To Mary the Angel: “Greetings be thine,”
And by Holy Spirit the virgin gave birth:
The Lord’s will be done, in all be mine,
I am the Lord’s handmaid, a thing of no worth.
Hail the Lord’s word, man’s living breath,
And the cross of the Lord over sin and death.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, Christ’s fairest flower.
Of women be blessed and blessed in Earth’s bower
Christ Jesus, woman-born, heavenly king.
Blessed Mary, mother of God, hark to our plea.
Pray turn your son’s anger to clemency.
Grant grace, O Queen, on our last mortal hour.
Behold! All creation bends to your power.
Their voices as one ring out their string of rhymes with the word “Amen!” which means: Yes, yes, let it be. Finally they cross themselves quickly, hitch up their skirts a bit, and then waddle out through the Porta Angelica, bearing their baskets.
Taormina, summer 1925
Pronunciation of Icelandic Letters
The modern Icelandic alphabet consists of thirty-two letters, many of which do not appear in modern English; however, the sounds that these specifically Icelandic letters make all have near-equivalents in English:
ð, known as “eth” or “crossed d,” is pronounced like the (voiced) th in mother þ, known as “thorn,” is pronounced like the (unvoiced) th in thin
æ is pronounced like the i in time
á is pronounced like the ow in town
é is pronounced like the ye in yes
í is pronounced like the ee in green
ó is pronounced like the o in tote
ö is pronounced like the u in but
ú is pronounced like the oo in loon
ý is pronounced like the ee in green
au has no English equivalent; it can be approximated by an exaggerated slurring of the oay sound in sway. Perhaps closer is the œ sound in the French œil
ei and ey are pronounced like the ay in fray
Endnotes
1The quotation is from the third book of Dante Alighieri’s (1265–1321) The Divine Comedy, Paradise, and is spoken by Dante’s ancestor Cacciaguida (giving Dante advice on how to act after he is exiled from Florence, in response to Dante’s suggestion of prudence): “But none the less, put every lie aside,/and make thy vision clearly manifested,/letting them scratch who have an itching hide;/For, though thy word be grevious, barely tasted,/it will at length become a vital food/nutritious, so it be but well digested” (trans. Melville B. Anderson, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Vol. III, The Paradiso (London: Oxford University Press, 1921), p. 173; this is the edition of Dante that Halldór Laxness had at his home at Gljúfrasteinn).
2Þingvellir: The site of the Alþingi, the general assembly that was held for two weeks in June throughout most of Iceland’s history (it was held for the last time at Þingvellir in 1798; after being held in Reykjavík in 1799 and 1800 it was abandoned, until it was reconvened in Reykjavík starting in 1845). At the Alþingi lawsuits were settled and laws enacted beneath the cliffs of Almannagjá, a dramatic ravine formed by the separation of tectonic plates. Súlur (or Botnssúlur) and Skjaldbreiður are the names of two mountains that can be seen from Þingvellir. Esja is the name of a mountain close to Reykjavík (to the west of Þingvellir).
3Ylfingabúð is the name of the summer house of the “Ylfingurs,” that is, the brothers Grímúlfur and Örnúlfur Elliðason. (The word “ylfingur” is a diminutive form of the word “úlfur,” “wolf,” the second element in both brothers’ names. Ylfingabúð means, literally, “the booth of the Ylfingurs”). Many Icelanders have summer homes and cottages in the area around Þingvellir and Þingvallavatn (“Þingvellir Lake,” a huge lake just south of Þingvellir).
4Morgunblaðið: the name of Iceland’s main daily newspaper (literally, the “Morning Paper”), founded in 1913.
5Ylfingamóðir: the mother of the Ylfingurs.
6Eine feurige Begabung (German): A flashing talent.
7Eimreiðin: an Icelandic journal founded by Valtýr Guðmundsson, published in Copenhagen, 1895–1918, and in Reykjavík, 1918–75. The journal published stories, poems, and scholarly articles about literature, but during its final years it focused primarily on politics and government. Skírnir: an Icelandic journal, published yearly since 1827 by Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag (The Icelandic Literature Society) in Copenhagen, and from 1890 in Reykjavík. The journal was originally concerned with news and culture in general, but after combining with the Journal of the Icelandic Literature Society (Tímarit Hins íslenzka bókmenntafélags) in 1904, it has published articles on Icelandic literature, as well as, in recent years, philosophy and other scholarly topics.
