Jan Furst

Jan Furst is a retired Naval Architect and Marine Engineer, living on Bowen Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Born in Oslo, Norway in 1913 and educated at the University of Danzig (now Gdansk) he worked in the Shipbuilding Industry in Norway and Canada for many years, then as a consultant to the offshore oil and marine industries in Canada, Indonesia, United States and Bahamas. He was a commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger Disaster and now volunteers for marine related activities. He has an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

In 1931 he published his first book: “Kajakksport og Kajakkbygging,” a treatise on the construction and use of kayaks. He has a life-long interest in old Norse sagas and pre-Columbian North American history and culture.

Jan is a member of the Canadian Authors Association, Vancouver Branch, and has recently attained his CTM from Toastmasters International Club #4028, Island Spirit. He is an active member of the Bowen Island community, and regularly enchants and amuses audiences with his storytelling. Visit Jan online at http://thorfinn.ca

 

Pageonelit.com: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?

Jan Furst: I grew up in the suburbs of Oslo, Norway within walking distance from the city. I had 3 brothers and 2 sisters, having an older brother and sister. Our home was very harmonious and happy, although we suffered economically during the depression, when my father lost a very prosperous position. He did a lot of reading and encouraged me to do the same, especially during my high school years, when he advised me to read the great classic authors of the world. I had teachers in grade school as well as high school that opened my eyes for mythology and history. The Icelandic Sagas of Viking kings and warlords, of explorers, tradesmen and of medieval life and believes in the North were early my favorite reading.

 

Pageonelit.com: Why do you write? Is Thorfinn Thorhallson's Saga your first novel?

Jan Furst: I have always liked to write. From my high school days until now, I have written and given speeches for special occasions, from family events to ship launchings and sea trials as a shipyard manager, to after dinner speeches of many kinds. Thorfinn Thorhallson's Saga is my first novel, but I wrote a book on how to build and use kayaks, a sport that at the time was getting increasingly popular in Norway. The book was published in Norwegian in 1931. (I also built several kayaks for own use and for sale, starting at age 14. From that time I also made my pocket money by operating a mail order business on kayak design drawings and kits.) I have also written fairy tales, short stories, poems and technical papers, some of which I consider publishing in an anthology called "Mixed Grill for all Ages." A draft of a science fiction novel describing planet Earth in the 22nd century is still on the back burner. I have translated "Thorfinn Thorhallson's Saga" to Norwegian, and it will be published in Oslo in August of this year.

 

Pageonelit.com: Where is Greenland? Talk a little about Greenland's History and your book Thorfinn Thorhallson's Saga. How did this novel come to be?

Jan Furst: The Viking/Farmer Eric the Red, who lived in Norway in the 10th Century A.C., was outlawed from the country because of some killing. He then settled on Iceland and built a farm there, but was outlawed from there for three years for some new killing. He knew that land had been sighted west of Iceland, and went to explore this land during the term of his outlaw verdict. He found fertile meadowland well suited for animal husbandry, fjords teeming with fish and sea mammals, and abundance of game in the valleys, and no sign of human habitation. He decided to build a colony in the land and called it "Greenland," to make it attractive to prospective settlers. When he returned to Iceland, he talked to 250 Icelanders into following him to settle the new land. The year of this event was approximately, 950 AC. Through the next centuries the colony grew and prospered. At its peak, it had a population of near 6000 souls. Greenland, was, like Iceland eventually christened, and paid allegiance to the King of Norway. Every year the King sent a ship with commodities, which were not available on Greenland, to the colony. In return the ship took back sea mammal pelts, walrus ivory, diary products and hunting falcons. In the 13th Century the colony had several churches, a convent, and was an independent Bishop See. The colony was divided into two settlements: The "Eastern," furthest south and the "Western" in the north, both settlements on the West coast of the island. Some time in the middle of the 14th Century, the West Settlement was abandoned for reasons that still are mysterious. An envoy from the Eastern Settlement, Ivar Bardarson, went to see why the contact between the Settlements was lost. He found the West Settlement empty of people, "neither Christian nor Heathen," but some cattle were still grazing in the meadows. There was no sign of bloodshed or sickness. The Eastern Settlement was gone a century later, most likely by attrition. Why I wrote the book? The puzzle of the disappearance of the West Settlers have intrigued me for a long time, and was rekindled when I lived 14 years in Newfoundland, where genuine ruins of a Viking time settlement were discovered half a century ago. The ruins were thoroughly researched by the Norwegian archeologist Anne Stine Ingstad and her husband Helge. In my own research I have noticed, that following matters, which had happened near the time of the West Settlers disappeared, might have relevance to the puzzle.

1. The Kensington Rune Stone. In 1898 a stone slab with an inscription written in the Old Norse runic alphabet, was found near Kensington in Minnesota. The inscription was written in Norse language, and tells about some members of an expedition that were cruelly murdered while the rest of the expedition was away from the camp. The inscription was dated 1362.

2. The Mandans. The first Europeans, who met the Mandan tribe of the first nations, after Columbus's rediscovery of America, noticed that many members of the tribe had typical European features and hair and eye colors. Their villages were "walled" like those in Europe, and their agriculture was more advanced than in other tribes. The explorers suggested that the Mandans long ago had been in close contact with Europeans.

3. A bubonic plague, called "The Black Death," hit every part of Europe in the middle of the 14th Century and reduced its population by over 25%. The only way to avoid the plague was run away from it as fast and far as possible.

