A conversation with Fridrik Erlings

North-South: What prompted you to write Benjamin Dove? Would it be any different if you wrote it today? How has it felt as it has gone through so many different forms including the translations and the film? What books have inspired you as a writer?
Friðrik Erlings: I think this story had been evolving since my childhood, where I spent the seemingly endless days of summer, in the old part of Reykjavík, close to the seaside, the docks and the shipyard. (The summers before the age of ten--that summer I went to a farm in the country, but that’s another story and another book, based in part on my experience there.) When I wrote Benjamin Dove, in 1991, I had been working as a graphic designer since 1982. I had been a guitar player in two successful rock bands, (Purrkur Pillnikk, a strange mix of punk and melodic rock, and the Sugarcubes) but still something was missing. So I decided to quit the band and my job and go home to make my dream come true--to write.

Writing and drawing has been my passion for as long as I can remember, and of course reading. The novels that inspired me in childhood were books like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo, and the novels of Alexander Dumas: The Man in the Iron Mask, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo. Graphic novels as well, especially Prince Valiant, by Harold Foster, with his amazing illustrations; Robin Hood etc., in short: historical novels. At the age of 14, I had read Lord of the Rings five times over, The Hobbit at least ten times. Of Icelandic writers, the greatest influence was Halldor Laxness, our Nobel Prize winner in 1955, and of course, the Icelandic Sagas.

So in 1991 I decided to write this story. I had a vague idea of what it was all about; I just followed the images the floated across my mind, and then of course--the emotions that came to me, as I wrote. Benjamin Dove is not an autobiography, though; it’s more like an emotional memoir. And that’s very different, because things did happen, but not quite in the way they are described in the novel, but the emotions are true, although the situations are fiction. When I quit my job, to go home and write, I was completely broke, but I gave myself three years to prove myself as a writer. Somehow I was going to manage. I sent the manuscript of the novel in a competition, The Icelandic Children’s Books Award, and it won. The novel was published in Iceland in 1992, won two more awards and has been translated in at least 8 languages. And I’ve been living by writing, for most of the time, since then. Of course if I wrote this story today, it would be different. But it is as true to me now as it was back then. Reading it now, in English, gives me a strange feeling; because it’s in another language, I can pretend it’s written by someone else. But at the same time I feel very close to the author and the emotions in the story. So maybe it wouldn’t be that different, after all, if I wrote it today.

The film was produced in Iceland in 1995 and I wrote the screenplay, at the time it was the third screenplay I had written. In fact the scenes came pretty much as they were written in the book, although there were a few practical changes, mainly because of a different medium of storytelling. But I was really happy with the film, not at least because the boys who played the leading roles were absolutely fantastic.

NS: The story has very clear heroes in Roland and Grandma Dell. What makes them heroic and how can that inspire readers?
FE: For me every character is a hero, in his or her own story. Even the villain is the hero in his story; from the point of view of the villain, “our” hero is the antagonist. In Benjamin Dove, Roland is a special kind of hero; he is passionate and romantic, in a way much older, spiritually, than the other boys. He believes in chivalry, in the broadest sense; he believes that ideas can be used to better the world, if one stays true to the code of honour. Grandma Dell is a different hero from Roland. She has lived a long life, she has learnt many things by experience and she knows that life is never black and white, it’s multicoloured. She’s had her share of disappointments and sorrow, but that hasn’t made her lose her hope; on the contrary it has given her strength. While Roland is eager to show his strength, to use it to better his environment, Grandma Dell knows her strength; she doesn’t have to show it, she knows that what ever happens she has the strength to stand her ground. The reader could maybe compare those two characters and imagine: was Grandma Dell passionate and romantic once, like Roland? And will Roland become the stoic wise man, as Grandma Dell has become the stoic wise woman? Will life break his spirit, or will it make him stronger, like Grandma Dell? How can one use life’s disappointments and sorrows to increase one’s strength?

