Prof.. Dagný Kristjánsdóttir. Dr. Phil:
Jón Sveinsson – Nonni
Born 1857
Father dies 1869
Nonni accepts the offer of education in France 1870
Enters the Jesuit École Apostolique in Amiens 1872
Manni joins him there in 1874
Nonni becomes teacher in Ordrup – north of Copenhagen
Two visits to Iceland in 1894 and 1930
Stops teaching, starts writing in German – writes Nonni 1913 – followed by 11 books
Dies 1944
Jón Sveinsson (1857-1944)
Boy´s books – adventure stories
“The journey” is a dominant theme in the Nonni books.
One of the most typical theme in Children´s books
Home (safe but boring) – other places (exciting but dangerous) – home again
Journeys and adventures – in Nonni und Manni 1914 und Sonnentage 1915.
The dangers and conflicts are between man and nature in the spirit of Crusoe
The Ideology of the Nonni books
Silja Aðalsteinsdóttir is highly critical of the Nonni books:
The narrator is a childish adult or an old child
Nonni´s invincibility gives the stories character of popular fiction
The characters do not change or develop
Iceland is depicted as a fairy-tale country – free like the Wild West
Class division not only accepted but almost embarrassing glorification of nobility
Yes – but ....
Danish children´s books from the same period share those characteristics
The authors were teachers and believed that children were good in and of themselves.
All conflicts were external not internal
Characters tend to be fairly standardized
In the Nonni books Danish children are pictured as “soft and weak” compared to Icelandic children
Catholic children´s books
Special Catholic publishing houses in Britain near the end of the 19th century
Dual market – British upper class catholic children and children of Irish immigrants
Jesuits were prominent authors of children´s books
They considered novel-writing as a form of missionary work
Priests were often looked upon as part of the upper middle class and often identified with them.
The emphasis on the nobility distinguishes Catholic children´s books from main stream British Children´s books in England according to Pat Pinsent.
Are Nonni´s books missionary writings?
Nonni (1913) – a novel or biography?
Nonni (preface -1913): “But now we shall allow the Icelandic lad to speak for himself and tell his story”
Nonni (preface – 1916): “I would like to state, because there is reason to do so, that Nonni is a true story, not fiction.”
The autobiographical pact
The starting point for biography is looking back at the past in light of the present.
The writer of autobiography offers the reader a certain contract – the reader is to believe that the story is true and can be proved with documents and other evidence.
This depends on the belief that biography reproduces a “text” which life has previously “written.”
Paul de Man
“We assume that life produces the autobiography as an act produces its conseqences, but can we not suggest, with equal justice, that the autobiographical project may itself produce and determine the life and that whatever the writer does is in fact governed by the technical demands of self-portraiture and thus determined, in all its aspects, by the resources of his medium?”
Sveinn Þórarinsson – Nonnis father
Svein´s diaries 1852-1869
Jón Sveinsson sends for his father´s diaries in 1906
Reads about the fathers view on the marital differences, betrayals, disputes with the county magistrate he worked for, financial problems, illness, bitterness and frustrations.
Nothing of this enters Jón Sveinsson´s biography – if Nonni is to be considerd one
Sigríður Jónsdóttir – Nonnis mother
Returning to Iceland?
The Jesuits lost their interest in sending a missionary to Iceland in the revived Catholic mission
Nonni´s mother died in Canada 1910
His little brother Manni died in 1885
His elder sister Bogga died in 1882
Nonni didn´t know his two youngest siblings
There was nothing and noone left
At that time Jón Sveinsson created “Nonni”
Nonni – the pure origin
Jón Sveinsson gave 4.500 lectures in schools and educational institutions from 1912-1940 in Europe, USA and Japan
Lectures – both educational and entertaining as well: Inga Dóra Björnsdóttir.
“Travels and life in distant lands” was a very popular subject.
Great interest in the Arctic – the race for the North Pole was ongoing in the beginning of the 20th. Century – Peary was a sought after lecturer
Icelanders – Noble and civilized – primitive, dirty and lazy?
Icelanders who moved to Canada in 1870s-1880s formed closed groups
Considered themselves as equal to the English-American immigrants, distanced themselves from other groups of European immigrants
Ólöf Sölvadóttir (1858-1935)
Immigrated to Canada with her father 1876
Ólöf was a caucasian dwarf, 120 cm. high
Started career as an eskimo
Lectured on inuit live and culture for 30 years, was a gifted performer
She was not exposed until after her death
The North
German ideas about Iceland in the beginning of the 20th centure were extremely idealizing according to Marion Lerner:
Admiration for the sublime nature of Iceland
Respect for medieval literature
Love for “The Nordic”
The Nordic was ideologically indefinable and could be exploited in diverse ways
Jón Sveinsson´s lectures
Travels and life in distant lands
Jón Sveinsson -Very charming speaker
Performer –
Always cried when he told about his parting with his mother
4.500 times?
Nonni´s narrative combines ...
The myth of the North
The myth of the common origin and early history
The myth of the earthly paradise of childhood These prove to be one and the same myth about the innocence of the child where modernity does not exist, no sexuality, no sin or hatred.
At last
Nonni´s message: You can survive any suffering whatsoever – you are what you belive (that you are).
Nonni – “The competent child”?
Primary sources: Books by Jón Sveinsson
Jón Sveinsson: Et ridt gennem Island [1908]/ Zwischen Eis und Feuer : ein Ritt durch Island : Breslau : Franz Goerlich. [1911].
Jón Svensson: Nonni. Erlebnisse eines jungen Isländers von ihm selbst erzählt, Freiburg: Herder. 1913
Jón Svensson; Nonni und Manni : zwei isländische Knaben : Regensburg : Josef Habbel, 1914.
