what is Greenlandic literature?
Greenland is an emptiness where two unlike strands of population, occupying opposite shores, sometimes meet. The 400-year episode of early Wiking colonisation is well-known. Its literary traces have been early included in the Islandic Edda, and this is why this early literature survived the collapse of the colony. On the other hand, there has always been the Inuit population of the island, with its own legacy of myths and legends. Overall, the Inuit cultivated respect for the word as a crucial part of human identity and man's specific strength. Should magical spells used to lure the prey be considered a specific form of literature? I think so. Those spells were considered a personal legacy passed from generation to generation. The traditional way of life also knew poetry; its social role was to settle disputes during gatherings; the opponents used to sing satirical songs in front of the audience which was supposed to decide who was right. On the other hand, story-telling was an appreciated entertainment, and the best performers were specially invited to homes and rewarded for their art with gifts of food.
Apart from the early Wiking settlement, the recent colonization of Greenland began in 1721 with the activity of a missionary priest, Hans Egede, who learned the Greenlandic (an Eskimo-Aleut tongue, closely related to the languages of Canada such as Inuktitut) to preach the Gospels. Soon the repertory of the local storytellers was enriched with the narrative legacy of some tales translated from Danish. Given the isolation and material conditions of the west coast of Greenland, it may be seen as an amazing fact that only several decades later, in the 1850s, the first printing press was established in Godthab. In 1861, the first Native newspaper, "Atuagagdlliutit", was published. Even if it contained little more than short articles and was distributed only once a year, the cultural movement was born and progressively developed, giving rise to the contemporary strand of Native literature. The local taste for storytelling got further inspiration from translations of world literature, such as 1001 nights. On the other hand, the missionary Rasmus Berthelsen created Tussiaatit, a Greenlandic hymnal for the faithful. The first Greenlandic novel, Sinnattugaq (The Dream) was published in 1914 by the priest Matthias Storch. Yet truly ground-breaking text is the trilogy Tuumarsi by Frederik Nielsen, presenting the long Inuit migration from Canada to Greenland, their encounters with Norsemen, and then more recent calamities, such as the great hunger in the mid-19th century.
Another opening of Greenlandic horizons was the ww2 when the communication with Denmark was cut and the Canadian and American air bases appeared instead. The post-war period brought about the development of fishing industries. Yet the literature still explored the old universe of hunting, treated as a display of strength, occasion for exceptional deeds and exploits. New topics connected to current politics and identity debate appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, giving birth to a specific strand of political poetry, as well as social criticism in the novel. The problems of the Greenlandic youth, such as alcoholism, inner vacuum, lack of perspectives, frustration, and female suicide, are thematised in Hans Anthon Lynge's Seqajuk (The Useless One). On the other hand, quite a separate strand of criticism and identity quest may be associated with the contents expressed in rock songs. Usually they don't sound Native at all, yet in fact it is a new/old form of culture if we consider how closely they are related to a social practice that revives old Inuit ways of life: Aasivik gatherings, organised since 1976, instead of collective hunting and making winter provisions, nowadays take the form of summer camp and open-air festival. Nanook gives the taste of this new creativity.
But it leaves me with many unanswered questions concerning literature in Greenland. For example, is there any connection between throat singing and literature? I mean, do throat songs have lyrics? Below its "animal-like", trans-inducing quality, throat singing has, of course, a precise, articulated nature. But does it permit actually to pronounce words? Do throat songs narrate stories? I've once heard a piece of Inuit throat singing that was an elaborate onomatopeia narrating, with artistic means of its own, how wild geese get into the air, and fly, and land back on the moor. If it was not poetry at the highest of its expressive capacities, I don't know what it was.