NS: Let's talk for a moment about the mechanics of writing. Why do you switch verb tenses within the narrative voice? What is the effect you wish to achieve? (I think it broadens the perspective--like looking through binoculars and then focusing in so you can see a blade of grass).
FE: You’re absolutely right! That was the effect I was aiming for. When one reads about how writers work, for example I read at least ten volumes of The Paris Review, which is a series of interviews with many writers on their practical schedule, one notices that everyone makes his or hers own rules. “The” rule is to write a prose either in first person or the third person. But to me this felt right for this story. But there’s a logical reason for it: While Benjamin is the storyteller in the story, his point of view is limited to what he is told or what he sees or experiences. To broaden, or to open up the stage, it was necessary to switch to third person narrative. The added effect is that the reader now becomes aware that maybe Benjamin doesn’t know everything or isn’t aware of everything that’s going on. And when he isn’t--but the reader is--it heightens the suspense. At the time I wrote the story I didn’t think about this in such calculated terms; I simply did what I felt was right. So this switching of verb tenses came naturally as I was writing.

NS: Fire is a recurring image within the book. Sometimes, it gives light to something good and powerful as when Roland begins the Knight of the Order while other times it is a tool unrestrained violence. What are some of the other ways you use fire as both a symbol and an agent? How does fire change depending on who is using it?
FE: A very good friend of mine said, after reading the book, that he experienced the story as Benjamin’s initiation in fire and water. Fire, of course, can be the most powerful of the four elements, the others being water, earth and air. In Icelandic we have a saying that when someone has gone through severe difficulties, it has been a “baptism in fire”. I’m sure there’s something similar in English.
In the novel the fire illustrates the mood of those present by the fire, for example the description of the fire in the shipyard, when The Black Feather is waiting for Roland and Benjamin to come and fight, is seen more or less through the eyes of Jeff, the traitor. How the fire casts shadows on the bulks of the huge trawlers scares him, makes him feel small and makes him feel guilty. In the scene you mentioned in your question, when Roland begins the Order, the description of the fire in the beginning of the chapter illustrates the mood of the four boys, their righteous anger and their frustration because of the murder of Grandma’s Dell cat, Socrates. At the end of that chapter the fire has changed its character; it has become a flame of hope, a burning conviction, a burning desire to fight against injustice.
FE: When Grandma’s Dell house burns down, Benjamin wakes up in the middle of the night and notices these strange colours dancing on the walls and the ceiling of his room: This fire comes from the subconscious, it is Benjamin’s fear that everything is about to change, that his world is about to burn to cinders. The question is: Will he rise like Phoenix from the ashes? Or will he forever carry the scars of Manny’s death? For when Grandma’s Dell house burns down, to Benjamin it is a terrible foreboding of the tragedy that will change his life forever. Again the question might be: will he be able to turn the tragedy of Manny’s death into strength, or will he succumb to guilt and remorse? Actually, at this point, you could look at the heroism of Grandma Dell, on one hand, and the heroism of Roland on the other hand, for comparison here. Will Benjamin, eventually, become a stronger spirit because of his experience?

NS: What boy (or girl, for that matter) doesn't dream of knighthood and chivalry? Yet, Roland takes it further--why and how?
FE: Chivalry is not bound especially to boys, although they are usually the ones to swing the swords. Shortly after the publication of the novel in Iceland a friend of mine told me about a nine-year-old girl in his neighbourhood, who was fascinated by the novel and formed an Order of Knights, with both boys and girls. They made swords and helmets, shields and costumes, as described in the book, and did many a honourable deed that summer, apart from fighting the “villains.” I’m sure this girl found the “knight” in herself, that summer and I hope she’s still true to her “Order.” In fact, girls are no less interested in this story than boys, although the main characters are boys. Maybe it’s because the story shows the inner life of the characters, not just the surface of actions and plots. And it is a fact that girls are not as shy as boys to talk about emotions.
Roland’s character is the dream of Benjamin come true. Roland is everything Benjamin wants to be; self-assured, direct, and, most importantly, not afraid. Roland also has this knowledge of his ancestors that gives him an aura of grandeur, makes him aware of who he is, where he’s from. It gives Roland a certain dignity that Benjamin admires, in contrast with Jeff, who suddenly starts to irritate Benjamin, now that he has the comparison.

