THE OLD STORY HAPPENS AGAIN

(or ”Fram til sigurs!”)

In the end of 2008 in Iceland was published a new book by Sjón “Rökkurbýsnir”. In this book there is told a sad life-story of a certain Icelander Jón Guðmundsson, who sometimes was called lærði (the Learned). Sjón is a famous writer in Iceland and some Icelanders find this new book by him “very good” (or “nokkuð mikil skáldsaga”). Of course, because Sjón is a novelist one has no right to expect any historical truth about a real historical person in the book of his. Also Sjón’s book is a truly good example of a new fashion of ornate literature style (and taste) of the Modern Iceland (the crisis of originality to be precise). But save for bright prose images which he is clever to depict, a common reader comes across a striking feature (especially for non-Icelandic readers): many really funny onomatopoeic sounds of animals and birds (and men) like “úít-úítt, bíbí, hæ og hó, hva-hva-hva, jahá, hú, hú, gaddl, meee” just in the way of the old Guðbrandur Vigfússon’s specimen, published in “An Icelandic-English Dictionary” (2nd edition), p. xxviii (krunk krunk, mjá mjá, gagg gagg, kví kví kví, tí  tí  tí, úh úh, ví ví, gagga-gagg).

Although it may sound weird in 2009 in Russia was published a book on the same person, that is Jón Guðmundsson lærði, written by a native of Russia (Leonid Korablev) - this book title is  “Joún Knizhnik-tsjarodej”, i.e. “Jón the Bookish Man and Wizard”! Some excerpts from that Russian book was put up at the Internet in 1998 on a USA server, so there is no case of any imitation.

To tell you the truth very few places in both books “coincide” in any detailed way (for example, citations from Jón lærði’s MSS (like “Tíðfordríf”, etc.) or of his magical poetry (“Jesú dreyra, dauða og pín…”) or a conversation of Jón lærði with the famous Danish runologist and antiquarian Ole Worm or an account of the slaughter of Spanish whalers), but rather differ like story about an evil ghost (draugur) in the Westfjords of Iceland (Sjón’s summer solstice versus Korablev’s January-time.)

Only one thing that both books have surely in common (share) is the difficult language, in which they are written: Icelandic and Russian. But the Russian book is more gorgeously illustated: it contains Jón lærði’s authentic pictures from his MSS on its covers, many illustrations of historical persons, places, a genealogical tree of Jón lærði, plus all capitals in a begining of every chapter is in design-form similar to Icelandic galdrastafir, etc. 

It must be repeated that naturally these books differ. One is in an unique Icelandic style, the other – in brilliant Russian one. One may only wish that both books were translated into, say, English, and  readers got a chance to compare the vision of the same person by representatives of two different nations. And then some “cultural bridge” between nations separated by the Babylon’s fall will be established again.

PS. Tables of contents of both books can be seen (viewed in English) at: http://alfatruin.msk.ru/2009/11/20/jon_laerdi_english/