The Faroe Islands: Interpretations of History

by Jonathan Wylie

Stranded in a stormy corner of the North Atlantic midway between Norway and Iceland, the Faroe Islands are part of "the unknown Western Europe"―a region of recent economic development and subnational peoples facing uncertain futures. This book tells the remarkable story of the Faroes' cultural survival since their Viking settlement in the early ninth century.

At first an unruly little republic, the islands soon became tributary to Norway, dwindled into a Danish-Norwegian mercantilist fiefdom, and in 1816 were made a Danish province. Today, however, they are an internally self-governing Danish dependency, with a prosperous export fishery and a rich intellectual life carried out in the local language, Faroese.

Jonathan Wylie, an anthropologist who has done extensive field work in the Faroes, creates here a vivid picture of everyday life and affairs of state over the centuries, using sources ranging from folkloric texts to parliamentary minutes and from census data to travelers' tales. He argues that the Faroes' long economic stagnation preserved an archaic way of life that was seriously threatened by their economic renaissance in the nineteenth century, especially as this was accompanied by a closer political incorporation into Denmark.

The Faroese accommodated increasingly profound social change by selectively restating their literary and historical heritage. Their success depended on domesticating a Danish ideology glorifying "folkish" ways and so claiming a nationality separate from Denmark's. The book concludes by comparing the Faroes' nationality-without-nationhood to the contrasting situations of their closest neighbors, Iceland and Shetland.

The Faroe Islands is an important contribution to Scandinavian as well as regional and ethnic studies and to the growing literature combining the insights and techniques of anthropology and history. Engagingly written and richly illustrated, it will also appeal to scholars in other fields and to anyone intrigued by the lands and peoples of the North.

Genres: History

280 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1986

Reviews

[Bob Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fish and Literature Build a Nation

The Faroe Islands cover about 540 square miles of steep green territory in the stormy North Atlantic and only 34 square miles of that is arable. Most of the rest is turned over to sheep, whose wool long provided material for the export of stockings. Settled first by Scandinavian farmers and fishermen in the 9th century, the Faroes did not differ greatly from other Norse outposts of the time. They lost their independence in the 13th century, being ruled then from Norway, were decimated by plague in the 14th century, and soon transferred to Danish control under the Union of Kalmar which united Denmark with Norway for centuries. Though semi-autonomous---with their own postage stamps and World Cup football team---the Faroes are still linked to Denmark today.
Given the lack of much solid information about the early period of Faroese history, Jonathan Wylie had to concentrate on later times. His history has the feel of an anthropologist straining at the leash, dashing impetuously and gladly towards an anthropological theme, then reluctantly returning to the task at hand. Perhaps an out-and-out book of anthropology would have been better. Not that THE FAROE ISLANDS, INTERPRETATIONS OF HISTORY is bad, but Wylie excels in the "interpretations" rather than in the presentation of straight history. He concentrates on economic and church life in the 1500-1800 period when for a long time Faroes trade was completely dominated by a government monopoly, the result of which was that little change occured in society. To better portray the feel of society at the time, he analyzes some folk tales. This is among the most fascinating parts of the book and again shows where his true talents lie. The conservatism of Faroe society extended even to population control. The authorities prevented landless people from marrying ! The Danish language was used in religion and commerce, but at home people still spoke Faroese. When, in the 19th century, an economic revolution occured with the end of the Monopoly and the birth of a modern fishing industry, it was accompanied by a rise in population and in the status of the local language too. Language and literature became the vehicle for increasing demands for self-rule. Linguistics and linguistics professors played a major role in Faroese history, unlike in any other country I've ever heard of. Wylie does an excellent job in describing the links between language and national feeling. By 1920, he says, "...although the Faroes did not become a nation in political fact, they had essentially acquired a national culture: a shared sense of political and cultural distinctiveness articulated in locally based, locally staffed formal institutions as well as in a set of internationally and locally recognized symbols of nationhood."
This is an academic work, a book for scholars, not for Lonely Planet fans. You are going to find masses of names, wade through a lot of complicated information. And you will find references within the text, an unpleasant feature of many academic books. However, I note the above only to alert general readers. THE FAROE ISLANDS is a thoughtful, interesting work which must be useful to anyone with a serious desire to understand Faroe society in history. The comparisons with Iceland and the Shetlands in the conclusion are especially fascinating. If you stay the course, you will come away with many insights into a small, but interesting part of the world.

[Stephanie Ricker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry, even for a reader who is rather obsessed with the Faroes, and the history could be better organized. But this does have some good information, if you can weed through the litanies of minutiae. I did enjoy the exploration of how the Faroese language shaped the national culture, mainly through long ballads rather than through literature since there was no written form of Faroese taught for many years. I was struck by the poem at the end of the book by Mikkjal á Ryggi:

Now I have written the stories
that bygone men told to me;
now you write in other villages,
each in his own place.

Let us lay
stones on good foundations,
draw into the light of day
the forefathers' life and lineage.

Life at sea, on the cliffs, in the village,
within gable and threshold,
and hate's odium, honor's virtue--
may the story witness them well.

Write down and listen to
what wise men proclaim;
then may the fogs dwindle
which hide the Faroes' history.

I also loved this portion of Frederik Petersen's hymn to the Faroese language, which is hard to find online so I wanted to make sure it's posted here:

Hear the surf roar on the shore!
Hear the storm sing in the mountains!
That's the Faroes' language.
Hear the waterfall play on the cliffs!
Hear the dwarves talk on the bluffs!
That's the Faroes' language.

Hear the merry lambs bleat!
Hear birds sing in the outfield!
That's the Faroes' language.
Hear, in thanks for a good trip,
the psalm sounds from the boats!
That's the Faroes' language.

Hear the dancing in the room!
Hear the long ballads about heroes!
That's the Faroes' language.
Hear the old man by the hearth
gather children about old stories!
That's the Faroes' language.

[Dad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I hoped. Lots of names and dates, but not much in the way of a coherent set of themes that help the reader to place the Faroes and the inhabitants among the other peoples of Scandinavia and the North Atlantic.
The best part might just be the footnotes, which provide a rich array of sources for further reading.

[Anneli · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting reflection on the Faroese history with occasional comparison with Iceland and Shetland. It brings out the uniqueness of the development of the place and helps to understand its present day.

[Gwen Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dense - couldn't stick with it.