Roland believes that chivalry is the way to behave; to be honest, to help those in need and to fight injustice--but with justice. These are the keywords to his character. But he lives in a dream; maybe Roland is really Benjamin’s dream of himself, of what he would like to become. But the dream is shattered by harsh reality, because reality is not a dream where you can make things happen the way you want them to happen. They just happen, whether you like it or not. It’s not the fault of your dream, but if you forget yourself in your dream, reality is bound to wake you up one day.

NS: Grandma Dell says "I know there's a reason for everything." Why does she say this?
FE: When Grandma Dell wakes up in the hospital, realizing she’s alive because Howard, her archenemy, saved her from the flames, she understands that she is just a part of some bigger plan. She’s lost her husband and her sons, years ago, and since then she’s become the Grandma of all the children in the neighbourhood. But maybe the child that needed her the most was the one most hostile to her: Howard. Why did he kill her cat? Was he jealous because of the affection she showed her cat, the affection he so badly needed? Was it necessary for him to get rid of the cat, to make space for himself? Maybe. But still when he saw her house burning, knowing that she would be inside, and that she would die, he burst into the flames to save her. Why? Because he needed her to be alive, to become his friend. Howard saves Grandma Dell because subconsciously he knows that she is his savior. All this Grandma Dell realizes when she’s wondering why she didn’t perish in the flames. She knows there’s a purpose for her to be alive, and that purpose is Howard. Like Richard Bach writes in his novel Illusions, quoting the Messiah handbook: “Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t.”

Grandma’s Dell reasoning with her God gives her this answer, that there is a reason why she’s still alive, that there is a purpose to her life. And that purpose is Howard, her savior.

NS: Could you please explain the "bags" cake joke to us?
FE: Oh yes, the “bags” joke. It’s a kind of escalating nonsense humour that starts with someone saying something silly and the next person grabs the idea and takes it a bit further until it has gone a whole circle to become an utter foolishness, except for the ones taking part: for them, of course, it’s hilarious. “Bags”: means “I wish” or “ I want to,” so when the boys are eating the cakes and Manny says “Bags be a baker when I’m big. It must be the sweetest job in the world,” then Roland grabs the sentence, saying he “wants to” have free cakes delivered home every day--when Manny has become a baker. Then Benjamin grabs the thread saying he wishes he’d be visiting Roland every day--when Manny has become a baker. Finally Manny turns this nonsense into utter stupidity by saying that he’d wish he’d be visiting Roland, with Benjamin,--when he’s become a baker. So the nonsense has turned full circle. Also there’s the silly humour of using the accent on “b,” “Bags … be a baker”, a kind of rhyming, that all the participants in nonsense-joking must use if the joke is to work right, at least for them.