8Karl Finnbogason (1875–1952) was an Icelandic teacher, school principal, and member of parliament. His book Landafræði handa börnum og unglingum (Geography for Children and Teenagers) was first published in 1907 and reprinted numerous times.
9Marriage is an ignominious capitulation . . . : This quotation, from George Bernard Shaw’s (1856–1950) Man and Superman (1902), is given in English in the Icelandic text of The Great Weaver.
10Væringjar: A scouting organization run by the Icelandic branch of the YMCA.
11Painted veil: a reference to a sonnet by the English Romantic Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), starting with the lines, “Lift not the painted veil which those who live / call life . . .”
12Tjörnin: “The Pond,” the name of the large pond in central (downtown) Reykjavík.
13Grettir Ásmundarson: The eponymous hero of Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar, one of the medieval Icelandic sagas. Grettir was a poet and an outlaw, and was finally killed by his enemies on the island of Drangey in the north of Iceland.
14Drápa: A variety of Icelandic skaldic verse, consisting of a series of stanzas (in general, at least twenty) broken by one or more refrains at regular intervals.
15Lazzaroni (Italian): Beggars.
16Gotaterri (Italian): Incessant pleading, begging.
17Vedi Napoli e poi muori (Italian): An Italian proverb: Behold Naples and then (you can) die.
18Tendresse sans passion (French): Affection without passion.
19La meta profetata fuori del mondo (Italian): The promised boundary beyond the world.
20Pricked by a sleep-thorn: A metaphor for “drugged,” referring to a magical technique used by sorcerers and others in Icelandic sagas and legends. Pricking one with a sleep-thorn in the ear or hair caused that person to fall into a deep sleep.
21H/f Ylfingur: H/f is an abbreviation for “hlutafélag,” or joint-stock company.
22Einar Jónsson (1873–1954) was an Icelandic sculptor. He bequeathed the Icelandic people his works, and they are now displayed at the Einar Jónsson Museum of Art in Reykjavík.
23Jón Sigurðsson (1811–1879), an Icelandic literary scholar and politician, was the leading advocate for Iceland in its struggle for independence from Denmark (Iceland was granted free trade in 1854, domestic autonomy in 1874, home rule in 1904, and sovereignty under the Danish Crown in 1918. On June 17, 1944 Iceland became an independent republic, and Independence Day is celebrated annually in Iceland on this day, the anniversary of Jón Sigurðsson’s birthday).
24Jeg kaldte dig mit . . . (Norwegian): “I called you my messenger of joy / I called you my star.” Lines from the poem “Stambogsrim,” written by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) and put into a musical setting (Stambogsrim. Op. 25, no. 3) by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843–1907).
25Leise flehen . . . (German): “Quietly my songs beckon through the night to you,” the first line of the poem “Serenade,” by the German poet Ludwig Rellstab (1799–1860), set to music by Schubert (“Ständchen,” D. 957 no. 4 (1828), from Schwanengesang, no. 4).
26Heinrich Heine’s (1797–1856) Doppelgänger reads as follows in the original German:
Still ist die Nacht, es ruhen die Gassen,
In diesem Hause wohnte mein Schatz;
Sie hat schon längst die Stadt verlassen,
Doch steht noch das Haus auf demselben Platz.
Da steht auch ein Mensch und starrt in die Höhe,
Und ringt die Hände vor Schmerzensgewalt;
Mir graust es, wenn ich sein Antlitz sehe–
Der Mond zeigt mir meine eigne Gestalt.
Du Doppelgänger, du bleicher Geselle!
Was äffst du nach mein Liebelsleid,
Das mich gequält auf dieser Stelle
So manche Nacht, in alter Zeit?
27Ô, doux printemps . . . (French): “O sweet springtimes of seasons passed, you have fled forever.” These lines are from Jules Massenet’s Élégie, published in 1869, and originally written by the French librettist Louis Gallet (1835–1898).
28Eviva la bandiera rossa (Italian): Long live the red flag.
29Moine bénédictin (French): Benedictine monk.
