Ólafur Rastrick

Bókarheiti: Frásagnir af Íslandi ásamt óhróðri Göries Peerse og Dithmars Blefkens um land og þjóð. Umsjón með útgáfu: Gunnar Þór Bjarnason og Már Jónsson. Gagnrýnandi: Ólafur Rastrick, aðjúnkt í þjóðfraeði við Háskóla Íslands. Útgáfa: Sögufélag, Reykjavík 2013. (Safn Sögufélags: Þýdd rit síðari alda um Ísland og Íslendinga 5), 292 bls. Í umsögn gagnrýnanda kemur meðal annars eftirfarandi fram: " Að þessu sögðu skal ekki dregið út því að það er ferlega skemmtilegt að geta loksins lesið skrif Andersons í þessari vönduðu íslensku þýðingu og eiga þýð-endurnir og Sögufélag mikið lof skilið fyrir að standa að útgáfunni. Ég hef líka trú á að mörgum muni finnast þessi 267 ára gamla lýsing á landi og þjóð sérdeilis áhugaverð… " Frásagnir af Íslandi eftir átjándu aldar manninn Johann Anderson er fimmta bindið í velheppnaðri röð þýddra rita sem Sögufélag heldur úti. Þótt langt líði milli útgáfubóka (sú fyrsta kom út 1983) hefur félagið náð að halda dálítið gamaldags og einkar snotru útliti ritraðarinnar. Sem fyrr er þetta bindi í flesta staði vandaður en hógvaer prentgripur, bundinn með gamla laginu og í fallegu bandi. Innihaldið er ekki síðra, vandaðar og laesilegar þýðingar á stórskemmtilegum textum frá sextándu, sautjándu og átjándu öld, efni sem hefur haft heilmikil áhrif á sýn útlendinga á Ísland og sjálfsmynd Íslendinga. Meginefni bókarinnar er texti Johanns Andersons um Ísland sem fyrst kom út í Hamborg í ritinu Nachrichten von Island, Grönland und der Straße Davis, zum wahren Nutzen der Wissenschaft und der Handlung árið 1746. Viðfangsefnið er greinargerð fyrir náttúrufari og íbúum þessara landa, víða nokkuð furðulegar enda er efnið byggt á mistraustum frásögnum, sögusögnum og eldri ritum, sumum aeði goðsagnarkenndum. Anderson sjálfur mun aldrei hafa komið hvorki til Íslands né Graenlands. Efnið er þannig af þeirri tegund landfraeðilýsinga sem tíðkuðust fyrir daga Upplýsingarinnar og gerðu sér mat úr furðusögnum ekki síður en rannsóknum og vitnisburði af vettvangi.

Drawing on the Foucauldian thesis of governance as the ‘conduct of conduct’ the article maps out how the activities of a ‘minor’ arts association in the emerging peripheral Icelandic nation-state in the late 1910s and 1920s can be seen as practices of cultural governance. Detached from the tradition of visual arts in the Danish parent state at the turn of the twentieth century, professional visual artists were new to Iceland. In 1916 members of the Icelandic community sought to construct a collective venue for establishing visual arts in the country. Through this venue a variety of endeavours were undertaken, directed at the local population. The aim was to develop a local discourse on visual arts, aesthetics, and art history and contribute to a ‘regime of practices’ within an emerging field of socio-cultural governance, driven by the notion that exposure to art (or at least to particular art) was essential for the progress of the individual and society as a whole.

In the writings of Icelandic public intellectuals of the 1920s and 1930s we see the emergence of a discourse that links the physical appearance of women to their nature and moral standing. This chapter explores a selection of such writings and studies how their
male authors linked female beauty to particular visions of social progress and the future of Icelandic society. The texts are seen as attempts to influence the conduct of the female citizen, effecting self-formative processes in aid of personal and social reform.

This chapter discusses a central feature of the first urban plan for the town of Reykjavík and how ideas associated with it aimed at reflecting or influencing the identity of the Icelandic population. The general plan was endorsed in 1927 but designs of the proposed main square and accompanying buildings had emerged three years earlier. The project only materialised to a limited extent and in the 1930s it was finally abandoned. The discussions about the proposed function of the piazza do however offer an example of how architecture, perceptions of history, governance and identity interact. Drawing on speeches given by two university professors at respectively the fifth and sixth anniversary of Icelandic sovereignty in 1923 and 1924, the chapter seeks to illustrate how the project was seen as being instrumental in shaping the identity of the national population.

"In the writings of Icelandic public intellectuals of the 1920s and 1930s we see the emergence of a discourse that links the physical appearance of women to their nature and moral standing. This chapter explores a selection of such writings and studies how their male authors linked female beauty to particular visions of social progress and the future of Icelandic society. The texts are seen as attempts to influence the conduct of the female citizen, effecting self-formative processes in aid of personal and social reform."

The 1920s fascination with jazz music and dance provoked deep concern and anxiety about the future direction of society in different corners of the world. Jazz was readily associated with various social evils that were considered a threat to the cultural and moral wellbeing of nations as well as the mental and physical health of both individuals and society in general. Negative reception of jazz was not limited to the United States but seems to have expanded around the globe just as rapidly as the appeal of the music and movements loosely identified at the time as jazz. The article identifies defining elements of this negative discourse to explore their mechanism and bearings in particular localized settings, namely, in Australia and Iceland. The focus is on how the perceptions of jazz as a social evil contributed to conceptualizing ideas of social reform and how the demonization of jazz played a role in defining national character and culture. Australia and Iceland serve as example...

I umsogn gagnrýnanda kemur meðal annars eftirfarandi fram: Að þessu sogðu skal ekki dregið ut þvi að það er ferlega skemmtilegt að geta loksins lesið skrif Andersons i þessari vonduðu islensku þýðingu og eiga þýðendurnir og Sogufelag mikið lof skilið fyrir að standa að utgafunni. Eg hef lika tru a að morgum muni finnast þessi 267 ara gamla lýsing a landi og þjoð serdeilis ahugaverð…