class differences in Iceland mean that stylistic tastes differed less there than elsewhere in Europe in the 19th century.
Jón Árnason also wrote biographies of Martin Luther
Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
(1852), Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
(1853), and Sveinbjörn Egilsson.[Obituary, ''The Academy''.]
Personal life
Jón married late in life but his son died before he did.[ He died after a long illness.][
]
Influence
The survey of Icelandic folklore and early modern scholarship about elves (''álfar'') in the introduction to Jón's ''Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri'' provided the framework for J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
's conception of elves in his fantasy fiction.[Haukur Þorgeirsson, 'J. R. R. Tolkien and the Ethnography of the Elves', ''Notes and Queries'', 70.1 (March 2023), 6–7; .]
Publications
* Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson (Ed.) ''Íslenzk Æfintýri''. Reykjavík, 1852.
* Jón Árnason. ''Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri''. 2 vols. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs, 1862, 1864.
* Jón Árnason. ''Ágrip af æfisögu Dr. Marteins Lúters''. Reykjavík, 1852. OCLC 52435258
* Jón Árnason. ''Sagan af Karlamagnúsi keisara''. Copenhagen, 1853. OCLC 264953221
References
External links
Selected folktales from Jón Árnason's collection
at Netútgáfan
''Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri''
(1862 ed.) reproduced online at bækur.is
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnason, Jon
Jon Arnason
Jon Arnason
1819 births
1888 deaths
Jon Arnason
Jon Arnason