Singnagtugaq: A Greenlanders Dream

by Mathias Storch

Published in 1915, Singnagtugaq: A Greenlanders Dream, created both furor and literary history as the first original novel in Greenlandic. Initially the book was seen as an encounter between the historic clash of good and evil Danish colonizers and the colonized Greenlanders. The book portrays this encounter in vivid, harsh terms reflecting the time. At the end of the novel comes a vision of a future, modern Greenland, freed from colonial humiliation and poverty: the first literary expression of the desire for progress which later became so prominent in Greenlandic poetry and politics. It also described the first required Danish education for primary school students, not to serve as subservient to the Danish, but as a necessary part of a Greenlanders education and growth. Later, this apparent contradiction came to characterize Greenlandic cultural policy."

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1914

Reviews

[Joe Hay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable read - more as a slice of history than as a work of fiction.

It's a brief novella - the first ever written in an Inuit language (Kalaallisut) - centering on the lives of 3 young Greenlandic men at the start of the 20th century. It covers timeless coming-of-age story themes: ambition, finding work, leaving home, marriage, and love trigonometry. However, the narrative is very brief and not very substantial. What's more interesting is the opportunity to learn about village and colony life in Greenland at the turn of the 20th. You learn about the class system imposed by the Danish government and its effects on the inhabitants, the hunting and fishing economy, the colonial assembly and government, the education, and a little bit of the interface between the local traditions and the new life introduced by European dominion. It looks to have been written at a critical moment when Greenlanders were developing an internationally-minded political culture, and this book serves as a voice for that moment of growth.

The prose - at least in translation - is very patient and intelligently constructed, with several moments of deep beauty. Storch has good psychological insight and love for his characters. In that sense, the book is a tease- as it's the only one that seems to be the only one of his available (at least in English). I would like to read more of him.

If you're looking for an engrossing novel or a look into Inuit culture in general, this book would not satisfy. However, it's a great, quick satisfying read if you're curious about anything I've listed above.

[Rudi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Den første grønlandske roman! Det er fristende å kalle denne boka science-fiction, men fremtidsvisjonen i boka er "kun" en drøm hovedpersonen har i siste kapittel. Til tross for at boka er ganske kort, rommer den en hel masse. Den beskriver det grønlandske samfunn både i boplassene og i "byen" ("kolonien"), den har med qivitoq-fenomenet, den skildrer urettferdighet i samfunnet, belyser problemene mellom de danske og de grønlandske, gir et bud på hvilken vei Grønland burde ta fremover - og viser til slutt et slags idealbilde av hva Storch mener at Grønland burde være. Mest interessant er kanskje drømmen som har gitt navnet til boka. I fremtidsvisjonen får man se Nuuk ("Godthaab") med flotte, rene trehus og travelt byliv og egen skole. Grønland har fått flere byer, og har et fungerende demokrati. Selv om det er snakk om over hundre år frem i tid er det svært få tegn på noe nytt, samfunnet presenteres heller som det Storch så på som det ypperste i sin egen tid. Et mulig unntak er byens trykkeri, som har blitt større og modernisert, og Pavia får se «et stort, vidunderlig Rum, hvor alt saa anderledes ud end det, han plejede at se».

Det må neppe nevnes at boka nok er best for spesielt interesserte, men samtidig er den såpass kort og lettlest at de fleste lett kan komme seg gjennom den, og lære noe om Grønland i prosessen.