Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06

ICELAND.-Iceland has made nc
contribution worth mentioning to any
of the other arts, though the Danish
| ThorwaldSen was the son of an Ice
lander, but she occupies unique posi-
| ton in the supreme art of literature
because of her development of that
noble prose form, the saga, of various
theme. The modern editors have ar
ranged the surviving sagaS in two
groups, the greater sagas and the minor
| SagaS. The father of the saga was Arr
born in 1867; the last of the classic
Sagamen was Sturla, who died in 1884
! The events related by all the classic
! Sagamen are supposed to have occurred
| between 800 and 1890. Heroic action is
the main theme, but nature and love
are not ignored, and there is even jolly
| comic tale of how several ancient FAM
lilies banded together to extinguish the
pretensions of wealthy parvenu.
Ari was a puissant genius, decisively
establishing the general character of the
so admirable saga style, with its quick
| turns of dialogue and It's careful evolu-
ton of plot destined TO very brilliant re-
suits in some instances), and setting the
so high romantic tone in respect OF
honor and courage. But he was kind
of NARROW, preluding more "metodiouS
bursts" The greatest sagas are the
! Njala saga, the Laxdaela saga. and the
Egil saga. The Njala saga contains in
the account of the death of Njala the
lawman one of the most magnificent
| passages in all literature; the LaXdaela
saga, besides its romantic flavor, deals
with external nature with singular
charm; and the Egil saga, besides being
one of the best of tales of adventure
exhibits psychological subtlety of nc
mean sort. Without question the un-
known authors of these prose epics
greater sagaS" are among the greatest
masters of narrative the world has
known
Considering then, the small popula-
ton of Iceland, her contribution to the
stock OF what Is supremely worth
| while" among the productions of the
human mind and spirit is unique, orig
mai, perhaps topping all in fair COM
parlson. OF Icelandic poetry I say
nothing. Much of it has great merit,
but 1t is essentially derivative product;
thu saga is indigenous. But may not
fail to note that Icelandic literature in
cludes a magnificent translation of the
New Testament, a scarcely less superb
translation of the Odyssey. and a col
lection of proverbs and folk tales hold
, ing much wisdom, charm and fantasy.
Let us now go and read THE Saga of
| Grettir the Strong" and the story of
Burnt Mai, both in Every Mans
Library" and William Morris notable
TRANSACTIONS and interpretations of the
Icelandic sagas.
| Speak Of a renaissance" of Ice
]andic literature, as some enthusiasts
do. seems to me exaggerative, but no
little work since the middle of the last
century has been more than respectable,
including some admirable poetry. Pri-
mary education is looked after very well
in Iceland, and the people are great
readers. Eighteen newspapers and sew
eral magazines, rather remarkable for
population so small and so far from
opulent.
| X X X
FRANCE. = On June 80 the last
French soldier left the Rhineland.
The other day Premier Tardieu won
his most decisive victory to date over
the opposition in the French Chamber.
! The matter in debate was the manner
OF dealing with native unrest in French
Indo-China. The radical Socialists
moved for committee of the deputies