Frelsi, menning, framför: Um bréf og greinar Jóns Halldórssonar by Úlfar Bragason (review)

Frelsi, menning, framför is essentially the story of Jón Halldórsson (1838–1919), who, in 1872, emigrated from Stóruvellir in Bárðardalur to the United States. However, Úlfar uses a very wide lens in his portrayal of this extraordinarily interesting man. Accordingly, the story is also the (cultural-historical) story of the emigration of Icelanders to North America, their settlement in the New World, the communities they created, and their attitudes toward the homeland, yet Jón is not reduced to a “type” of immigrant. In addition, much useful information is provided about Iceland during the nineteenth century, attitudes in Iceland toward the emigration, and conditions in North America, especially Nebraska. It is a microhistory in the sense that the focus is on Jón, but at the same time it is a macrohistory in that Jón is analyzed within the larger picture of the emigration of Icelanders and life in North America at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.

For reasons that will probably never be known, Jón Halldórsson’s plans to write an autobiography never materialized. But inadvertently, Jón’s (auto)biography is written in this book. Through an analysis of his writings (diary, letters, articles), letters written to him, and photographs of him, his family, and his surroundings, Úlfar has managed to present a sensitive, detailed, and multifaceted portrayal of him, his life, his attitudes, and his thoughts. The picture of Jón that emerges is that of an individualist and a man who believed that with hard work and a good measure of wit, one could take control of one’s own fortune. He was pragmatic and practical, very much his own person, and not afraid to voice his opinions. At the same time, he was a sensitive person, an intellectual in his own right, and kind and generous to his friends and family. In the political world of today’s United States, he would be a strange mix of Republican and Democrat.

The book presents a very significant contribution not only to the history and culture of the so-called Western Icelanders, but also to Icelandic literature and history. A considerable amount has been written about the history of the emigration and the settlement of Icelanders in North America, but this book is vastly superior to previous books and articles on the topic. This is in part due to the fact that it is highly interdisciplinary. It draws on research within the fields of Icelandic literature (old and modern), comparative literature, and also, albeit to a lesser extent, history, anthropology, philosophy, and psychology. Moreover, in contrast to many of the previous writings, it is very objective. Finally, it contributes significantly to scholarship on (auto)biography. Much reading and many hours of research must have gone into writing the book. Add to this the astonishing amount of fieldwork in North America, which includes interviews with Jón Halldórson’s descendants (to whom the book is dedicated) in order to get a better understanding of Jón, his contemporaries, and the emigration of Icelanders to North America in general, and—not least—the use of a great variety of sources, such as original articles, diaries, letters, and photographs. A wealth of information is contained in this book, but all this information is well digested, and the book is well structured and easy to follow.

Following a preface and an introduction, the book consists of nine chapters, a conclusion, an English summary, an extensive bibliography of unpublished and published works, an index of personal names, and an index of photographs. The introduction surveys Úlfar’s previous research on Jón Halldórsson and explains the manner in which this book builds on and continues the research. Úlfar gives a critical survey of research on the emigration of Icelanders to North America, which he wisely...