DV

In 2001, I was interviewed by DV about the project I was doing that summer at the Saga Centre in Hvolsvollur, southern Iceland. It was an interview the director of the Saga Centre at the time, Arthur Bjorgvin Bollason, had set up. It was fun going to the DV offices, and then down to the harbor to get my picture taken. I insisted on having Esja in the background instead of the city skyline, as that seemed more suitable to the topic of my research. When DV ran the article, the picture was huge and the text tiny, just like almost every story there. That did not bother me too much, since it was a decent picture, but what did bother me was that DV had actually changed one detail in what I had said during my interview.

They asked me what I would be doing if I wasn't researching Icelandic sagas, and I said I thought I would probably be living on a sheep farm. In the story that ran, however, it said that if I wasn't studying the sagas, I would be living on a horse ranch. This annoyed me, so I asked Arthur why they had changed it. He said that in Iceland, sheep farming was looked down on, but raising horses was considered high status. He said that the reporter had done me a favor, by changing my quote.

I suppose I should have said that I would be running my own museum. A historic house museum.