30Johohoe . . . (German): From Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), an opera by the German composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883), first performed in Dresden in 1843. (“Yohoho! Yohoho! Hoyohe! Have you seen the ship upon the ocean/blood-red the sails, black the masts?/On her bridge a pale man,/the ship’s captain, watches without rest./Hui! How the wind howls! Yohohe!/Hui! How it whistles in the rigging! Yohohe!/Hui! Like an arrow it flies on,/without aim, without end, without rest!”)
31Panem et circenses (Latin): Bread and circuses.
32Psalm 143:4.
33Greif hinein . . . (German): Grab all you can of human life. From Goethe’s Faust.
34Deadly mistletoe: An allusion to the killing of the Norse god Baldur with a missile fashioned of mistletoe, an event that heralded Ragnarök and the destruction of the gods.
35Garçonnes (French): Tomboys; boyish girls.
36Jóhann Sigurjónsson, Fjalla-Eyvindur: Jóhann Sigurjónsson (1880–1919) was an Icelandic writer who lived most of his life in Denmark and wrote mainly in Danish. His works display a great Neoromantic spirit, and he became famous for his play Fjalla-Eyvindur, but he is now highly regarded as both a dramatist and a poet.
37The character is from Marcel Proust’s (1877–1922) masterwork, Á la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past), published 1913–1927.
38He weaves . . .: Cited from the chorus of “Atalanta in Calydon” by the English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909).
39Der mensch . . . (German): Man is something that must be defeated. Satan conduit . . . (French): Satan conducts the ball, a reference to the title of the book Satan conduit le bal . . . Roman pamphletaire et philosophique des mœurs de temps (1925), written by Georges Anquetil. This book had a great influence on The Great Weaver from Kashmir.
40O crux, ave, spes unica (Latin): O cross, hail, my only hope.
41Chi siete . . . (Italian): Who are you that emerges from the eternal silence?
42Gieb, ja ergieb . . . (German): Hand yourself over to me, you most vicious of enemies. From Nietzsche’s Also Sprach Zarathustra (1883–1885), Part 2, I, “Der Zauberer” (“The Magician”).
43This translation of Soupault’s poem is from the incomplete, unpublished translation of The Great Weaver from Kashmir made by Magnús Arason and Halldór Laxness in California in the 1920s, and that exists in manuscript form in the National Library of Iceland.
44Urðhæð, Einbúi: Common generic names for mountains in Iceland (“Rocky Height” and “Hermit,” respectively).
45Skerpla: The second month of summer in the old Icelandic calendar, beginning on the Saturday of the fifth week of summer (19–25 May).
46Sólmánuður: The third month of summer according to the old Icelandic calendar, beginning on the Monday following the 17th of June.
47“We certainly are great men, my dear Hrólfur”: This idiom is used in Iceland to silence or humble prideful or egotistical people . The idiom is associated with Göngu-Hrólfs Saga, one of the so-called “Legendary Sagas” (fornaldarsögur), mainly fantastical tales composed during the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries; in the saga a character named Vilhjálmur claims responsibility for some of Hrólfur’s great deeds.
48Possibly a reference to the romantic novel of the same name by the Anglo-Irish author and playwright E. Temple Thurston (1879–1933), published 1909 (and subsequently made into a film).
49Wes’ Brot ich eß, des’ Lied ich sing (German): Whose bread I eat; whose song I sing. A German proverb, akin to “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
50Ubi bene. . . (Latin): Where one is well off, there is his country. Ubi pecunia… (Latin): Where there is money, there is one’s country.
51Messina is a seaside town in northeast Sicily. Catania is a seaside town in eastern Sicily, at the foot of Mount Etna.
52An seinem . . . (German): God died of his pity for mankind, from Nietzsche’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, Part 2, XXV, “Von den Mitleidigen” (“The Pitiful”).
53Raskolnikov is the protagonist of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s (1821–1881) Crime and Punishment (published in 1866).
54Di Signora Ellidaso (Italian): Of Signora Ellidaso (Madam Elliðason).
55Il buono Dio (Italian): The good God.
56Le bellezze della vita (Italian): The magnificence of life.
57Soirée internationale (French): International evening party.
58Isola Bella (Italian): “Beautiful Isle,” the name of an island near Taormina in Sicily.
59Il Mondo (Italian): The name of an Italian newspaper.
60Terra nullius (Latin): No-man’s land.
