In last week’s newsletter I shared a little bit about how it was for me when I moved back to Iceland after living most of my life abroad—including my formative years. I then segued into a little rant tangent about Icelandic society and politics, and somewhat flippantly remarked at the end that I was kind of leaving the post dangling as I didn’t have a clever way to reference the beginning and thereby create a cohesive, circular post.
But!
One of our readers did. He wrote, and said:
Now next letter, circle on back to telling us about you.
What a novel idea!
In the years that I have been writing things on the intertubes I have mostly assumed the role of reporter, rather than memoirist. It’s easier, I guess, in some ways … but also I probably thought people wouldn’t be all that interested in the chronicles of my life. Also—and this is a big reason—I have always been hyper conscious of not overstepping the boundaries of other people in my life. Their lives and stories inevitably intersect with mine, and I have made a point of not sharing their narratives unless they want me to, or expressly grant me permission.
Be that as it may, recently I have shared a few personal posts, and they have garnered some pretty big responses. They’ve been shared, and commented on, and people have reached out to me to share their own stories, particularly if their experiences resonated with mine.
So … maybe I was wrong! Maybe people are interested.
I answered the reader above, and remarked that “about you” was quite a broad subject … was there anything in particular he was wondering about?
Well, Alda, let's see. Tell us how you learned to fit in Iceland after moving back. How you learned the Icelandic culture. How you met your husband. How you went about house-hunting. The first time you went to The Perlan Restaurant. Where you shop and why. Tell about your home. Your hobbies (other than writing). And day-to-day stuff.
Hmm.
Waddaya think? Would you, gentle reader, be interested in hearing about my life and times—or would you rather I continue in my conventional style, reporting on the quirks and foibles and occasional upfuckery of the Icelandic people?
I’ll have this open for the next week so you can have your say. And if you have thoughts, whatever they may be, feel free to share in the comments. I welcome your feedback.
Have I mentioned that I write books? (Of course I have.) This baby hasn’t received a lot of love here in the past, even though domestically it’s my biggest seller. It’s a collection of Icelandic folk legends (obviously) but not just that! I also write about how folk stories were transmitted, the importance of storytelling to the Icelanders of the past, and a certain fairy tale motif that is absolutely unique to Iceland (which, as it happens, is rare, since almost all fairy tale motifs in existence are found in more than one culture).
This post may contain affiliate links
Hæ Alda, YES PLEASE do share some stories about you fitting into the Icelandic life! That would be totally interesting to hear how you, being Icelandic by birth, learned to sort of become truly Icelandic once you moved to Iceland. I won't repeat what that reader suggested you write about but yes, I would love to read about your hopes back then, your expectations, the good surprises and the setbacks also, well, about what has made your day to day life back then. It must have felt weird at some points to be Icelandic in Iceland but with a foreign background. How for example did you manage to learn the language? How did your fellow Icelandic citizens react to you being officially Icelandic but having to learn it from scratch like all of the immigrants moving to Iceland?
I would love to read your personal stories combined with your point of view on cultural and political Icelandic things! It would be memoirist meets reporter, perfect combo :)