An Overview of Faroese literature

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Faroese fiction began in the late 18th century with the collection, recording, and publication of Faroese oral poetry, which had its roots far back in history. Faroese spelling was first constructed in 1846, an important milestone providing the tools that enabled the writing of contemporary poetry and prose, activities which subsequently began to take off in 1876 when Faroese students at the University of Copenhagen wrote the first poems about the Faroe Islands. 

In other words, the first Faroese poetry to be written down was patriotic and played a part in asserting the Faroese language and culture against the dominant and official Danish language. Nationalist currents still flow through Faroese literature, even if they are gradually diminishing. That said, alternative currents, including those flowing through different literary waves in general, also continue to influence the literature coming out of the Faroe Islands.

Symbolism and naturalism at the beginning of the 20th century

Faroese literature in the first third of the 20th century was characterised by symbolism and naturalism. The first novel in Faroese, Bábelstornið (The Tower of Babel) by Rasmus Rasmussen, published in 1909, is naturalistic and depicts the rise and development of the nationalist movement through three generations in two competing families of farmers. J.H.O. Djurhuus's poetry collection Yrkingar (Poems) from 1914 also makes use of a symbolist style which, combined with vitalism, characterises the poets who debuted in the 1920s, most notably William Heinesen (1900-1991) and Christian Matras (1900-1988).

William Heinesen and Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen (1900-1938), who both wrote in Danish, are by far the best-known Faroese authors. Their novels (seven by Heinesen and one by Jacobsen) have been translated into many languages, including Faroese, and even made into films.

Jens Pauli Heinesen (1932-2011) began a long career in prose writing in 1953 with 26 works consisting of short stories, novels, drama and essays, where issues in the arts are a recurring theme, as in the debut novel Yrkjarin úr Selvík og vinir hansara (The poet from Selvík and his friends, 1958). In the socially critical novel Frænir eitur ormurin (The worm is called Fafner, 1973) the clash between democratic, socialist and outright reactionary forces are depicted, culminating in fascist conditions where freedom of assembly and of writing are banned. A memoir in seven volumes depicts the author's path to authorship, Á ferð inn í eina óendaliga søgu (Travelling into an infinite story, 1980-1992), where the title alludes to Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu. The boy's development is set in an environment shaped by the great world events of the time; Nazism and the Second World War, and the struggle for power between the Soviet Union and the United States. The consequences of this can be found in the little boy's upbringing and youth.

The post-war period was characterised by the Cold War and accelerating societal development, which also left its mark on poetry. Rói Patursson (b. 1947) is the Faroese poet of the youth rebellion. He made his debut in 1969 and received the Nordic Council Literature Prize for his third poetry collection, published in 1985, Líkasum (Likewise) in 1986. The long poem Sólareygað (The eye of the sun) in particular is interesting for its form and visionary content.

Jóanes Nielsen (b. 1953) debuted in 1978 as a socialist rebel poet who especially used powerful metaphors built around diesel engines and fierce eroticism. Nielsen's first novel was published in 1991 with the narrative title Gummistivlarnir eru tær einastu tempulsúlur sum vit egia í Føroyum (The wellington boots are the only pillars of worship we own in the Faroe Islands). Several of his poems and novels have been translated into Danish, including the novel Glansbílætasamlararnir (2005; Picture collectors - Billedsamlere, in Danish). In the period 2011-2022, Nielsen published a powerful family history that begins in 1846 and ends around 2020, of which the first volume Brahmadellarnir was published in English, The Brahmadells, in 2017. Nielsen has published nine poetry collections, seven novels, three plays as well as numerous articles and essays.

Tóroddur Poulsen (b.1957) debuted as an angry young man in Faroese poetry in 1984 and has since published a multitude of poetry collections, often several a year – a total of 47 works. His form is modernist, the attitude postmodernist, and it is very inventive linguistically. He is distinctly experimental in his prose, music and especially within the visual arts.

Women gradually asserted themselves more in the post-war period. The first book by a woman was a drama from 1903, and the next a story in four volumes published in 1950-1973 by Johanna Maria Skylv Hansen (1877-1974). In 1963, the first complete collection of modernist poems in Faroese was published, Guðrið Helmsdal Poulsen’s Lýtt lot (Warm breeze), with nature-inspired poems about the poet's search for coherence in life and the poems' own creation. The first novel written by a woman was published in 1971, Rannvá by Dagmar Joensen-Næs (1895-1983). It depicts how a young woman is seduced by the country's most distinguished official. In the following decade, feminism broke through in fiction with the novel Lívsin summar (Life’s summer) from 1982, about the girl Nora and her family who strives to expand their house so they have space for the father’s carpentry workshop. Nora’s mother and the friend's mother represent two different feminist paths to self-realization. Bergtóra Hanusardóttir (b. 1946) debuted in 1984 and in 2006 published the novel Burtur (The Faroese) about Faroese students in Copenhagen in the 1960s, which focuses on women's feelings of alienation and exposure to masculine dominance and violence.

Faroese fiction is also characterised by postcolonialism, that is, the fiction is marked in different ways by the relationship to the Danish language and to Denmark.

Further reading:

• Malan Marnersdóttir, Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Ann-Sofie N. Gremaud, and Kirsten Thisted, Sovereignty, Constitutions and Natural Resources. In Kirsten Thisted and Ann-Sofie Gremaud (eds.), Denmark and the New North Atlantic (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1st ed. vol 2., 2020), pp. 199-260.
• Malan Marnersdóttir, Henk van der Liet (ed.), and Astrid Surmatz (ed.), 'William Heinesens Det gode håb i lyset af post-kolonial teori' [W. Heinesen's novel The Good Hope in the light of post-colonial theory], TijdSchrift voor Skandinavistiek 25, 2 (2004), pp. 181-187.

Links:

• FarLit - Literature from the Faroe Islands