Iceland - Helmut Hinrichsen

The Supernatural
in the European Far North Fairytales
and
legends,
literary
forms
that
convey
fan- tastical events, reveal a lot about the culture and identity
of the country that produced them. This volume pres- ents 139 Icelandic examples, stories aimed at both chil- dren and adults. For the most part, they are taken from
the 19th-century collection of Jn rnason and Magns
Grmsson and other similar collections from that time. Elves, trolls and gnomes are of course common themes,
but natural phenomena such as the eruption of the vol- cano Hekla, the glacier flood in Hornfjararfljt or how
the arctic fox came to Iceland are dominant elements in
these
narratives.
Accompanying
each
story
is
a
short
description of the setting and its distinctive natural fea- tures. Numerous photographs conveying Iceland's en- chanting and breathtaking natural beauty allow a unique
and
intensive
immersive
experience
in
the
fantastical
worlds of Icelandic fairytales and legends.