í dyflinni

So I got you all excited about my new blog, and then took off to Iceland for three weeks! This sadly meant that I missed Bloomsday, which was celebrated enthusiastically amongst my friends back home, but I did at least have a celebratory beer in Neskaupstaður in the East Fjords.

I really didn't expect this trip to have anything to do with James Joyce, especially when I found out that all Icelandic translations of his work are out of print. However, on my second-last day in Reykjavík, my travel companion Jenn and I were at the Kolaportið weekend flea market and I found an Icelandic copy of Dubliners! It turns out that I'm in good company, and many Joyce-lovers around the world seek out Icelandic books for their collections. It made me feel very serious! But I was extremely glad to get a copy, because Iceland is my new favourite place and this book feels like two of the best things in the world combined. Now I just have to learn Icelandic so I can read it!

The photos below are the cover and the first page of "The Dead". You can't see this on the first page, but my favourite part the names, which are kept the same but with accents added, like Gabríel and Júlía.