Independent People

Halldór Laxness, who later won the Nobel Prize in Literature, wrote *Independent People* (called *Sjálfstætt fólk* in Icelandic). The novel came out in two parts, one in 1934 and the other in 1935. It follows poor Icelandic farmers in the early 1900s, people whose parents or grandparents had only recently escaped debt bondage. These farmers lived on tiny, isolated plots in a harsh landscape. Critics often place the book among the best examples of 1930s social realism in Icelandic fiction. It attacks materialism, the damage a fierce drive for self-reliance can do to human bonds, and capitalism itself. Laxness’s Nobel win in 1955 was helped by this novel and several others.

The story centers on a sheep farmer named Guðbjartur Jónsson, usually called Bjartur of Summerhouses. His whole life is a fight for independence. At the start, after eighteen years as a shepherd for a wealthy bailiff he despises, Bjartur finally makes the first payment on his own farm. The land he buys is rumored to be cursed by Saint Columba—referred to in the book as “the fiend Kolumkilli”—and haunted by a woman named Gunnvör, who once made a pact with that fiend. The novel follows the endless drudgery, the struggle to survive, the misery, dreams, and small rebellions of the people at Summerhouses, as if the curse is slowly taking hold.

Bjartur has just married a young woman named Rósa, who also worked at the bailiff’s estate. He is determined they will live as independent people. But Rósa is miserable in the new home, which is nothing like the comfort she knew at Rauðsmýri. Bjartur also learns she is pregnant by Ingólfur Arnarson Jónsson, the bailiff’s son. That autumn, Bjartur rides into the mountains with the other men for the annual sheep round-up, leaving Rósa alone with only a ewe for company. One night, terrified by a storm, desperate for food, and convinced the sheep is possessed by the devil, she kills and eats it. When Bjartur returns, he thinks she simply let the animal loose. Later, when he cannot find the ewe at the time to bring the sheep inside for winter, he leaves his heavily pregnant wife again to search the mountains. A blizzard delays him, and he nearly dies from exposure. Coming back to Summerhouses, he finds Rósa dead in childbirth. His dog Titla is curled around the baby girl, who is still alive because of the dog’s warmth. With help from Rauðsmýri, the child survives. Bjartur decides to raise her as his own and names her Ásta Sóllilja, meaning “beloved sun lily.”

The story then jumps ahead nearly thirteen years. Bjartur has remarried. His new wife is Finna, a woman who had been a charity case in the parish. Also living with them are Hallbera, Finna’s mother, and Bjartur’s three surviving sons from this second marriage: Helgi, Gvendur (Guðmundur), and Nonni (Jón). Most of Finna’s pregnancies end in stillbirth. The family lives in hardship, but a cow’s arrival makes everyone except Bjartur happy, especially Finna, who forms a strong bond with the animal and takes it for walks. It later turns out the cow was a gift from the Women’s Institute. Bjartur refuses the gift and pays them back. A harsh winter kills many sheep. Bjartur will not ask for help or borrow hay from other farmers or from Rauðsmýri. He kills the weak cow, and Finna dies soon after. Then a mysterious ghost begins killing sheep. The countrymen gather at the croft to pray. Eventually it is discovered that Helgi was the killer; he flees the house, and Bjartur finds his body later in the book.

Bjartur goes to Vik to work as hired labor but sends the Teacher to the croft to educate the children. The Teacher is sick with consumption and seems addicted to a stimulant drug. One night he rapes Ásta, who becomes pregnant. Bjartur banishes him from Summerhouses. Bjartur allows Nonni to leave for America. Some years later, Nonni sends Gvendur money to come as well. On the day of his departure, Gvendur chases a village girl and misses his ship. He becomes infatuated and buys a horse with his money. The girl turns out to be a daughter of Ingólfur Arnarson Jónsson. When he meets her again, she is unimpressed, and Gvendur ends up staying and working with Bjartur at Summerhouses.

In the middle of the novel, World War I begins. Prices for Icelandic mutton and wool soar, and even the poorest farmers start dreaming of relief. Bjartur profits from the war and takes out a loan to build a new house. The construction is poor, and after the war ends he cannot repay the loan. The bank sells Summerhouses. Bjartur and Gvendur leave for Hallbera’s land. On the way, they meet a group of socialist strikers. Bjartur disagrees with them, but Gvendur stays behind and ultimately leaves his father, as his brothers did. In the end, Bjartur reunites with Ásta Sóllilja. She now has two children, has tuberculosis, and will likely die soon.

The novel’s central theme is independence: what it means and what a person sacrifices to achieve it. Bjartur is stubborn, often callous to the point of cruelty in his refusal to bend from his ideals. Though principled, his attitude leads to the death and alienation of those around him. Strong economic themes run through the book, including a discussion of Iceland’s co-operative movement and the exploitation of crofters like Bjartur by Danish merchants and wealthy Icelanders such as Jón the Bailiff. *Independent People* also shows Laxness’s anti-war leanings in a chapter depicting Iceland.