Laterna magica

by William Heinesen

English, Danish (translation)

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Scandinavian Literature

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

William Heinesen is the best-known writer that the Faroe Islands have produced. He wrote mainly in Danish, but all of his books, which are set in the Faroe Islands, have been translated into his native Faroese. When Heinesen heard rumours that he was to win the Nobel Prize he requested that his nomination be withdrawn, discussing his choice to write in Danish with a mixture of bitterness and regret: "Faroese was at one time held in low regard - it's fair to say that the language was kept down. For all that, Faroese has generated remarkable literature, and it would have been right to award the Nobel Prize to an author who had written in Faroese. If I were given the prize, then a Danish writer would have got it, and Faroese literary endeavours would have been dealt a heavy blow". He died aged 91.

Reviews

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's the back story: Born in 1900, William Heinesen was an author, poet, and painter from the Faroe Islands, which was for much of his life under Danish rule (The Faroes are now mostly autonomous, although Denmark still handles their defense, legal system, and 'foreign affairs.') Although very much invested in the life, culture, and language of his native land, Heinesen elected to write in Danish for practical reasons. It was for this reason that in 1981, when Nobel-Prize-rumor-mongers (the best type of rumor-monger, for my money) spread the word that Heinesen was going to win that year's prize, the author immediately wrote to the Swedish Academy and withdrew his nomination. As he said,

"The Faroese language was once held in little regard – indeed it was suppressed outright. In spite of this the Faroese language has created a great literature, and it would have been reasonable to give the Nobel Prize to an author who writes in Faroese. If it had been given to me, it would have gone to an author who writes in Danish, and in consequence Faroese efforts to create an independent culture would have been dealt a blow."

[Thank you, Wikipedia...]

Anyway, Laterna Magica is not supposedly Heinesen's best (or best known) work, but I found both the premise and execution of this collection rather fascinating. A loose thread runs through all the stories, which all take place in a small Faroese village, and are being narrated in the present tense by a person who is supposedly walking with you from one end of town to the other. (This is a book that would do very well to have a map in the front...) On the way, the narrator points out houses to you and tells you about the inhabitants. These aren't really full stories, or even full anecdotes, simply slices of the lives that take place in this village.

Sometimes the effect is rather anti-climactic, or even disconcerting. For instance, the first story is presented as a ghost story (they all have explanatory subtitles). It seems that two boys who once lived in a certain house were sitting at home one day and were visited by two old women. The women scared the boys, who couldn't get them to leave until their parents could be heard returning home, upon which, the women disappeared into thin air. That's it. No explanation, to future sightings--the mother merely remarks, 'oh, that happens sometimes,' and the story ends.

The book itself ends on a similar note--no fanfare, no fade out "yay, we got to the other end of town" moment. The framing device of this walk you've been taking just drops off. What makes it work then is that these are the type of stories that you would actually hear if you were walking through a remote fishing village. There's not always narratives to each moment of life, but in the context of everyday life, these moments are still important just for having happened. There's a continuity to these tales that does make you feel like you've visited this town, that you have some insights into the dramas that drive its citizens.

Reading Laterna Magica is not unlike taking a vacation to your childhood home and wandering around with your grandparents--perhaps not the something that you'd want to do all the time, but certainly an enriching experience to have had.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Beautifully written.
Short stories woven together by the location: a town on the Faroe Islands.
His narrative is engaging, and he tells the good as well as the bad, with great affection.

[Skuli Saeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugljúft smásagnasafn eftir Heinesen, það síðasta sem var gefið út eftir hann. Allar sögurnar tengjast innbyrðis og lýsa lífinu í færeyskum bæ og lífi og samskiptum litríkra persóna þar. Persónurnar eru eftirminnilegar og sterkar persónulýsingar lífga þær í huga manns. Vel þess virði að lesa.

[Magnús · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mjög fín og notaleg bók með fræeyskum endurminningasmásögum Heinesens í frábærri þýðingu Þorgeirs Þorgeirssonar.

[Jordan St. Stier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wry, childlike stories of a bygone era that never was.

[Josh Maher]

Fun stories from Faroe Islands.

