Book Review: The Young Icelander
- Shaune Jonasson
- 42 minutes ago
- 5 min read
By Shaune Jonasson
This book review presents The Young Icelander – The story of an immigrant in Nova Scotia and Manitoba. A classic in Iceland that has been translated and published in English, offering insight to the challenges of emigration and settling in a foreign land. The emigrants are resilient. Their spirit, motivated by hope and determination, molds their greatest desire of creating a better life for their families.
In 1899, Jóhann Magnús Bjarnason wrote the story Eiríkur Hansson in Icelandic. This story is a testament to the settlers who endeavoured to carve out a life in Markland, Nova Scotia beginning in 1875. It could be interpreted as a memoir of Eiríkur Hansson as it describes his life from a young boy in Iceland, emigration to Canada and through his years to adulthood. The book, as claimed by the author, is a work of fiction.
Eiríkur Hansson was the first of three books and was very popular in Iceland and amongst the Icelandic immigrants in North America, rendering it as a best seller. This launched the author, Jóhann Magnús Bjarnason, to prominence as one of Iceland’s leading writers during the early 1900s. A second book that continued the story of Eiríkur was written in 1902, followed in 1903 with the third and final book.
The story begins in Iceland. A very young Eiríkur is raised by his grandparents after the death of his mother. The family faced diverse challenges, not unlike their neighbours, and yearned for a better life. Believing they would find that in Canada, they prepared for their new life. From the early stages of their departure, trouble ensues, full of twists and turns, beginning with the gruelling crossing that lasts weeks more than anticipated.
Finally they arrive in the Port of Nova Scotia. With their meagre belongings, including an Icelandic-English dictionary that rarely leaves Afi’s side, they take up residence in a nearby boarding house until their homestead is ready. After laboriously long days, they settle west of Halifax in the Mooseland Hills. The area was called Markland.
Dreams of Iceland with its wonder and beauty remain in Eiríkur’s heart and mind. He longed to return to what he loved and vowed he would someday go back to his homeland. In the meantime, he makes friends, attends school and works hard. A proud young Icelander, Eiríkur, at every opportunity, courteously announces his name and declares himself as an Icelander.
Readers will engage with the young Eiríkur: expectations of getting an education, learning their religion, but also working to support the family and community. An abundance of characters cross his path, from the strict schoolmaster and his punitive measures in educating children, to Eiríkur’s lasting friendship with Lalla, once his tutor, whose compassion for Eiríkur was befitting of a sister.
The death of his afi changed everything for Eiríkur. His amma, no longer able to provide for him, bade farewell. He left with few belongings, including two coveted books, one of poetry by Jonas Hallgrimsson and the New Testament.
A long distance from Markland, Eiríkur was delivered to the home of the widow, Mrs. Patrick. She was an eccentric and well-off Irish woman who had long desired for a son. She proclaimed Eiríkur will be Patrick, or Pat for short. He would be known as “Patrick Patrick,” and will do precisely as she commands, including calling her “Mother.”
Eiríkur’s life is never again the same. His schooling continues with Lalla, his tutor and daughter of the local policeman, Mr. Sanford. They each display a fondness for Eiríkur.
Desperate to return to his amma, young Eiríkur escapes, trekking over sixty miles on his own. He finally sees home, but he doesn't make it there. A second opportunity arises. Upon arriving, however, Eiríkur realizes that a change of plan is necessary; there is no going back.
This turn of events presents a host of various characters, stripping Eiríkur of his innocence. We observe the growth of wisdom, his determination and the sometimes scrupulous activity he engages in simply to survive. Through it all, Eiríkur remains positive; he never stops believing life will get better.
With kindness of friends and some strangers, occasional luck, and Viking grit, Eiríkur finds stability and thus, graciously reciprocates his good fortune.
THE AUTHOR: Jóhann Magnús Bjarnason (I521874)
As much as the author himself emigrated with his family to Markland in 1875, the trials and tribulations of Eiríkur are by no means an account of his own life; it depicts a purely fictional account. Nevertheless, the story addresses the hardships and challenges of those living at the end of the 19th century in the Nova Scotia settlements and in Halifax.
Jóhann Magnús Bjarnason was born in Meðalnes, Ássókn, Fellahreppur, N-Múlasýsla, Iceland on 24 March 1866. He emigrated with his parents and younger sister from Seyðisfjörður in 1875 when he was ten years old. Five years later, the family relocated to Manitoba, one of the last to leave the Markland settlement. Other families had already departed the area for either Manitoba or North Dakota.
Jóhann Magnús met and married his wife, Guðrún Hjörleifsdóttir in 1887. They did not have their own children but raised a young girl from four months old as their own daughter. They remained in the New Iceland area where he taught school. He continued teaching in other Manitoba centres, North Dakota and Vancouver.
Jóhann Magnús and Guðrún spent their final days in Elfros, Saskatchewan. It was here on 10 August 1945 that Guðrún died. Jóhann Magnús died a month later, 8 September 1945. From his obit: “The church was filled to capacity and floral tributes were received from friends from all over Canada”.
He and Guðrún are laid to rest in the Elfros Cemetery. His headstone commemorates the genuine and humble man that he was: “Poet…Novelist… Fabulist…Inspirational Teacher of Youth and Friend of Man.”
Jóhann Magnús Bjarnason is known as one of Canada's most notable Icelandic authors. He was well known as a master storyteller in Iceland and in Canada's Icelandic community through his novels, short stories, plays, poetry and other articles submitted to various periodicals. The Icelandic Parliament awarded him with their highest honour, the Royal Order of the Icelandic Falcon in 1936 when he was 70.
Other work by Johann Magnus Bjarnason and translated by Borga Jacobson is Errand Boy in the Mooseland Hills published in Nov. 5 2001.
THE TRANSLATOR: Borga Jakobson
Borga Jakobson translated the three books into English, bringing them together as one novel, The Young Icelander, published in 2009. Divided into three sections we read about Eiríkur in Childhood, The Struggle, and Aspirations, representing Jóhann Magnús Bjarnason’s three books. The manner in which the book was translated facilitates an exceptional understanding of the life, its challenges and the interactions between the characters. Much like the original Icelandic version, Borga presents the parlance a young Eiríkur in the beginning, where its evolution parallels the maturity of boy to man.
THE PREFACE: Birna Bjarnadóttir
The Preface by Birna Bjarnadóttir, who at the time of writing, was the head of the Icelandic department at University of Manitoba. Here she explains the Icelandic story and expresses how well celebrated this novel is in Iceland. She commends the novels historical Canadian content, in particular with the English translation that has occurred. This is a most noteworthy preface and well worth the reader’s time.
Resources
BJARNASON, Jóhann Magnus. The Young Icelander: The Story of an Immigrant in Nova Scotia and Manitoba. Translation of Eirikur Hansson from the Icelandic by Borga Jakobson. (Halifax, Nova Scotia): Formac Publishing Company Limited, (2009). First Canadian Edition. "Printed and bound in Canada".
Literary Review of Canada. A Gem Worth Waiting For https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2010/05/a-gem-worth-waiting-for/
