Herostories

Herostories reveals tales untold by most history books: the harrowing journeys and vital triumphs of nineteenth - and twentieth century midwifery in the vast landscape of Iceland. Composed from the memoirs and biographies of 100 Icelandic midwives, poet-historian Kristn Svava Tmasdttirs found poems illuminate the dangers and valor of birthwork. Forgoing traditional sagas of androcentric conquest, these poems center the adventures of ljsmur, mothers of light. Tmasdttir leverages epic elementsdashing mountain treks, rivers forded on horseback, unyielding compassionto challenge how and by whom stories become legend. The follow-up to Tmasdttir and Thors award-winning, PEN-nominated Stormwarning, Herostories documents the professional achievements of Iceland's first women to work outside the home, precursors to todays midwives who remain central to contemporary health care on the island. Beyond archival recognition, the text's formally ambitious poetics render gender-based battles for literacy and education alongside narratives of selfless womanly caretaking, pressurizing the fundamental tensions between feminine self-actualization and the romanticized service of these trailblazing figures.