61Rajputana (Rajputstan): A historic region of northwest India, coextensive with the modern state of Rajasthan.
62Jaipur (Jeypore): The capital of the state of Rajasthan, India, known as the “Pink City.”
63Vous vous en allez; moi, je reste (French): You go away, me, I will stay.
64Crimine bestiali (Latin): Bestiality.
65Der reine Verbrecher . . . (German): The purebred criminal is the only one who truly knows.
66Pereat (Latin): Let her die.
67In the spirit of Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901), a Swiss Symbolist painter.
68Questa soglia . . . (Italian): This threshold divides two worlds. Mercy binds them.
69È vero (Italian): It’s true!
70Nihil humani . . . (Latin): I consider nothing that concerns mankind alien to me, a famous Latin phrase used by the Roman playwright Terence (190–159 BC) in his play Heauton Timoroumenos (The Self-Tormentor).
71Soldi (Italian): Italian currency (1 lira = 20 soldi).
72Ego autem sum vermis . . . (Latin): Psalm 22:6 (But I am a worm and no man: a reproach of men, and despised of the people).
73Ricordo di Taormina (Italian): A souvenir of Taormina.
74Gran’ signore (Italian): A great gentleman.
75A fatto malo . . . (Italian): He hurt a little girl.
76The Barber of Seville: An opera by Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1792–1868), first performed in February 1816.
77Durch alle Töne . . . (German): Through all of the notes sounded a tender tone of love.
78Saluti . . . (Italian): Greetings, greetings, Excellency.
79Calabria: A region in southern Italy (the toe of the boot).
80La vie, ça n’est jamais . . . (French): Life is never as good or as bad as people think.
81Bêtes à bon dieu (French): Ladybugs.
82Til det dansk-islandske . . . (Danish): To the Danish-Icelandic Consulate, Palermo. Sicily.
83Rhodymenia palmata is the scientific name for dulse (edible seaweed).
84Il piacere (Italian): The bliss.
85Om mani padme hum: A Tibetan mantra, “Hail to the jewel in the lotus,” intended to create and maintain a state of compassion, both in the chanter and the world.
86Eli, Eli! (Latin): My God, my God; part of Christ’s final words upon the cross (“Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani,” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
87Pax (Latin): Peace; Ut in o
mnibus glorificetur Deus (Latin): That God might be glorified in all things.
88Gloria, misericordia, secula seculorum (Latin): Glory, mercy, ages of ages (now and forever, throughout the ages).
89Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa (Latin): Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; a phrase used in the Confiteor, a general confession recited in the Roman Rite at the beginning of Mass, in confession, and on other occasions in preparation for the reception of grace.
90Respice in me, Deus . . . (Latin): Look upon me, God, and have mercy on me, for I am destitute and alone (Psalm 25:16).
91Videtur ut non (Latin): It is not seen.
92Unus Altissimus Jesus Christus (Latin): Jesus Christ, alone and highest (a variation on a phrase of the Gloria, a prayer in the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass).
93De Imitatione Christi (Of the Imitation of Christ), Book 2, 12:15. De Imitatione Christi is a great devotional work that is thought to have been written by the Dutch theologian and Augustinian Thomas à Kempis (1389–1471).
94Regia via sanctæ crucis (Latin): The royal road of the holy cross. Book 2, chapter 12 of De Imitatione Christi bears the title “De regia via sanctæ crucis.”
95Hanc regiam viam quæ est via cruces (Latin): Here, the royal road, which is also the road of the cross.
96In the cross is good fortune . . .: This passage, loosely translated from The Imitation of Christ, Book II, chapter XII.
97In manu tua sum (Latin): Into your hands (from the seven last words of Christ upon the cross).
98Fait son droit (French): Fulfilled his (academic) duties.
99Ancilla veritatis (Latin): Envoy of the truth.
100Anima naturaliter christiana (Latin): “The soul of man is Christian by nature,” a famous statement made by the Roman lawyer (and Church Father) Tertullian (born ca. 160) in his Apologeticus (a defense of the Christian religion against the pagans).
101Rien n’est plus désagréable que d’être pendu obscurément (French): Nothing is more disagreeable than to be hanged in obscurity.
102Staffage zu gewissen Ideen (German): Afterthoughts; accessories to fixed ideas (figures in paintings that are secondary to the main concept are called Staffage in German).
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