HAGALN, GUDMUNDUR G.

born Oct. 10, 1898, Arnarfjrdur, Iceland died Feb. 26, 1985, Akranes in full Gudmundur Gslason Hagaln Icelandic novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. His works constitute a social history of Iceland from World War I to the post-World War II period. Hagaln was born in northwestern Iceland, where men live by fishing in wild weather and farming the half-barren land. As a young man, he worked on the fishing boats and read widely. At 18 he went to the Latin School in Reykjavk but left after a year. He disliked having learning stuffed into him like hay into a sack. He turned to journalism and spent three years in Norway, traveling and lecturing on Iceland. In 1927 he went back to safjrdur as librarian, where he worked and wrote for many years. The men and women around him were Hagaln's personae. They were rough, forthright characters. Inevitably, he developed a strong prose style to interpret them. His short stories are models of economy in words. In his novels the characters in their natural setting dictate the action. Hagaln was one of the first Icelanders to write fictional biographies based on real people (though the form had its ancestry in the sagas). One deals with the life and adventures of a shark fisherman; another portrays the career of a ship's master. They are not only good stories; they are documents of a passing generation. Hagaln's best-known novels include Kristrn Hamravk (1933), Sturla Vogum (1938), and Mdir sland (1945; Mother Iceland). His autobiographical works include g veit ekki betur (1951; I Know No Better) and Hr er kominn Hoffinn (1954; Here Hoffin Is Come).