Þorgils gjallandi

Jón Stefánsson lived his whole life in the county of Suður-Þingeyjar and from 1890 was the manager (hreppstjóri) of a poor-law parish (hreppur) there.

Þorgils gjallandi was one of the most determined personalities in Icelandic literature, while essentially a simple farmer and entirely self-taught in the craft of writing.

Þorgils's love stories are also tragedies, because his characters are presented as being removed from their natural state and living together under conditions that require self-denial and social inhibition.

His main argument is that with its moral rules society has terrified humankind, transforming us from vigorous and powerful animals, steered by our natural desires, into revolting beasts, cunning and duplicitous.

Until that time, he had had to keep hidden his most radical, realistic stories, which represented for most people in Iceland a major stumbling block to his acceptance.

Although some critics regarded his writing as destructive and unsuitable for homes with children and young people, he was not destined to retreat to obscurity.