ICELANDIC LITERATURE IN THE U.S.: ON THE NATIONAL BORDERS IN LITERATURE

Journal Title: Studia Litterarum - Year 2016, Vol 1, Issue 1

Abstract

Literature has been central to Icelandic culture in the history of the nation. Icelandic immigrants in the U.S. created an original literature in their native tongue that, on the one hand, continued a rich Icelandic literary tradition going back to sagas and Edda texts, on the other hand, adopted New World themes and images and was influenced by literary forms inherent in American culture. American-Icelandic Literature exists as an independent cultural phenomenon and belongs to both cultures: American and Icelandic. Icelandic-American authors did not lose their national identity when writing in English as they preserved national narrative and poetic forms yet at the same time were part of American literature. National borders in the world literature are mainly defned by geographic and linguistic factors. The concept of national literature very often draws on the concept of national identity, literature being one of the most important components of cultural self-identifcation. Usually, immigrant literature intended for a specifc immigrant community, is interesting only to this community and is not seen as part of national culture in the home country. But in the case of Icelandic-American literature, it is possible to say that this literary tradition did not break its connections with Iceland, and regardless of the fact that Icelandic-American authors were writing in English, their works became part of Icelandic cultural heritage.

Authors and Affiliations

Andrey V. Korovin

Keywords

Related Articles

FROM THE CULT OF THE “SELF” TO THE ANCESTOR CULT: TRILOGY THE CULT OF THE SELF BY MAURICE BARRÈS

The debut of Maurice Barrès, his trilogy The Cult of the Self immediately won the reader’s attention. In the 1890s, his works evoked increasing interest. His contemporaries read them as a fascinating narrative about the...

“UNHAPPY YOUNG MAN.” A HERO-SUFFERER IN ITALIAN ROMANTIC PROSE

The article focuses on different takes on the subject of suffering in Italian literature of the beginning of the 19 th century. Being a feature topic of the Romantic literature, it is intimately linked with the central R...

GORKY STUDIES: A NEW PHASE

The A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature is acknowledged center of the international Gorky Studies. The paper discusses all the stages of the development of the Gorky research from 1937 to the present. The Institute...

Mark Twain in the Russian Pre-Revolutionary Periodical. Part 2

This article deals with the analysis of interpretation of the works by Mark Twain, famous American author, in the Russian pre-revolutionary periodical press (1872–1916). The objects of research are critical articles, es...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP26086
  • DOI 10.22455/ 2500-4247-2016-1-1-2-192-210
  • Views 733
  • Downloads 25

How To Cite

Andrey V. Korovin (2016). ICELANDIC LITERATURE IN THE U.S.: ON THE NATIONAL BORDERS IN LITERATURE. Studia Litterarum, 1(1), -. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-26086