Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson

Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson ( born September 26, 1918 in Hlíð, Iceland, † July 30, 1988 in Reykjavík, Iceland ) was an Icelandic writer.

Life

Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson was the son of Sigurdur Jónsson and Torah Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir in Hlíð (now Gardabær ) born. After he came close to Reykjavík in a poor peasant family to the world, he grew up in a rural area on the southwest Iceland. During the winter he was taught by a traveling teacher, otherwise he acquired his knowledge autodaktisch. Sigurðsson was 15 years old after Reykjavík with the intention of becoming a writer. There he made ​​his way as workers in factories, road construction, harvesting, as an errand boy, proofreader, editor and hausierender bookseller. As the youngest member, he was inducted into the Association of Revolutionary Writers. At age 16, published his first book Sigurðsson: Skuggarnir af bænum (Eng. " the shadow of the city "). After another successful releases he had sufficient financial resources to leave Iceland. In Copenhagen ( Winter 1936-1937 ), he met then the literary currents of his time to know, and in New York he heard 1943-1944 lectures in literature at Columbia University.

On April 22, 1943 Anna Jónsdóttir married Sigurðsson ( born May 31, 1918 † 22 February 1995). The couple had two sons: the oceanographers Jón Ólafsson ( born November 17 1943) and the writer and director Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson ( born August 26, 1962).

Reception and appreciation

Sigurdsson's first works are associated with the Socialist Realism, which explains why his books have been published in German translation in the GDR in the Aufbau-Verlag. His trilogy with the journalist Páll Jónsson as a literary character was known. This trilogy he wrote over a period of almost 30 years: 1955: Gangvirkið ( German: " The movement " ), 1977: Are og Helog ( "magic and ghost lights " ), 1983: Drekar above smáfuglar ( "Dragon and wrens "). These novels are recognized as the culmination of realism in Icelandic literature of the 20th century. Ólafurs texts treat the revolutionary changes that Icelandic society has undergone in the 20th century; the emergence of cities and the rural exodus. His style is characterized by accurate descriptions and irony. Ólafur Sigurðsson was awarded in 1976 as the first Icelandic Literature Prize of the Nordic Council for his poetry collections AD laufferjum (literally: "To the ferry leaves " ) and AD brunnum (literally: " At the Fountain "). He wrote novels, short stories, poems and children's books and translated from the English. His work has been translated into 18 languages ​​, in German mainly by Owe Gustav and Bruno Kress.

Works

• Við Álftavatn 1934
• To sumarkvöld 1935
• Skuggarnir af bænum 1936
• Liggur þangað vegurinn? 1940
• Kvistir í altarinu 1940
• Fjallið above draumurinn 1944
• Teningar í tafli 1945
• Speglar above fiðrildi 1947
• Litbrigði jarðarinnar, 1947 ( " colors of the earth " )
• Vorköld Jörd 1951
• Nokkrar VISUR to veðrið above fleira 1952
• Gangvirkið 1955 ( " The Movement: adventures of a journalist " from 1982 )
• Á vegamótum 1955
• Ljósir dagar 1959
• Leynt above ljóst 1965
• Bref Séra Böðvars 1965 ( "Pastor Bödvars " )
• Seint á Ferd 1972
• Að laufferjum 1972
• Hreidrid 1972
• Að brunnum 1974
• Að laufferjum above brunnum 1976
• Seiður above Helog 1977 ( "Magic and wisps: from the records of a journalist " from 1987 )
• Virki above vötn 1978
• Í gestanauð: sögur 1940-1945 1979
• Margs he að Gaeta: sögur 1945-1962 1979
• Drekar above smáfuglar. Úr fórum blaðamanns 1983 ( " kites and wrens: from the records of a journalist " of 1989).
• Að lokum. Kvæði. 1988
• Sagnaúrval 1939-1965 1993
• Kvæði 1995