Across the road from the National Museum in Reykjavik stands “Outlaws”, a sculpture by an artist called Einar Jónsson, finished in 1900. A man carries his dead wife across his shoulders while cradling a young child in his arms. Beside him walks a dog possessed of a feral glare as wild as his master’s. The sculpture is said to have inspired Halldór Laxness to write Independent People, an epic novel that helped him to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. The protagonist, a character called Bjartur of the Summerhouses, and his stubborn determination to keep his independence whatever the cost, is often cited by Icelanders to illustrate their obdurate nature. We’ve heard a good deal about Bjartur recently. That’s unfortunate for the rest of the world, since he is a manifestation of Iceland going to the barricades. The financial crisis has brought about an emergence of inward-looking nationalism, with Bjartur as its champion.
Utlendingar – foreigners such as me – tend to treat Iceland as an extension of northern Europe, much the same as anywhere else but further north. It’s not. It is a country that for more than a thousand years barely troubled the footnotes of history. For much of this time Iceland was colonised, although left to its own devices, and as a result its people grew to be as culturally distinctive as any you will find on the planet. They are not American, European, Scandinavian or anything else – they are Icelandic. An Icelander’s DNA has independence and the bonds of kinship embedded in it as clearly as the word “Brighton” in a stick of rock.
The country finds itself at a crossroads. One route sees a debt-burdened nation embrace Europe, adopt the euro and gain the greater financial security that EU membership would provide. The other is a One Nation path: a country isolated, weakened and vulnerable, and yet imbued with a belief in its talent, fortitude and ability to work through its problems. If it rejects the European path, there is a real concern that Iceland will turn in on itself, making real Laxness’s fictional Bjartur – a lonely figure stumbling battered, bewildered and yet stubbornly defiant into the arctic wilderness. For many Icelanders that would be the desirable alternative.
Across the road from the National Museum in Reykjavik stands “Outlaws”, a sculpture by an artist called Einar Jónsson, finished in 1900. A man carries his dead wife across his shoulders while cradling a young child in his arms. Beside him walks a dog possessed of a feral glare as wild as his master’s. The sculpture is said to have inspired Halldór Laxness to write Independent People, an epic novel that helped him to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. The protagonist, a character called Bjartur of the Summerhouses, and his stubborn determination to keep his independence whatever the cost, is often cited by Icelanders to illustrate their obdurate nature. We’ve heard a good deal about Bjartur recently. That’s unfortunate for the rest of the world, since he is a manifestation of Iceland going to the barricades. The financial crisis has brought about an emergence of inward-looking nationalism, with Bjartur as its champion.
Utlendingar – foreigners such as me – tend to treat Iceland as an extension of northern Europe, much the same as anywhere else but further north. It’s not. It is a country that for more than a thousand years barely troubled the footnotes of history. For much of this time Iceland was colonised, although left to its own devices, and as a result its people grew to be as culturally distinctive as any you will find on the planet. They are not American, European, Scandinavian or anything else – they are Icelandic. An Icelander’s DNA has independence and the bonds of kinship embedded in it as clearly as the word “Brighton” in a stick of rock.
The country finds itself at a crossroads. One route sees a debt-burdened nation embrace Europe, adopt the euro and gain the greater financial security that EU membership would provide. The other is a One Nation path: a country isolated, weakened and vulnerable, and yet imbued with a belief in its talent, fortitude and ability to work through its problems. If it rejects the European path, there is a real concern that Iceland will turn in on itself, making real Laxness’s fictional Bjartur – a lonely figure stumbling battered, bewildered and yet stubbornly defiant into the arctic wilderness. For many Icelanders that would be the desirable alternative.
From the Financial Times
Robert Jackson’s excellent article certainly brought shivers down my spine.
Related posts:
- Sunday Times Book Review: Meltdown Iceland: How the Global Financial Crisis Bankrupted an Entire Country
- Financial Times: Iceland criticises IMF, UK and Dutch
- HuffPost: Happy Anniversary Iceland
- NY Times: The Icelandic Post Crisis Miracle
- Laid low by crisis, Iceland looks to EU
October 14th, 2009 → 2:15 pm @ Dadi
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