Sigrún puts Iceland’s manuscript dispute in modern context

Icelandic journalist and author Sigrún Davíðsdóttir has published an updated Icelandic edition of her book on the country’s manuscript dispute, mbl.is reports. She says the historical issue has fresh relevance as countries debate the return of cultural heritage.

The book, Handritamálið í pólitísku samhengi, is published by Kind útgáfa. It updates a scholarly work Sigrún first published in Danish more than 25 years ago. She said Guðrún Nordal, director of the Árni Magnússon Institute, encouraged her to return to the subject.

“People who knew about the book had sometimes told me it should be published in Icelandic, since the manuscript dispute is an important part of Iceland’s 20th-century history,” Sigrún said. “I was busy with various other things, and it is really thanks to Guðrún Nordal that I took it up again. She was the one who gave me a nudge.”

Sigrún said the subject has become more relevant because debates over cultural heritage are taking place in many countries. The return of cultural artefacts is connected to colonial history, which has received more attention over the past 10 to 20 years, she said.

The manuscript dispute was heated and divisive at the time, but was resolved in a reasonably successful way, Sigrún said. She added that some people in Iceland now argue that the manuscripts left behind should be returned. Some believe Denmark is losing interest in the manuscripts and in this part of its own history, and that the question should therefore be tested sooner rather than later.

For Sigrún, the Icelandic edition offered a chance to give an old work new life. “It is not a new work, but rather an old work placed in the context of the present,” she said.