NS: In the end, the boys suffer an unimaginable tragedy yet the book ends on a hopeful note. What is the reason for Manny's death?
FE: When I started writing this story I had no idea this would happen. When it dawned on me that Manny’s death was inevitable my eyes filled with tears. Manny is the innocent one, the most pure of the boys, the youngest; why must he die? There are, if you will, maybe two answers to this question, the former comes from my own childhood experience, the latter is a literary one.
When I was ten I had a friend who drowned in a swimming pool during a swimming lesson. It was a terribly tragedy for everyone in my school. Just the day before he and I had been playing; we said goodbye as usual: “See you tomorrow”, but I never saw him again. The shock stayed with me, obviously, and found its way into my novel, which was, as I have said before, an emotional memoir. My subconscious decided that this was the right moment to release my buried grief. But after I had written the first draft of the novel, I had to have something more of an explanation, not to others, but to myself. After all, this was a story, and a story must stand on its own feet; everything in a story must have explanations within the story. So: Why Manny? I thought. Death is all around us, every day, in the news, in the movies, but still it barely stirs our emotions. Why? When we, as children, lose our pets or grandmother or grandfather dies, we are full of remorse, but still their death can be explained and reasoned: goldfish only live so long, grandmother had been very ill for such a long time, and she was very old and now she’s in heaven et cetera. But the death of an innocent one fills us with – sympathy. And sympathy, to feel for others, to feel the pain of somebody else, to feel for another human being is what makes us human. Every single day 30-40.000 children die, all around the world, from war, hunger and diseases. The number is too large to touch our emotions. One thinks; there’s nothing I can do about that. But if the tragic death of a character in a story can stir the emotions of the reader and move him to tears, then it’s a good thing. People have the tendency to look at sympathy and grief as negative emotions. I believe they’re as necessary as joy and happiness and that they should be embraced and not avoided.

Benjamin Dove is a story about friendship, of the breaking up of friendship, but also a story about sympathy and caring for others, which is the essence of true friendship. What happens after Manny’s death? Jeff, the one most spiritually broken, finally get what he needs, his father’s love. The death of Manny makes Jeff’s father realize how close to death his own son was, or might have been. Manny’s death gives Jeff back his father, the one thing he needed the most to be whole, while lacking his father’s love made Jeff the traitor who started the whole series of events. Just as the fire that burnt down Grandma’s Dell house, Manny’s death brings on a new life, a new hope. Benjamin visits him in his dreams, so Manny is not dead, although he is not around anymore; his memory lives on. New life can only be brought about by some kind of a sacrifice; someone or something must die so life can continue to grow, hopefully giving those who live on a deeper sympathy for their fellow man. So Manny’s death is in fact a great gift to the others, and without his death there wouldn’t be this feeling of hope at the end of the story. There’s no shadow but for the light.

The death of Manny has been a hard experience for many readers of Benjamin Dove, and this question is the one I’m most frequently asked: Why did he have to die? Maybe he still would have, even if I hadn’t lost my friend when I was ten. I don’t know. But if Manny’s death evokes sympathy in the reader, I think that is everything a writer can ever hope to achieve.

NS: How would you suggest teachers and librarians use this book with children? What kinds of activities would you suggest to help them get deeper into the story?
FE: Here in Iceland the book has been used in schools (ages 9-12, or even older) to work with the children on the themes of, for example, friendship, bullying, jealousy, death, family relations, the meaning of chivalry, the historical aspects of knights et cetera. Children have written essays on those themes, using the story and the characters to mirror their own thoughts about those themes. The characters of Jeff and Howard have been discussed in terms of bullying; why do these two boys behave in this way? What triggers their behaviour? How would you react, et cetera. Howard is an example of a broken individual, almost an orphan, because of his parents neglect. With his heroic act of saving Grandma Dell from the fire he is transformed; he’s been “baptized in fire” and his reward is that Grandma Dell adopts him, in a certain sense. So Howard’s fortune is changed by his actions, which gives the opportunity to discuss how individuals, no matter what their situation might be, have the power to change their fate. To take that step can be a very scary thing, you might have to be “baptized in fire”, but if one really wants to brake out of one’s mould, one will find the courage to do what it takes. The different social situations of the characters have been used to discuss how people can be affected by them; would Manny be stronger and stand up to Jeff if his father was alive? Would Jeff behave differently if his father showed him love? Roland is almost like a young prince from a royal family; how does that show in his behaviour? How does it affect Benjamin? The scenes where the Order collects money for Grandma Dell show how a dream can become a reality; the strong ambition of the young knights to perform great deeds, to help those in need, affects the grown ups around them and make them take part in the mission. It gives the opportunity to discuss how a single person, or a small group of people, can make a huge difference in their environment; that when you truly believe in your dream you have the power to make it come true. Teachers have used the symbols, that the boys paint on their shields, to have children discuss the meaning of the symbols for each character; why does Jeff choose an eagle with two heads? Does it indicate his double and fierce nature? What is the meaning of the Unicorn? How did people in medieval times understand this symbol? What does it tell us about Manny? Why is Roland the Dragon? What did dragons symbolized in medieval times, and how does that show in Roland’s behaviour? And what does the dove symbolize? How does that show in Benjamin’s behaviour? What symbol would you choose for yourself, and why?

