Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1816-

Places

Iceland (Location)

Genres and Modes

Multigenre/Miscellaneous

Resources

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Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag

[The Icelandic Literary Society] is the oldest cultural society in Iceland, founded 1816 in Iceland and Denmark. Its main function has always been the publication of scholarly and educational books, and since 1827 it has published

Skírnir

, the oldest journal in Scandinavia. From 1816 to 1911, it had two chapters, one in Reykjavík and one in Copenhagen. The leading spirit behind its foundation was the Danish linguist Rasmus Christian Rask (1787–1832) who was well-known for his proficiency in Icelandic, but the two first presidents were Árni Helgason (1777-1869) in Reykjavík and Bjarni Thorsteinsson (1781-1876) in Copenhagen. For a long while, Jón Sigurðsson was the president of the society and was often referred to as “Jón forseti”, long before…

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430 words

Citation: Jakobsson, Ármann. "Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 July 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19681, accessed 04 May 2024.]

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