Joensen, Martin 1902–1966

PERSONAL: Born 1902, in Sandvík, Suduroy in Faroe Islands; died 1966, in Faroe Islands.

CAREER: Writer. Former teacher in Faroe Islands.

WRITINGS:

Fiskimenn, Egio Forlag (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands), 1946.

Útrák; søgur, Felagio Varoin (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands), 1949.

Tao lýsir á landi, Felagio Varoin (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands), 1952.

Gamli maourin og varoin: søgur 1945–1964, Emil Thomsen (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands), 1977.

Klokkan ringir: søgur, 2nd edition, Emil Thomsen (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands), 1977.

Heimadoktarin: søgur 1934–1944, Emil Thomsen (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands), 1977.

(With Martin Næs) Per og eg, Føroya lærarafelag (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands), 1979.

SIDELIGHTS: Martin Joensen was born in Sandvík on the island of Suduroy in the Faroe Islands, a region largely populated by descendants of Vikings who arrived in the ninth century. The Faroe Islands were under the influence of Denmark beginning in the fourteenth century, but in 1948, they attained a high level of self-government. Joensen, a teacher, lived there throughout his life.

Joensen, along with Hedin Brú, (also known as Hans Jacob Jacobsen, 1901–1987) is considered to be the most prolific Faroese prose writer of the first half of the twentieth century, and both wrote in Faroese. Joensen chronicled the lives of the villagers and fishermen who populated the islands, both those of means and the poorer peasants, as well as residents who practiced traditional religious beliefs and those who joined newer sects. His most acclaimed works are the novels Fiskimenn and Tao lýsir á landi, which describe life in a time of critical change. The years from the 1930s through the 1950s, as the region was working to achieve political independence from Denmark, have been called the Golden Age of Faroese literature, and Joensen is considered one of the foremost representatives of that era. While other Faroese authors, such as the cousins William Heinesen (1900–1991) and Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen (1900–1938) wrote in Danish and eventually gained international reputations, Joensen, Brú, and Christian Matras wrote exclusively in Faroese. Unlike Brú, Joensen never received funding from the Danish Statens Kulturfond.

In 2001, the Faroe Islands was home to about 45,000 people. Traditionally, literature was suspect, since writing was long considered an unusual occupation for men. Humor was frowned upon, and because of the small population it was quite possible that people would recognize themselves as characters in a text. The authors who chose to write in Faroese, however, have been more appreciated than those who chose to write in Danish.

Joensen's debut novel, Fiskimenn, is the story of the fishermen aboard the Ønin and focuses on the hierarchical and feudal social relationship between the captain and his crew. The misery, the inhumane living conditions, and the intense competition among the fishing boats are described in realistic detail. The subordinate seamen are completely at the mercy of the shipowner, who is also a merchant.

Tao lýsir á landi is the story of a rural community in the Faroe Islands. Toke Laugesen, writing for the Midtfyns Gymnasium Web site, viewed the work as a celebration of the old, slow-paced culture as opposed to the entrepreneurial, fast-paced city. The main protagonist, Simun, dreams about founding a utopian society based on agriculture, untouched by industrialization and far away from the city. The novel reflects the confusion and turmoil that the Faroese people experienced during the twentieth century as a result of industrialization's dissolution of their long-standing cultural networks and related structures in the Faroe Islands.