Einar Benediktsson

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Statue next to the Höfdi

Einar Benediktsson (born October 31, 1864 in Elliðavatn ; † January 12, 1940 in Herdísarvík ) was an Icelandic poet and administrator. His short name Einar Ben is also common in Iceland .

Life

Einar came from an influential family and was the son of a lawyer. The father was also temporarily a member of parliament and district administrator (sýslumaður).

He himself studied law in Copenhagen , and then became a lawyer and administrative officer in Reykjavík . For a long time he also lived in England and Denmark .

In 1896 Einar Benediktsson founded the first Icelandic daily newspaper and called it Dagskrá . Through these and his popular poems he had an influence on the Icelandic national movement and accordingly supported the Heimastjórnarflokkur party . Later he was also involved in the publication of other newspapers: Þjóðin (1914-15), Þjóðstefna (1916-17) og Höfuðstaðurinn (1916-17).

The author also represented the cause of technical progress and had it determined, for example, whether it would be profitable to build power stations on the Þjórsá . He was also interested in iron extraction and cement production.

Between 1907 and 1921 Einar Benediktsson traveled a lot, for example to Norway, London and Copenhagen . Later he kept u. a. longer in Germany.

He died in Herdísarvík on Reykjanes and is buried in Þingvellir next to Jónas Hallgrímsson .

The sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson made a statue of Einar Benediktsson in 1964, which has stood next to the Höfði house, where Einar lived from 1914 to 1917, since 2015 .

plant

The work of Einar Benediktsson is assigned to the neo-romanticism . His poems follow the characteristics of symbolism . In doing so, he adheres to the bound form. The influence of Nietzsche is obvious.

He also translated Peer Gynt and English-language literature into Icelandic .

Important works:

  • Sögur og kvædi (1897)
  • Hafblik (1906)
  • Hrannir (1913)
  • Vogar (1921)
  • Hvammar (1930)

Individual references and sources

  • Horst Bien and others: Meyers Taschenlexikon Northern European Literatures , Leipzig 1978
  1. Landsbókasafn Íslands - Háskólabókasafn: Timarit.is. Retrieved February 20, 2018 (Icelandic).
  2. Info according to the description board on site

See also

Web links