Modern Icelandic Plays | Page 2

I chose the study of veterinary science. For three

years I worked zealously at my studies and took all the preliminary
examinations required, until suddenly I burned my ships and resolutely
threw myself into the work of a playwright. At first one difficulty piled
up after another. To begin with, I had to write in a language not my
own. And then, what knowledge I had of human nature was limited to a
most incomplete knowledge of myself and of a few college chums of
my own age. Besides, it was not long before I had to concern myself
about mere bread and butter.
"My first victory was an appreciative letter from Björnstjerne Björnson,
wherein he promised warmly to recommend me to Gyldendal's, the
great publishing house, which subsequently published my first play, Dr.
Rung.
"My second victory was the acceptance by the Dagmar Theatre of The
Hraun Farm. After the sometime directors of that theatre resigned, my
play passed into the control of the Royal Theatre. Finally, I made my
stage debut with Eyvind of the Hills, which was received with much
enthusiasm both by press and public.
"In order to give as much actuality as possible to this drama, I traversed
Iceland on foot from north to south and saw the places high up in the
wild mountain waste where Eyvind lived with his wife. In my little
garret in Copenhagen I had learned by my own experience the agony of
loneliness."
Sigurjónsson's first drama, Dr. Rung, was written in Danish and
published in 1905. This tragedy presents a young Copenhagen
physician, Harold Rung, who is endeavoring to find a specific against
tuberculosis. In order to test the effect of his serum, he decides to
inoculate himself with the disease, and the pleading of Vilda, who
loves him, fails to shake him from his purpose. The remedy proves a
failure; the young scientist goes mad, giving Vilda poisoned grapes.
The Hraun Farm was published in Icelandic in 1908 (Bóndinn á
Hrauni), and in Danish in 1912 (Gaarden Hraun). In rewriting the play
for the Copenhagen stage, Sigurjónsson gave it a happy ending, thus
changing a tragedy into a pleasant dramatic idyl of contemporary

country life in Iceland. It is the familiar Scandinavian theme of the
struggle of human love with love of the homestead. An old farmer,
Sveinungi, is a veritable patriarch living at the edge of the "hraun," the
lava-field. His only daughter, Ljot, he has destined for a sturdy
neighbor's son, who will keep up the estate. But the girl falls in love
with a young geologist and arouses her father's wrath, until the play
ends with a scene in which Sveinungi is won over by Jorunn, his
persuasive wife. The action is interrupted by an earthquake. The
dialogue is well maintained and rises to heights of lyrical splendor. In
point of dramatic effectiveness, The Hraun Farm may be regarded as
only a preliminary study compared to the next play, but its picture of
pastoral Iceland makes it a fitting companion-piece to the greater drama
in the present volume.
All other work of Sigurjónsson and the younger Icelandic dramatists
pales beside Eyvind of the Hills, written in Danish and published in
1911.[2] The high sky of dramatic vision, the simple nobility of the
characters portrayed, and the poetry of exalted passion raise above the
ordinary this stern tragedy of natural lives in the wilderness. Eyvind is
a man of heroic mould, who was forced by circumstances and hunger to
the state of a common thief. When outlawed, he fled to the mountains.
Seeking human companionship, he now descends into a valley where
his identity is unknown and takes service with Halla, a rich young
widow. She learns of his disguise only to fall in love with his real
character. Persecuted by her brother-in-law, who wishes to marry her,
and possessed by a great love, she insists on sharing the outlaw's lot
and escapes with him to his old haunt in the mountains. Here they have
two children, but she is obliged to sacrifice them both in turn, and to
flee ever farther away. The last act finds the outlaw and his wife facing
each other in a lonely hut, in the midst of a snowstorm which has shut
off every avenue of sustenance. Although the beautiful reality of love is
there, they are tormented by hunger and utter need into doubts and
mutual reproaches, and at last seek death in the snow.
[Footnote 2: The English translation combines features of the original
edition and a revised version printed in 1913. The play appeared also in
Icelandic (Fjalla-Eyvindur) in 1912.]

According to the historical facts upon which the story is based, a stray
horse found its way to the hut of the starving couple, and so their lives
were saved.