Archive for March, 2017
Suggested Reading: Four Icelandic Books Posted by Meg on Mar 31, 2017
In my language studies in German, Russian, and Icelandic, nothing has been more valuable to me than reading a book to bolster my skills. I am always frustrated early on in my studies, and sometimes I throw in the towel (Russian is on hold at the moment). But when I force myself to read a…
Let’s Get Up Close And Personal With Impersonal Verbs Posted by Meg on Mar 20, 2017
Impersonal verbs are not unique to Icelandic (e.g., German “mir ist kalt” [to me it is cold] rather than “ich bin kalt” [I am cold]), but they are perhaps comparatively common. Impersonal in this case means that the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action, instead of the do-er. The predicate…
Haunting Images Of Iceland’s Abandoned Farms Posted by Meg on Mar 9, 2017
In 2004, poet and publisher Aðalsteinn Ásberg Sigurðsson and photographer Nökkvi Elíasson paired up with one goal in mind: assembling Nökkvi’s twenty-years’ worth of photographs of Iceland’s abandoned farms and publishing them alongside Sigurðsson’s poetry. The resulting collection reveals the ways that Icelandic lifestyles have changed overtime: details as meager as the shape and size…