Bergsveinn Birgisson

Bergsveinn Birgisson

Bergsveinn Birgisson (born August 30, 1971 in Reykjavík , Iceland) is an Icelandic writer.

Life

Bergsveinn Birgisson was born on August 30, 1971 in Reykjavík , grew up in Kópavogur and Garðabær and passed the matriculation examination in 1991 (Fjölbrautaskóli Garðabæjar). At the age of eleven he began to write poetry, which he calls skringivísur , something like 'comic poems'. He graduated with a BA in Icelandic and General Literature (1997). In order to earn money in addition to school and studies, he worked as a fisherman in the West Fjords in the summer months from the age of 16 . He describes this work as being very personal, as you are completely on your own at sea.

After being in Oslo academic rank of Cand. like. Bergsveinn Birgisson studied Old Norse literature in Bergen (Norway) , specialized in Old Icelandic poetry and mythology and wrote a dissertation on Skaldic poetry .

He self-published his first volume of poetry in 1992 under the title Íslendingurinn ('Der Isländer'). This was followed by the collection of poems Innrás liljanna ('Invasion of the Lilies') in 1997 in the Nykur publishing house .

His first novel, Landslag er aldrei asnalegt ('Landscape is never stupid'), was published by Bjartur in 2003 and shortly thereafter was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize. In it, the author describes the life of sailors in an orphaned Icelandic fishing village and tells of their tragicomic search for cod, love and God. The German translation of the work was published by Residenz Verlag in 2018 under the title The landscape always appeared right . On the subject of this novel, the author said: "The fjord culture and fishing on the small boats is the most Icelandic thing Iceland has." In a satirical way, the novel deals with turbo-capitalism and the political milieu that promotes it and destroys fjord culture.

The second novel by Bergsveinn Birgisson, Handbók um hugarfar kúa (2009), is an experimental game with narrative attitudes. The protagonist Gestur, an overqualified cultural scientist, returns to Iceland from his studies in Great Britain and finds no other job than to write a script for a documentary about the history of the cow for the cattle farmers' association. The subject takes possession of him, which is not compatible with his wife, daughter and his mind. The science novel - the cultural history of the cow is detailed - is an astute grotesque. It can be read as the author's reckoning with the general overheating before the big bank crash in 2008 and the financial crisis in Iceland .

His third novel, Svar við bréfi Helgu , is a letter-style love story that was nominated for the 2010 Icelandic Literature Prize and as one of two Icelandic candidates for the 2012 Nordic Council Literature Prize. The work was published in German by Steidl Verlag in 2011 under the title Paarungszeit . The work about this amour fou in the peasant milieu was immediately dramatized and performed in 2012 with Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson and Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir (adaptation and direction: Ólafur Egill Egilsson) at Borgarleikhúsið in Reykjavík. In September 2019, the Norwegian State Theater brought the novel to the stage and went on tour in Norway with it.

In 2011 the author's third volume of poetry was published, Drauganet .

The following two works by Bergsveinn Birgisson are to be read as connected: In 2013 Den starte vikingen ('The Black Viking') was published in Norwegian by Spartacus and was nominated for the Norwegian Brageprisen in the non-fiction class in the same year. In this work the author tells of the search for that landlord of Iceland who was of the highest descent but not at all Nordic: Geirmundr heljarskinn. The Old Norse had become aware of its existence through oral accounts that had persisted in the West Fjords up to his present. Since he is descended in the thirtieth member of Geirmundr Heljarskinn, Bergsveinn Birgisson went on a search for clues. In 2015, with Geirmundar saga heljarskinns , he wrote a story that approached authentic Icelandic sagas in style and writing . A scientific introduction of 70 pages as well as real source references confused many Icelandic readers. The Geirmundar saga heljarskinns generated a lot of attention in the 2015 Christmas book flood . The saga, sem Ísland vildi ekki ('Iceland didn't want'; cover text), was presented as a fictional find. At the center is perhaps of Siberian Inuit derived Geirmundr that as a country takers Islands the northern part of Breiðafjörður and later the West Fjords to Hornstrandir takes to become "acting like a petty king" holds slaves and with an entourage of 80 men under arms, the image of the disturbs the peaceful Nordic landowners of Iceland. This work also contains an accounting with the present time. This saga is "timeless, it could even happen on international soil," the author said. He had "not been half-warm to the form of the Icelandic saga", but wanted to consistently write an Icelandic saga. The play with forms of the narrator runs through the work of the author. Bergsveinn Birgisson has repeatedly questioned the form of the novel. The task of this genre is "to turn the world upside down and not just to entertain".

Den svarte vikingen , the richly illustrated documentation of the Geirmundar saga heljarskinns , backed up with scientific accessories , was first published in 2013 in Norwegian and in 2016 in Icelandic translation ( Leitin að svarta víkingnum ). The book was received with undivided enthusiasm and was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize. The work has been translated into English, Danish, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. The filming rights for the English version, Black Viking , were secured by Paramount Pictures in autumn 2017. Morten Tyldum, who has been nominated for The Imitation Game Oscar and BAFTA, is to be the director. In 2019, a group of Danish, Dutch and Icelandic biologists confirmed the claim made in Den svarte vikingen by Bergsveinn Birgisson that there was an Icelandic walrus species that was hunted to extinction in the Viking Age.

