Icelandic culture is a weird mix of literary and rural sensibilities. My sister just pointed out to me that two books on haymaking are being published in Icelandic this year and a few years ago one of Iceland’s bestselling non-fiction series was a trilogy on tractors.
@baldur (I’ve spent a solid 2 minutes trying to come up with either a Lord of the Rings or a Saga-based tractor pun...no dice so far) 😬
@baldur That’s fair enough; I thought there was no harm in asking. 🙂 If you want to talk about weirdness in culture, the best example that I can come up with is that of cultural cringe. It certainly exists in other countries but it is very particular to Australia. People here do feel a sense of connection Australian customs but there is also a persistent disregard for or embarrassment about domestic culture, the arts and achievements. It goes hand-in-hand with Australian tall poppy syndrome.
@martinfeld Iceland suffers more from 'small dog syndrome' than cultural cringe. As in, there is an implicit assumption at home that Icelandic culture (books, music, art) is on average better than the rest. We're even a little bit proud of the more parochial parts of our culture (like books about tractors). It appeals to the national sense of humour.
@baldur Well, frankly that sounds refreshing to me. Given its small population, Iceland puts out a bunch of interesting stuff (particularly music) and is way more progressive and quick to act on social issues than Australia. The ‘small dog syndrome’ may be somewhat justified!
Australia gets there in the end but it always takes too long (e.g. the recent decision to approve equal marriage). We often joke that New Zealand is just a more progressive version of Australia but with way more sheep.
@martinfeld I work with a New Zealander. The way she describes her home country, at least the 'way more sheep' part is indeed very very true 😄