Johann Sigurjonsson

Modern Icelandic Plays: Eyvind of the Hills, and the Hraun Farm (Dodo Press) Johann Sigurjonsson

Jóhann Sigurjónsson (1880-1919) was an Icelandic playwright and poet. Atypically, Jóhann wrote plays and poetry in both his native Icelandic and in Danish. Jóhann was the son of an Icelandic farmer and was born in Laxamýri, Iceland. In 1899 he emigrated to Denmark to study at The Royal Danish Veterinary and Agricultural University, but abandoned his studies in 1902 to devote himself to literature. During this period, he came under the influence of the Danish writer Georg Brandes and the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. He is probably best known for his play Fjalla-Eyvindur (Eyvind of the Hills), based on an Icelandic folk tale about a notorious outlaw, which was first published in 1911. The play was a success in Germany and Scandinavia, was also produced in the United States, and was also cinematised by Victor Sjöström in 1918 as Berg- Ejvind Och Hans Hustru. He also wrote Bóndinn á Hrauni (The Hraun Farm) (1908) and a Nietzchean-Faustian tragedy called Galdra-Loftur (The Wish; or, Loftur the Sorcerer) (1915) about an ambitious young scholar who dabbles in sorcery to acquire knowledge and power.