this field were the dramatist Johann Sigurjónsson (1880-1919), and
the novelist Gunnar Gunnarsson (b. 1889). Both of these wrote in
Danish as well as in Icelandic. Early in the second decade of the
century three of this overseas group produced works that were
accorded immediate acclaim, and which have since become classics,
being widely translated into foreign languages. These were Eyvind of
the Hills (Fjalla-Eyvindur) by Johann Sigurjonsson; The Borg Family
(Borgaraettin, in English Guest the One-eyed) by Gunnar Gunnarsson;
and Nonni, Erlebnisse eines jungen Isländers, the first of the
famous children's books by the Jesuit monk Jón Sveinsson (Jon
Svensson, 1857-1944). With these works modern Icelandic literature
won for the first time a place for itself among the living
contemporary literatures of the world. Since then, Iceland's
contribution has been steady, not only in the works of those who
wrote in foreign languages, but equally--and during the last couple
of decades exclusively--in vernacular writing. In fact, with the
return to his native country of Gunnar Gunnarsson in 1939, the vogue
of writing in foreign languages virtually came to an end.

On his arrival in Iceland Gunnarsson had settled in his native east-
country district though he afterwards moved to Reykjavík, where he
now lives. Indeed he possesses many of the best qualities of the
gentleman-farmer--firmness, tenacity of purpose, and a craving for
freedom in his domain,--combined with a writer's imaginative and
narrative powers and understanding of humanity. He often describes
human determination and man's struggle with destiny, especially in
his historical novels, which are set in most periods of Icelandic
history. More moving, perhaps, are his novels on contemporary
themes. The greatest among these is the cycle The Church on the
Mountain (Fjallkirkjan; of the five novels making up this sequence,