Valdimar Ásmundsson (''Jóhann Valdimar Ásmundsson'', also ''Ásmundarson'') (10 July 1852 - 17 April 1902) was the founder and editor of '' Fjallkonan'' (The Lady of the Mountain magazine). Valdimar was married to

Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir (September 27, 1856 – March 16, 1940) was an early Icelandic advocate for women's liberation and women's suffrage. She founded the first women's magazine in Iceland, ''Kvennablaðið''. For a period of time she serv ...

, a feminist and publisher of '' Kvennablaðið''. Valdimar was born at Hvarf in Bárðardalur and grew up with his parents in

Þistilfjörður Þistilfjörður (; sometimes anglicised as Thistilfjördur) is a bay in northeast Iceland, between the Rifstangi and Langanes peninsulas, near the town of Þórshöfn (Thorshofn). The name also refers to the region immediately to the southwest o ...

. He was not sent to school but studied on his own. Between the ages of twenty and thirty, he went to

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

and was involved in popular education for a while, but only until he founded the magazine ''Fjallkonan'' in

1884 Events January * January 4 – The Fabian Society is founded in London to promote gradualist social progress. * January 5 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera '' Princess Ida'', a satire on feminism, premières at the Savoy The ...

. His other main job at the time involved the preperation of a version the Icelandic sagas to be printed by the publisher Sigurður Kristjánsson in 38 volumes. Valdimar knew

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, English and French as well as Danish, but he had mostly learned all these languages himself. He was also very good at Icelandic. He wrote a book on Icelandic grammar, which soon became a widely used textbook. He also Valdimar translated ''

Powers of Darkness ''Powers of Darkness'' (Swedish ''Mörkrets makter'') is an anonymous 1899 Swedish version of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel ''Dracula'', serialised in the newspaper '' Dagen'' and credited only to Bram Stoker and the still-unidentified "A—e." It i ...

'' (Swedish: Mörkrets Makter) by

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...

from the Swedish serialization in ''Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga.'' His Icelandic translation was published under the title ''

Makt Myrkranna ''Powers of Darkness'' (Icelandic ''Makt Myrkranna'') is a 1901 Icelandic book by Valdimar Ásmundsson that claims to be a translation of ''Dracula'', by Bram Stoker. It was based upon an earlier adaptation of ''Dracula'', the Swedish adaptati ...

'', first for ''Fjallkonan'' in 1900,2139145 The power of the dark; appeared in Fjallkonun 1900
/ref> later in book form in 1901.

Halldór Laxness Halldór Kiljan Laxness (; born Halldór Guðjónsson; 23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was an Icelandic writer and winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote novels, poetry, newspaper articles, essays, plays, travelogues and sh ...

reflects on the significance of this translation in one of his memoirs. Valdimar died after almost 24 hours of stroke or brain disease at the age of almost fifty. His daughter, Laufey Valdimarsdóttir, was a notable lawyer.

References

External links

''Valdimar Ásmundsson'' obituary in Fjallkonun 1902

biographical sketch by H. C. de Roos
Valdimiar Ásmundarson
at worldcat {{DEFAULTSORT:Asmundsson, Valdimar Valdimar Asmundsson Valdimar Asmundsson 1852 births 1902 deaths