Dimma, Anglicized as The Darkness, Acquaints Us With Tómas Gudmundsson

Summary: Dimma, anglicized as The Darkness, acquaints us with Tomás Gudmundsson in this first thriller in the three-book Hidden Iceland series by Ragnar Jónasson.

Tómas Gudmundsson (Jan. 6, 1901-Nov. 14, 1983) appears as one of two cultural icons, the other being Bishop Jón Vidalín (1666-1720), who attract the respective attentions of a single, unwed, young mother and of her daughter, the subsequent Detective Inspective Hulda Hermannsdóttir; image of Hótel_Borg in Tíminn, tölublað (issue) 31 (May 14, 1930), page 114: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Thirtieth-year anniversary celebrations of Sovereignty Day Dec. 1, 1938, brings Tomás Gudmundsson (Jan. 6, 1901-Nov. 14, 1983), as Reykavkík poet, to the town-center landmark, Hótel Borg. Sovereignty Day commemorates the Act of Union conferring to Iceland Dec. 1, 1918, free and sovereign coat of arms, flag and statehood within union with Denmark. Independence Day June 17, 1944, derives from annual Sovereignty Day celebrations never diminishing their devotion to the 1918 clause detailing free, sovereign statehood without Danish union.

Gudmundsson emerged as poet whose expressions ensued from early education in Icelandic sagas and in Jónas Hallgrímsson’s (Nov. 16, 1807-May 26, 1845) naturalist, pro-independence, romantic poetry.

Perhaps Gudmundsson favored his audience with poems featured in his Við sundin blá (1925, “By the Blue Waters”) and Fagra veröld (1933, “The Fair World”) collections.

Gudmundsson perhaps greeted that Wednesday, with poems gathered from his Stjörnur vorsins (“Stars of Spring”) collection published in 1940, the partial independence that hearkened full independence. Perhaps his audience heard his Das noregs (“The Norwegians”) collection published in 1942, after heading southward to Mediterranean countries, where his German and Italian fluency helped. Legal training and work, proper information-gathering and public appearances never impeded Gudmundsson imparting poems neo-romantic in their issuing from, and invoking, Reykjavík landscapes, skyscapes and waterscapes.

Perhaps Tomás Gudmundsson already jousted with the poetic meters, themes and words that he joined together two years later with Fljótid helga (1950, “The Holy River”).

Keeping his schoolmates friends and knowing other languages and poets perhaps kindled Gudmundsson’s collected works in 1953 and his Icelandic translations of German and Italian literatures.

Gudmundsson launched his last collection, of later poems, with Heim til thín, Ísland (“Home to You, Iceland”) in 1977, before dying in Reykavík six years later. General and law studies, his own law office until 1929 and Hagstofa Íslands (“Statistics Iceland”) until 1943 never menaced Gudmundsson memorializing Reykjavík landscapes, skyscapes and waterscapes. Gudmundsson, Efri-Brú native of Grímsnes in southwest Iceland, nestled into Mentaskólinn i Reykjavík ("Reykjavik Junior College") until 1921 and Háskóli Íslands (“University of Iceland”) until 1926.

Dimma, anglicized as The Darkness, observes Tómas Gudmundsson, whose schooling offered lifelong contacts, after he opened law offices (1926-1929) and operated within a government bureau (1928-1943).

Gudmundsson permanentized socializing with Gudmundur Hagalín (Oct. 10, 1898-Feb. 26, 1985), Halldór Laxness (April 23, 1902-Feb. 8, 1998) and Davíd Stefánsson (Jan. 21, 1895-March 1, 1964).

His poetic quests from early youth and his social contacts qualified Gudmundsson for co-editorship of Helgafell (“Holy Mountain”) and Nýja Helgafell (“New Holy Mountain”) literary magazines. His peers and their fellow Reykavíkings so respected Gudmundur Ögmundsson’s and Steinunn Thorsteinsdóttir’s country-raised, Reykjavík-relocating son that they remember Gudmundsson as Reykjavík’s poet (Reykjavíkurskáldið, skáld Reykjavíkur). Reykjavík city government supports his memory with the Tómas Gudmundsson literature award (Bókmenntaverdlaun Tómasar Gudmundssonar) since 1994 and a statue seated at Tjörnin lake since 2010.

Dimma, anglicized as The Darkness, tenders Tómas Gudmundsson traditionalizing Sovereignty Day tributes even as Halla Gunnarsdóttir traditionalizes the Reykjavík poet with her lakeside sculpture since 2010.

Halla Gunnarsdóttir, Icelandic visual artist attracted to painting and sculpture, applauds the poetic achievements of Tómas Gudmundsson with her sculpture seated on a garden bench in the Lake Garden, southern end of city-center lake Tjörnin ("the lake," "the pond"), since 2010: Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Tómas Gudmundsson (Jan. 6, 1901-Nov. 14, 1983) appears as one of two cultural icons, the other being Bishop Jón Vidalín (1666-1720), who attract the respective attentions of a single, unwed, young mother and of her daughter, the subsequent Detective Inspective Hulda Hermannsdóttir; image of Hótel_Borg in Tíminn, tölublað (issue) 31 (May 14, 1930), page 114: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teikning_af_Hótel_Borg_1930.png; via Timarit.is @ https://timarit.is/page/996238

Halla Gunnarsdóttir, Icelandic visual artist attracted to painting and sculpture, applauds the poetic achievements of Tómas Gudmundsson with her sculpture seated on a garden bench in the Lake Garden, southern end of city-center lake Tjörnin ("the lake," "the pond"), since 2010: Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20190624_LakeGarden_1784_(48462817726).jpg

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