4. A climatic change on the northern hemisphere, called "The small ice age," started in the mid 14th Century. It made life on Greenland much tougher than in the preceding centuries.

5. The Church had acquired ownership of most of the farms on Greenland. This was a church policy of the time. The priests promised to pray for the farmers' souls when they died, to shorten their time in purgatory. For this service the farmers had to pay dearly, mostly by pawning their farms to the church.

6. It was a lucrative business for traders and fishermen in the North Atlantic to capture young men and women in the remote and unprotected out ports, and sell them as slaves in Europe and the Mediterranean's. The Kings of England and Denmark/Norway made this practice illegal in the 15th Century.

7. Ruins and artifacts of Norse origin have been found on Ungava peninsula in northern Labrador.

Above-mentioned matters made me convinced that the West Settlers immigrated to the North American continent. Of special significance is the Kensington Rune Stone. The Greenlander were the only people of European origin who are known to have been on the Western side of the Atlantic Ocean at the time the stone was dated.

 

Pageonelit.com: Why did you write Thorfinn Thorhallson's Saga in novel form rather than write a historical account?

Jan Furst: I am neither a historian nor an archeolog; the scientific community prefers to do its own research and make its own theories based on solid scientific evidence. It is typical, that the scientific community has ignored my book completely, and not even commented on it when I have sent them copies of it and made them aware of my website. The same goes for the Media and the big bookstores, which inspired me to write the following poem: "The Media" is the common name, For those who prefer to increase the fame, Of folks already famous or involved with crime, But act as perpetual ignoramus', Towards us who are not yet particularly famous? I have, with very little media support, sold over 500 books by own promotion and received very positive response from adults as well as from children.

 

Pageonelit.com: The Viking's world map is very interesting - Explain how the perceived the world to be at that time.

Jan Furst: The Viking World Map. The "Vikings" is the common name of the people of Scandinavia during the period from year 700 to 1200 AC. Their strength and power was based on their superior ships and navigational skills. Their impact on the rest of Europe and the Near East was not only their activities as raiders and conquerors, for which still are mostly known. They were also great explorers and land settlers, and capable traders and mercenaries. Their concept of the world was partly based on experience, partly on old mythology. They believed that the earth was like a shallow disc, with the rounded side up. (They knew that it was not flat, because they saw the top of an approaching ship's mast before they saw its hull.) Their world consisted of two big oceans: The "Outer Ocean," which surrounded all the landmasses, and the "Inner Ocean," which in reality was the Atlantic. Between the inner and the outer oceans were the three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean's were big fjords reaching into the continents from the Inner Ocean. The Red Sea was a fjord reaching in from the Outer Ocean. Jerusalem was the center of the world. The only accessible waterway between the Inner and the Outer ocean was "Ginnunga-gap," the Strait between Labrador and Baffin Island: Hudson Bay was part of the Outer Ocean. A big serpent, "The Midgard Serpent," was believed to be coiled around the whole world, biting its own tail. The serpent's companion, "The Fenris Wolf," was chained to an island in the Outer Ocean. The Fenris Wolf will eventually break its chains, and accompanied by the Midgard Serpent, start "Ragnarok," the end of the World and the Old Gods.

 

Pageonelit.com: How much reserch did you do to write Thorfinn Thorhallson's Saga? How did you research? How much of your research did you use for the book?

Jan Furst: Research. The Icelandic sagas, especially the sagas of the Norwegian Kings, Eric the Red and the Greenlander's Saga, have been familiar to me since I was a kid. The books by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad on the Viking site "Vinland" in Newfoundland and on Greenland were good sources. The book "The King's Mirror" written in Norway about 1250 AC and some of Farley Mowatt's books on arctic exploration, and finally: Encyclopedia Britannica, about the Ottoman Empire in the Near east were all good sources for my writing. All of this research was used for my book.

Pageonelit.com: What do you hope to achieve with your books? What do you hope readers will take away after reading your books?

Jan Furst: What to achieve? I wrote to create an interesting novel for young and old, and to test my own ability as a writer. I also wanted to present my theory on the presence of the Kensington Rune Stone and the Mandan Tribe's possible connection with Europeans in the pre-Columbus time.

 

Pageonelit.com: What has been your feedback from readers?

Jan Furst: Feedback. Feedback from the Media and the scientific community has been minimal, as already mentioned. Private readers of the book - young and old - have commented favorably on the Saga. A knowledgeable amateur friend said, "Your theories are not only possible, they are plausible."

Pageonelit.com: What's next?

Jan Furst: On my "back burner" I have an anthology of poems, short stores and fairy tales possibly to be published under the title "Mixed Grill for All Ages." And also a science fiction novel, describing the planet Earth in the 23rd Century.

Pageonelit.com: What was the last book you read?

Jan Furst: Last book I read. "The Sea Road" by Margaret Elphinstone. It is a historic/fiction novel about the discoveries of and early settlement attempt on Vinland in North America. The heroin of the book, Gudrid Thorbjorn's daughter is the wife of Thorfinn Karlsefini, the leader of the expedition to Vinland. My hero, Thorfinn Thorhallson is a "descendent" of Gudrid and Thorfinn Karlsefini.

 

Pageonelit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?

Jan Furst: I have many hobbies as can be seen in the enclosed poem: "One week in the life of a busy old man." These hobbies have little to do with my writing, which is a hobby in itself. I have, however, written an unpublished description of fiberglass boat building for amateurs.

Bowen Island, BC. Canada. April 29, 2004

Jan Furst