OLAFSSON, EGGERT

born 1726, Snaefellsnes, Iceland died May 1768, at sea in Breida Bay off the northwest coast of Iceland Icelandic poet and antiquarian, an outstanding figure in the history of Iceland's fight to preserve and revivify its language and culture. lafsson was of an old farming family and took his bachelor's degree at the University of Copenhagen. His major interests lay in natural history. His great work Reise igiennem Island, 2 vol. (1772; Travels in Iceland), recorded a scientific and cultural survey he carried out in 175257. His poetry, of historical rather than of literary interest, voices his burning zeal for a cultural and political renaissance of Iceland. His writing had a strong emotional appeal to his countrymen, heightened when he and his bride were drowned on their honeymoon journey home. He became an idealized father figure for later generations of young Icelandic patriots.