[Oliver Holm · Rating 4 out of 5]

"At sige at Kamilla græd af en slags hobby- og sportsmæssige grunde er sikkert uretfærdigt og ialtfald ikke smukt, men visse beklagelige medmennesker forfalder jo undertiden til denne skrækkelige form for muntration; man kan bogstavelig talt se på dem hvordan det styrker og opliver dem at dvæle ved sørgelige ting og hvordan de altid er på udkig efter nye forfriskende tåreudløsende emner. Kamilla var ligesom sin mand en trivelig rødmosset person og kunne mellem grådanfaldene se ret fornøjet og lykkelig ud, ja, hun havde i grunden også let til smil og latter og viste herunder sine små velholdte tænder; men sådanne tørvejrsstunder varede sjældent ret længe"

:)

Dette uddrag er af min yndlingshistorie i samlingen, "Syndefaldet", og når det er lige så velskrevet som her, er det virkelig også. Til gengæld bed de længere historier, "Lykkestenen" og "Balladen om Bøledrengen", sig ikke fast, og selve fortællerammen - hvor man ledsager en til tider overmåde jovial fortæller på en aftenpromenade gennem Thorshavn - fungerer ikke helt. Men med historier som "Syndefaldet", den 'provisoriske epilog' og "Stive Stine" må 4 stjerner være det rigtige at trykke på. Jeg skal absolut læse mere William Heinesen, i hvert fald "Den sorte gryde" ... og det måtte egentlig gerne være på Færøerne.

[Professor Batty · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Heinesen was born at the turn of the 20th century in Tórshavn in the Faroes, a group of islands in the North Atlantic between Scotland and Iceland. He was considered the greatest of the Faroese writers and although he wrote in Danish, his work revolves around everyday life in the Faroes. This collection of stories, loosely connected by the thread spun in the preface reprinted above, was written with the intention of being his final work. Tiina Nunally's elegant translation is always concise and poetic.

Heinesen's intention was to have one last go at telling the stories of the people of his life, they are tales from a time that is long gone, an old man's look at those memories of things that have stayed with him over a long life. The stories are simultaneously magical and realistic. Love unrequited, passions leading to ruination, life in a small town in all its facets- with all its joys and heartbreaks.

These are simple stories, told in a straightforward manner. A travelogue, if you will, to the ends of the earth and the center of the human heart.

Highly recommended.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'adore les contes populaires et histoires locales! Surtout sur un territoire aussi méconnu et mystique que les Îles Féroé.
J'ai particulièrement aimé la Grule (grýla, grýlur), ce montre poilu à la queue métallique qui pousse des cris d'oiseaux. Ni bienfaisante ni maléfique, on lui a attribué différents présages et significations de génération en génération. Elle ère périodiquement dans les Îles Féroé, bénissant de bonnes récoltes et de fertilité les maisons par lesquelles elle entre, et maudissant celles où elle ne vient pas. Ni particulièrement crainte ou appréciée, elle divise les opinions.

"Dieu et la Grule sont incompatibles [...]. Le carnaval n'a pas de Dieu, il a la Grule".

Toujours célébrée pendant le carnaval de Pâques pour éloigner les mauvais esprits, elle rappelle les Percht encore célébrés dans les carnavals Souabes-Alémaniques ou Bavarois pour chasser l'hiver, ou encore la Tarasque française, des créatures mythologiques encore ancrées dans le folklore local.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genialt (!) sprog, floromvundet, dybt arkaisk, lige som jeg kan lide det. Og så er historierne sjove, saga-agtige, absurde, metafysiske, skjult kritiske og giver lyst til at tage til Færøerne (vigtigst af alt).

[Nikolas Lyhne-Knudsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meget heinesensk. I nogle noveller næsten grænsende til selvparodisk fjol med overhøjstemt sprog, andre steder utroligt godt, f.eks. "Stive Stine", der bare venter og venter og venter indtil det at vente bliver det eneste, der giver mening. Og så dør hun.

[Kristian Svane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spidsfindig og uskadelig lille sag, der med lige dele snilde og længselsfuld prosa kommer tæt på menneskets natur og kløgtigt kredser om livets beskedenhed.

[Dave Peticolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely collection of short stories set in the Faroe Islands in the early 20th century.