Apart from the early Wiking settlement, the recent colonization of Greenland began in 1721 with the activity of a missionary priest, Hans Egede, who learned the Greenlandic (an Eskimo-Aleut tongue, closely related to the languages of Canada such as Inuktitut) to preach the Gospels. Soon the repertory of the local storytellers was enriched with the narrative legacy of some tales translated from Danish. Given the isolation and material conditions of the west coast of Greenland, it may be seen as an amazing fact that only several decades later, in the 1850s, the first printing press was established in Godthab. In 1861, the first Native newspaper, "Atuagagdlliutit", was published. Even if it contained little more than short articles and was distributed only once a year, the cultural movement was born and progressively developed, giving rise to the contemporary strand of Native literature. The local taste for storytelling got further inspiration from translations of world literature, such as 1001 nights. On the other hand, the missionary Rasmus Berthelsen created Tussiaatit, a Greenlandic hymnal for the faithful. The first Greenlandic novel, Sinnattugaq (The Dream) was published in 1914 by the priest Matthias Storch. Yet truly ground-breaking text is the trilogy Tuumarsi by Frederik Nielsen, presenting the long Inuit migration from Canada to Greenland, their encounters with Norsemen, and then more recent calamities, such as the great hunger in the mid-19th century.
Another opening of Greenlandic horizons was the ww2 when the communication with Denmark was cut and the Canadian and American air bases appeared instead. The post-war period brought about the development of fishing industries. Yet the literature still explored the old universe of hunting, treated as a display of strength, occasion for exceptional deeds and exploits. New topics connected to current politics and identity debate appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, giving birth to a specific strand of political poetry, as well as social criticism in the novel. The problems of the Greenlandic youth, such as alcoholism, inner vacuum, lack of perspectives, frustration, and female suicide, are thematised in Hans Anthon Lynge's Seqajuk (The Useless One). On the other hand, quite a separate strand of criticism and identity quest may be associated with the contents expressed in rock songs. Usually they don't sound Native at all, yet in fact it is a new/old form of culture if we consider how closely they are related to a social practice that revives old Inuit ways of life: Aasivik gatherings, organised since 1976, instead of collective hunting and making winter provisions, nowadays take the form of summer camp and open-air festival. Nanook gives the taste of this new creativity.
But it leaves me with many unanswered questions concerning literature in Greenland. For example, is there any connection between throat singing and literature? I mean, do throat songs have lyrics? Below its "animal-like", trans-inducing quality, throat singing has, of course, a precise, articulated nature. But does it permit actually to pronounce words? Do throat songs narrate stories? I've once heard a piece of Inuit throat singing that was an elaborate onomatopeia narrating, with artistic means of its own, how wild geese get into the air, and fly, and land back on the moor. If it was not poetry at the highest of its expressive capacities, I don't know what it was.
I have readAtlamál in grœnlenzku | The Greenlandic Lay of Atli (12th c.)
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an epos of women
The curious thing about Atlamál in grœnlenzku, a heroic poem included in the Poetic Edda, is the role of women in the conflict of men, namely the one opposing Atli and his brothers-in-law. Those women, Guðrún and Kostbera, Högni's wife, can read the runes and control the written messages; they also are depositaries and interpreters of dreams that contain precious warnings. Men would do better paying heed to them.
Nonetheless, the five brothers are slain in spite of the holy laws of hospitality; and once again the woman, Guðrún the wife of Atli, joins the fight in defence of them. As they are killed, the female revenge reaches the children, as if in a Greenlandic transposition of Medea. Atli inadvertently eats the roasted hearts of his sons and uses their skulls as drinking vessels. Finally, the dad is about to be killed too, and in the final debate concerning their marriage, Atli reproaches his wife the fact she was never content with their marriage. For a good marriage is not about the material riches that the man brings home. It is about honour and respect. And in the end, the revengeful daughter of Gjúki, who fails to commit suicide, is prised rather than criticised.
