thankyou. I have just finished reading the book. I understand and agree with much of your commentary. While I was reading I searched out photos and film of Iceland at that time. I live in Australia. Extremes of climate and landscape continue to inform our history. Nature is not always so "nice" and pictureque. I did find a newreel of Reykjavik from the 30's. and various black and white photos of the housing and landscape. The themes, the words and poetic expression, the inclusion of myth and landscape, the specific and the univeral, all make me love the book and appreciate your film.
Thank you for the wonderful comment. I agree nature looks beautiful sometimes seen from a distance, but it can also be cruel if you have to live in it.
Found this film while searching for more information on the novel. I still have questions about the novel, especially the mysticism aspect of it and the death of the sheep, etc. Does anyone know of more analysis available?
This was my first introduction to Iceland and given its very low density why would anyone seeks freedom . . . freeedom from what. Nature is so breathtaking. Many thanks.
Perhaps I failed to mention that farmers in Iceland were kept more or less like slaves to the land up until the beginning of the 20th century. So this novel deals with what happened after that and how they feel about being free. Yes I agree it’s naturally a beautiful country but it’s the way we humans organize our society that disadvantages some of us for the benefit of others.
Ok, I've read lots of sagas, but not this modern novel...well, you know what I mean. I have it on my kindle/ cloud and will give it a dl and then, a read. I love that fierce spirit of independence that old Iceland had. Cheers!
Wow this is my first video from your channel. I saw your uploaded videos, it is great... Keep doing it 😍 And also do a video for my county India too.... I would recommend my favorite Thirukural...
@@Fiction_Beast It is basically divided into 3 main categories Virtue, wealth, love. And further divided into 133 titles with 10 verses under each titles...
That’s great! Is it like the most important work of literature in Tamil language? Does all Tamil speakers know about it? Is it taught in schools? Sorry I got too many questions. It sounds interesting.
@@Fiction_Beast Yes, it is taught in Tamilnadu (a Indian state) school almost in every grades. Everyone knows and loves it. A interesting fact : It is a rule in Tamilnadu, every government bus should have a verse from Thirukkural.
I enjoyed your review and agree with you that it should be shorter to tighten up the narrative. Or maybe it should be three separate books so the saga, as it were, would be more complete. I felt with the jump in time between wives the story missed something and the story of the oldest boy falling in love didn't serve the overall story. I do think it is a VERY political novel with long discussions about local government, socialism vs capitalism and WWI. It is a very good novel but not a great novel but it is a great view into the character of the people of Iceland.
The rest of the video is about the novel, independent people: a summary of it and some analysis and of course my personal opinion about it. The video also has some jokes about Iceland. Let me know if you find anything else in the video
@@Fiction_Beast Hello, the flag at the beginnig of the video is the Åland Islands flag whereas the Icelandic flag has a white color insted of the yellow🙂 Åland Islands🇦🇽 Iceland🇮🇸
I'm pretty sure you used the wrong flag at the beginning, it was the flag of the Aland Islands in between Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. The flag of Iceland is basically the Norwegian flag in reverse. Royale blue with a red Nordic Cross outlined in white.
Would love to see more Icelandic literature covered - considering one in every 10 folks there apparently write a novel
thankyou. I have just finished reading the book. I understand and agree with much of your commentary. While I was reading I searched out photos and film of Iceland at that time. I live in Australia. Extremes of climate and landscape continue to inform our history. Nature is not always so "nice" and pictureque. I did find a newreel of Reykjavik from the 30's. and various black and white photos of the housing and landscape. The themes, the words and poetic expression, the inclusion of myth and landscape, the specific and the univeral, all make me love the book and appreciate your film.
Thank you for the wonderful comment. I agree nature looks beautiful sometimes seen from a distance, but it can also be cruel if you have to live in it.
Found this film while searching for more information on the novel. I still have questions about the novel, especially the mysticism aspect of it and the death of the sheep, etc. Does anyone know of more analysis available?
This was my first introduction to Iceland and given its very low density why would anyone seeks freedom . . . freeedom from what. Nature is so breathtaking. Many thanks.
Perhaps I failed to mention that farmers in Iceland were kept more or less like slaves to the land up until the beginning of the 20th century. So this novel deals with what happened after that and how they feel about being free. Yes I agree it’s naturally a beautiful country but it’s the way we humans organize our society that disadvantages some of us for the benefit of others.
@@Fiction_Beast It is the feudal system that was rampant. Iceland is so scenic but I prefer warm climate.
Sharon have you read the book? I think not.
@@carol-en7pt No, I did not.
Ok, I've read lots of sagas, but not this modern novel...well, you know what I mean. I have it on my kindle/ cloud and will give it a dl and then, a read. I love that fierce spirit of independence that old Iceland had. Cheers!
That spirit of independence is almost mythical in this novel.
Wow this is my first video from your channel. I saw your uploaded videos, it is great...
Keep doing it 😍
And also do a video for my county India too....
I would recommend my favorite Thirukural...
Thank you, I will check Thirukural out. Is it fiction or non-fiction narrative?
@@Fiction_Beast Thirukural is a collection of 1330 short couplets originally written in Tamil language, the oldest living language.
@@Fiction_Beast It is basically divided into 3 main categories Virtue, wealth, love.
And further divided into 133 titles with 10 verses under each titles...
That’s great! Is it like the most important work of literature in Tamil language? Does all Tamil speakers know about it? Is it taught in schools? Sorry I got too many questions. It sounds interesting.
@@Fiction_Beast Yes, it is taught in Tamilnadu (a Indian state) school almost in every grades. Everyone knows and loves it.
A interesting fact : It is a rule in Tamilnadu, every government bus should have a verse from Thirukkural.
I enjoyed your review and agree with you that it should be shorter to tighten up the narrative. Or maybe it should be three separate books so the saga, as it were, would be more complete. I felt with the jump in time between wives the story missed something and the story of the oldest boy falling in love didn't serve the overall story. I do think it is a VERY political novel with long discussions about local government, socialism vs capitalism and WWI. It is a very good novel but not a great novel but it is a great view into the character of the people of Iceland.
I agree. It's really a good window into the early 20th century Iceland.
And this flag shown, is it icelandic?
I think the flag is not 100% accurate.
@@Fiction_Beast I can not reckon it as icelandic flag, so you think there is any truth in the rest of this video?
The rest of the video is about the novel, independent people: a summary of it and some analysis and of course my personal opinion about it. The video also has some jokes about Iceland. Let me know if you find anything else in the video
@@Fiction_Beast Hello, the flag at the beginnig of the video is the Åland Islands flag whereas the Icelandic flag has a white color insted of the yellow🙂
Åland Islands🇦🇽
Iceland🇮🇸
Thank you for this! Very sloppy of me.
I'm pretty sure you used the wrong flag at the beginning, it was the flag of the Aland Islands in between Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. The flag of Iceland is basically the Norwegian flag in reverse. Royale blue with a red Nordic Cross outlined in white.
I have been corrected. You're right.
@@Fiction_Beast No worries and my apologies if I came across wrong (:
Did you know that 1 in 10 people in Iceland publish a book? A nation of poets, writers and singers. I say, it is in the nature.
And also their music scene...so many bands, considering there's , what, 300,000 people, in the whole country. They're a very cultured lot, really.
It’s incredible. Tenacious people.
Your trivial interpretations of this Pulitzer Prize winning novel are ridiculous. Don't publish about things you are not qualified to criticize.