A land of language

Of all the places in the world I have yet to visit, the place I want to see the most is Iceland. My fascination with the place has its roots way back in childhood, when the world chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky — a big deal in my household at that time — was held at Reykjavik. The New York Times published its coverage in a slim paperback that included a glowing description of the island nation. Even at the time, I was impressed by the fact that the Icelanders seemed to have achieved near-total literacy for the population. (Even then, you see, I was thinking in terms of the reading audience.)

Later on, I visited the place vicariously through the Icelandic sagas and William Morris’ journals of his trips to visit the sites of the various sagas. (Personally, I’d like to see the Lax River valley, where the Laxdale Saga takes place, and imagine the woods where Unn the Deep-Minded built her ship.) I have a picture of a country that might be called the Ireland of Scandinavia, where the tradition of tale-telling and narrative is so strong that even in the Middle Ages, Icelandic skalds or court poets were considered a breed apart.

Maybe my fantasy Iceland won’t survive contact with reality. On the other hand, a story like this is very encouraging:

The lights are going out in Iceland this week so people can gaze at the night sky.

Authorities in the capital Reykjavik will turn off street lights on Thursday evening and people are also being encouraged to sit in their houses in the dark, writer Andri Snaer Magnason said on Wednesday.

While the lights are out, an astronomer will describe the night sky over national radio.

“We have a very beautiful sky as soon as we turn off the lights,” Magnason, who came up with the idea, told Reuters.

The event is part of a film festival taking place on the small north Atlantic island, which gets most of its electricity from abundant thermal energy.

The lights are due to go off at 10 p.m. (11 p.m. British time), about two hours after nightfall, for half an hour.

Magnason said the capital’s population of around 250,000 might be able to see the Northern Lights, a flickering curtain of light often seen in northern climes which is caused by solar particles being caught in the Earth’s magnetic field.

Two other Icelandic towns will also turn off their lights.

Imagine a whole country ready to turn off the lights and listen to word-pictures of the night sky. When I go there, I may not find the Iceland of my imagination, but I suspect I’ll find the real thing is just as good — if not better.