Nonetheless, the five brothers are slain in spite of the holy laws of hospitality; and once again the woman, Guðrún the wife of Atli, joins the fight in defence of them. As they are killed, the female revenge reaches the children, as if in a Greenlandic transposition of Medea. Atli inadvertently eats the roasted hearts of his sons and uses their skulls as drinking vessels. Finally, the dad is about to be killed too, and in the final debate concerning their marriage, Atli reproaches his wife the fact she was never content with their marriage. For a good marriage is not about the material riches that the man brings home. It is about honour and respect. And in the end, the revengeful daughter of Gjúki, who fails to commit suicide, is prised rather than criticised.
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a haptic map?What can I say about Greenland? Certainly, not a great deal of literature (is there?). But in fact I mentioned a curious thing from Greenland in one of my articles, namely one dedicated to maritime humanities. It was about the sense that we could make now, in the perspective of the new current of studies, of the peculiar maritime traditions and artefacts that for decades occupied the place in some obscure and dusty wundercamera. While they transmit knowledge that is very far from the white man's horizons, as well as ways of cognition and representation of the world that might enrich all of us. The haptic map was one of the examples I brought about to speak about the peculiar seascapes and systems of knowledge gathered in the traditional "cultures of the sea":
Unikatowe obiekty pozyskane przez Europejczyków od Inuitów świadczą o tym, że podobny system kompetencji wykształcił się również w świecie atlantyckim. Jednym z nielicznych artefaktów będących tego dowodem jest mapa haptyczna (dotykowa), wyrzeźbiona w kawałku drewna, jaką w 1885 roku duński badacz Arktyki, Gustav Holm, uzyskał od Inuity imieniem Kunit w regionie fiordu i wyspy Ammassalik u południowo-wschodnich wybrzeży Grenlandii. Kilkadziesiąt lat temu tradycyjna wiedza tego rodzaju była wyłącznie przedmiotem nielicznych, zwykle trudno dostępnych publikacji (por. np. Thalbitzer 1941), a powiązane z nią artefakty stanowiły kurioza w etnograficznych kolekcjach. Sytuacja ta zmieniła się dopiero wraz z pojawieniem się Internetu, umożliwiającego digitalizację i otwarcie globalnego dostępu do tej rzadko referowanej, a tym bardziej rzadko popularyzowanej wiedzy. Drugim, jeszcze istotniejszym czynnikiem jest decentralizacja humanistyki światowej i wejście w jej obręb samych reprezentantów kultur tradycyjnych. Dopiero w ich własnych badaniach tradycje tego rodzaju mogą uzyskać nową rangę pod względem istotności, odmienny status i przede wszystkim miejsce poza gabinetem osobliwości. Oceanobrazy przekazane za pośrednictwem tych map z kawałków drewna mogą się wydawać niezwykle skromne, jednak praktyka w wielu wypadkach udowodniła ich precyzję i przydatność w rzeczywistej nawigacji. W równym stopniu jak osiągnięcia bardziej zaawansowanych cywilizacji (samo to wyrażenie utraciło już polityczną poprawność) oferują one człowiekowi możliwość Blumenbergowskiej transgresji, wejścia w obręb żywiołu, do którego istota ludzka nie przynależy. Są zatem równie skuteczne w rzucaniu człowieka na jednokierunkową ścieżkę postępu, o której pisał niemiecki filozof, gdzie każda kolejna katastrofa morska jest wezwaniem i motywacją do odbudowy okrętów. In 1885, in the region of the fiord and the island of Ammassalik in the south-eastern shore of Greenland, a Danish explorer of the Arctic, Gustav Holm, obtained from an Inuit by the name of Kunit a curious piece of wood, just big enough to be comfortably kept in hand. As far as I could understand it, the intricate pattern sculpted on its edge represented the shoreline of Greenland where the Inuits used to hunt. Quite contrary to our eye-based habits of conceiving and representing the world. "Perspektywy humanistyki morskiej. Rekonesans" ["Perspectives of maritime humanities. Reconnaissance"], Kultura - Historia - Globalizacja, nr 20/2016, s. 135-143. ISSN 1898-7265
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