Betra er að gjöra sér hjálpvænlegar en hryggvar innbyrlingar

Úr bréfum Jóns Ólafssonar (1705–1779) og Eggerts Ólafssonar (1726–1768) á árunum 1760–68

Abstract

This article presents an edition of the private correspondence between Jón Ólafsson from Grunnavík (1705–1779) and Eggert Ólafsson (1726–1768), complete with commentary and a short introduction. Jón’s letters are preserved in manuscript, notably in AM 996 4to, whose text is published here for the first time; Eggert’s letters were first printed in the journal Andvari in 1874. Jón Ólafsson is now best known as Árni Magnússon’s scribe in Copenhagen, famously parodied in Halldór Laxness’s novel Iceland’s Bell as the gauche and comic Jón Grindvicensis; Eggert, on the other hand, has long been recognized as an accomplished poet and a pioneering figure in the Icelandic Enlightenment. In fact, the two men were good friends and had much in common. Both were interested in poetry, Icelandic studies, natural science and the future of their native land. In the letters they discuss their lot in life, their interests and hopes, and also the latest news from home and abroad. We learn of Jón’s unequivocal wish that Eggert succeed him as a leading figure in Icelandic studies. Both men had every reason to assume that Eggert had a long life ahead of him, but, in the event, Jón’s last letter to his friend may well have gone unread, for Eggert drowned in Breiðafjörður just a few days later.