Jón Svensson: Sonnentage : Nonni's Jugenderlebnisse auf Island : Freiburg : Herder, 1915.
Jón Svensson: Die Stadt am Meer: Nonni´s neue Erlebnisse: Freiburg: Herder: 1922
Jón Svensson: Abenteuer auf den Inseln : Nonnis Erlebnisse auf Seeland und Fünen: Freiburg : Herder: 1927.
Jón Svensson: Auf Skipalón : neue Islandgeschichten Nonnis : Freiburg : Herder, 1928.
Jón Svensson: Wie Nonni das Glück fand: Freiburg : Herder, 1934.
Jón Svensson: Die Feuerinsel im Nordmeer : Nonnis Fahrt zum Althing : Freiburg : Herder : 1935.
Jón Svensson: Nonni erzählt : Erlebnisse und Geschichten von Frohen Öresund : Freiburg : Herder : 1936
Jón Svensson: Nonnis Reise um die Welt : Amerika: Freiburg : Herder: 1948.
Jón Svensson:Nonnis Reise um die Welt / eine Reise von Amerika über den Fernen Osten nach Europa : Freiburg : Herder, 1951.
Secondary sources:
Harold Bloom (ed) Daniel Defoe´s Robinson Crusoe. New York. Chelsea House. 1988.
Brynhildur Þórarinsdóttir og Dagný Kristjánsdóttir (ritstj). Í Guðrúnar húsi. Greinasafn um bækur Guðrúnar Helgadóttur. Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands. Reykjavík. Vaka-Helgafell. 2005
Paul John Eakin. Fictions in autobiography. Studies in the Art of Self-Invention. Princeton. New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 1985
Finnur Sigmundsson (ritstj). Konur skrifa bréf. Sendibréf 1797-1907. Reykjavík. Bókfellsútgáfan. 1961.
Freysteinn Gunnarsson: „Formáli fyrir annarri útgáfu.“ í Jón Sveinsson. Nonni. Brot úr æskusögu Íslendings. Eigin frásögn. Freysteinn Gunnarsson þýddi. Þriðja útgáfa. Ritsafn IV. Bindi. Reykjavík. Ísafoldarprentsmiðja H.F. 1958
Dennis Gifford. „Popular literatur. Comics, dime novels, pulps and Penny Dreadfuls.“ Peter Hunt (ed). International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. New York. Routledge. 2004.
Gunnar F. Guðmundsson: „Nonni fer til náms. Um skólanám rithöfundarins Jóns Sveinssonar í Frakklandi 1871-1878“ Merki krossins. 1. hefti 2006
Halldór Laxness. Í túninu heima. Reykjavík. Vaka-Helgafell. 1975
Haraldur Hannesson. „Nonni áttræður.“ Eimreiðin, 43. árgangur. 4. hefti. Reykjavík. 1937.
Gert Kreutzer: „Nonni und die isländische Literatur.“ Island, 1. Jahrg., Heft 1, 1995.
Gert Kreutzer: „Nonni als Lehrer und Missionar in Dänemark.“ Island.1. Jahrg., Heft 1, 1995.
Arne Melberg. „Sightseeing – resenärens blick“ Dagný Kristjánsdóttir (ed) Literature and Visual Culture. Reykjavík. Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands. 2005
Maria Nikolajeva. Barnbokens byggklossar. Lund. Studentlitteratur 2004. 1998
Claudia Nelson. „Mixed Messages: Authoring and Authority in British Boys´ Magazines. The Lion and the Unicorn 21.1. 1997. The John Hopkins University Press. 1997
Perry Nodleman. „Barnelitteratur som sjanger.„ Harald Bache-Wiig (ed): Nye veier til
Barneboka. Landslaget for norskundervisning. Oslo. Cappelen Akademisk forlag. 1997.
Pat Pinsent. „British Catholic Children's Fiction between Vatican I and Vatican II. Jan De Maeyer, Hans-Heino Ewers, Rita Ghesquière, Michel Manson, Pat Pinsent & Patricia Quaghebeur (ed). Religion, Children's Literature and Modernity in Western Europe 1750-2000. KADOC-Studies on Religion, Culture and Society 3. Leuven University Press. 2005
Jean Jacques Rousseau. Emile ou l´education.
Sigurður Stefánsson. „Ævintýrið um Nonna.“ Kirkjuritið. 10. árg. 8-10. hefti. Reykjavík. 1944
Torfi K. Stefánsson Hjaltalín. Eldur á Möðruvöllum. Saga Möðruvalla í Hörgárdal frá öndverðu til okkar tíma. Síðara bindi. Reykjavík. Flateyjarútgáfan. 2001
Valtýr Stefánsson: „Þegar „Nonni“ sagði frá ritstörfum sínum og fyrirlestraferðum.“ í Valtýr Stefánsson: Þau gerðu garðinn frægan. Reykjavík. Bókfellsútgáfan h/f. 1956
Jon Svensson. Seelsorge für verwundete und kranke Soldaten. München. Regensburg: Manz 1916.
Richard A. Voeltz. „Reflections on Baden-Powell, the British Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, Racism, Militarism, and Feminism.“ Weber studies. Spring/Summer 1997. Volume 14.2.
Mette Winge: Dansk børnelitteratur 1900-1945 med særligt henblik på børneromanen. København. Gyldendal. 1976
Torben Weinreich: Historien om Børnelitteratur. Dansk Børnelitteratur gennem 400 år. København. Branner og Korch. 2006
Walter O. Weyrauch (ed): Gypsy Law: Romani Legal Traditions and Culture. Berkeley. University of California Press. 2001.