So the story can be used to work with children on number of issues, both social, individual and historical. Usually I am asked to visit the classes that have been reading the book and working on projects based on the story and the characters. These are the most favourite moments of any writer, to meet the readers, trying to answer their questions, listening in on their thoughts and emotions.

NS: We think of Iceland as so very far from us and the issues we deal with but you have written a novel that is truly beyond space and time and speaks to our hearts no matter where we are. What is the secret to universal relevance?
FE: I guess the secret is in fact no secret at all: we’re all human, we share the same emotions, wherever we live on the planet. The peculiarity of one culture, if illustrated in a natural way, is easily understood by someone living in a very different culture. After all it is our feelings and emotions that matter. If a reader does not connect to a story it’s probably not because the story is set in such a different culture, but because the writer has not managed to give life to his characters, to make them interesting in some way, or maybe the writer isn’t himself interested enough in his characters, but is too obsessed with a plot or a storyline. I never think of a target group, an audience, an age group or anything like that. I just try to talk to the READER, who ever he is, no matter the age, the race or the sex. Because those things are on the surface. We only understand each other through our emotions. Like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in his novel The Little Prince: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

NS: What are the advantages to writing in Iceland with so much natural grandeur and beauty around you? You mentioned going "into the wilderness." Does this help replenish your creativity?
FE: Yes, there is no question about that. I consider myself very fortunate to live here and to have unlimited access to clean nature and the awesome wilderness in my country. You cannot live here and not be affected by nature in some way. For example one day there can be three or four types of weather, then for days on end it can stay the same; rainy and windy, or sunny and still. (Sunny and windy is also a possibility.) The sea is, of course, a great force of power and creativity all around the country, and in the lives of the people. Every town and village, all around the country, has based their livelihood on fishing. And of course, every other family has lost someone at sea. In Iceland nature is in your face all the time, saying: This is who I am. Who are you? And I think that all of us here are trying to answer that question, each for him- or herself, either consciously or unconsciously.

Wherever you are is an easy drive to someplace where you are alone with your thoughts, where you can be absolutely free of intrusion of any kind. That, I find, is very healthy for me, so in the summertime I try to go as often, and for as long as I can, into the countryside or into the wilderness.

Our cultural history is practically based on writing; the Icelandic Sagas being the nation’s greatest contribution to the world literature. Reading the Sagas is an experience not easily described to someone who’s not born here; it’s like listening to the voices of the land, like watching the elves dancing in the twilight, like sitting by a warm hearth, a thousand years ago, but still you recognize everybody’s face. Like I said: not easily explained. The Sagas are most definitely the greatest influence on every Icelandic writer--whether he admits it or not.

NS: Thank you very much--is there is anything in particular you would like to say to American readers?
I’m very grateful that Benjamin Dove is being published in America, and I hope the story will find its readers over there. After all, no book is read by everyone; but every book finds its readers eventually. That is the magic of books. They are forever new. There are certain books that I read again and again; I dive into the wonderful world of the story, meet old friends and follow them through their joys and sorrows, as if they were my own. And indeed they are. For a book only comes alive because of the reader. It’s both a mystery and pure magic. I do hope that Benjamin Dove will provide a little of both for its readers, and if so, I may have paid a little of my dues to all the writers who gave me that experience to begin with.

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