In 2018 the author published the novel Lifandilífslækur ('Source of Life'), which was published in German translation by Residenz-Verlag at the beginning of February 2020 under the title The Source of Life . He was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize and is entering the race as representative of Iceland for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2020. The novel reflects historical facts from the late 18th century. Iceland, a Danish colony at the time, is due to be relocated after a series of natural disasters. Employable people are welcome in the emerging factories of the motherland, while the elderly and the sick should stay behind in Iceland. A young scholar from Copenhagen with Icelandic roots is given the task of preparing a report on the situation on the island. At the same time, it will measure the most isolated region of Iceland, the Strandir in the West Fjords . Once there, he finds himself besieged by the undead , pursued by sea ​​monsters and confused by the superstitions of the remaining inhabitants, but only the encounter with unconditional love makes him stumble. In the end, the novel leaves the path of the factual. The novel can be read as a declaration of love to the intact nature of Iceland (to the source of life). Bergsveinn Birgisson is a committed nature conservationist and speaks out against the construction of the Hvalárvirkjun power station in Ófeigsfjörður in Strandir.

Bergsveinn Birgisson, whom the Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård describes as an "extraordinary storyteller", lives and writes in Iceland and Bergen. He was knighted by King Harald V of Norway for his outstanding achievements in the service of Norway and humanity (Bergsveinn Birgisson worked on a Norwegian translation of Flateyjarbók ) .

Works

• 1992: Islendingurinn . Poems.
• 1997: Innrás liljanna . Poems.
• 2003: Landslag he already three asnalegt . Novel.
  • 2018: The landscape is always right . Novel. German translation by Eleonore Gudmundsson. Salzburg: Residence, 2018. ISBN 978-3-7017-1695-1 .
• 2009: Handbók um hugarfar kúa. Skáldfræðisaga . Novel.
• 2010: Svar við bréfi Helgu . Novel.
  • 2011 mating season . Novel. German translation by Angela Schamberger . Göttingen: Steidl, 2011. ISBN 978-3-86930-358-1 .
• 2011: Drauganet . Poems.
• 2013: The svarte vikingen . Factual prose.
• 2015: Geirmundar saga heljarskinns. Íslenzkt fornrit . Novel. Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2015. ISBN 978-9935-454-744 .
• 2018: Lifandilífslækur . Novel. Reykjavík: Bjartur, 2018. ISBN 978-9935-500-021 .
  • 2020: source of life . Novel. German translation by Eleonore Gudmundsson. Salzburg: Residence, 2020. ISBN 978-3-7017-1718-7 .

literature

• Kjartan Már Ómarsson, Bergsveinn Birgisson. Nóg er af sósu í sögu kýrinnar. BA thesis, University of Iceland, 2012: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/12901 .
• Þorgeir Tryggvason: Skrifað við skorður. In: Tímarit Máls og Menningar 77.1 (2016), 130-135.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kolbrún Bergþórsdóttir, Enginn maður skapar sig sjálfur, Fréttablaðið, December 20, 2003: http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=263843&lang=fo .
2. ↑ Reading at the Scandinavian Studies Department at the University of Vienna, April 23, 2018.
3. ↑ Inn i skaldens sinn. Cognitive, esthetic and historical skatters in the norrøne skaldediktingen. Diss., Univ. Bergen, 2007.
4. ↑ Kolbrún Bergþórsdóttir, Enginn maður skapar sig sjálfur, Fréttablaðið, December 20, 2003: http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=263843&lang=fo .
5. ↑ Brochure and program: https://www.riksteatret.no/repertoar/svar-pa-brev-fra-helga/ .
6. ↑ Kiljan, RUV, November 25, 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBR-9Fuk_kw .
7. ↑ Reading at the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Vienna, April 23, 2018 and Kiljan, RUV, November 25, 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBR-9Fuk_kw .
8. ↑ Icelandic Literature Center, News, October 17, 2017: http://www.islit.is/en/news/nr/4026 .
9. ↑ Kaja Kristin Ness, Norsk rikskringkasting (Norwegian Broadcasting), October 5, 2019: https://www.nrk.no/viten/vikingene-kan-ha-utrydda-hvalrossen-pa-island-1.14675023
10. ↑ NN, Hvalárvirkjun og efnahagslögmálin, in: Stundin, May 16, 2018: https://stundin.is/grein/6802/ .
11. ↑ Constanze Matthes, Zeichen & Zeiten (literature blog), February 1, 2018: https://zeichenundzeiten.com/2018/02/01/bergsveinn-birgisson-die-landschaft-hat-immer-recht/ .
12. ↑ Flatøybok, red. Torgrim Titlestad u. a. 3 volumes. Stavanger: Saga bok, 2014-2016. ISBN 978-82-91640-80-8 , ISBN 978-82-91640-82-2 , ISBN 978-82-91640-84-6 .
13. ↑ Davið Kjartan Gestsson, RUV, April 3, 2017: http://www.ruv.is/frett/bergsveinn-sleginn-til-riddara-i-noregi .

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .