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Paper short abstract

The poetry of Einar Benediktsson (1864–1940) incorporates contrasting fantasies of future and past. This lecture explores how ghostly motifs in his work reflect tensions between modernity and history in Icelandic context, drawing parallels to societal trauma as seen in Southern Gothic literature.

Paper long abstract

The poet Einar Benediktsson (1864–1940) was incorporated into Icelandic folklore during his own lifetime. In many respects, he may be seen as modernity incarnate, as he envisioned a future for Iceland shaped by grand ambitions, particularly the production of electricity through the harnessing of waterfalls, which he regarded as a key to national progress. Through his poetic eloquence, he was able to persuade both domestic and international investors to provide financial support for his visionary projects. At the same time, Einar suffered from a pathological fear of darkness, a condition that left a distinct imprint on his life. He appeared to place genuine belief in the ghost stories found in the Icelandic sagas and folklore. These contrasting fantasies of the future and the past are clearly evident in his first poetry collection, Poems and Stories (1898), which not only contains poems advocating the removal of the old to make way for the new, but also includes rewritings of Icelandic ghost tales and a translation of a poem by the American poet Edgar Allan Poe.

This lecture will explore why ghostly phenomena seem to accompany the advent of modernity. It will ask whether the spectral elements in Einar’s literary work are primarily rooted in personal experience, or whether they reflect broader societal traumas that may be interpreted in light of Iceland’s historical and social development, similar to how studies of Southern Gothic literature have illuminated aspects of American society.