Beside the Volcano

• Main Author: Dickinson, Rachel
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Cornell University Press 2022
• Subjects: Laugarvatn; Hekla; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501766091.003.0040

This chapter meditates on the author's life and what could have been, interspersing these recollections with a trip to Iceland six years after Jack's death. It discusses the highly volatile Icelandic volcanoes, particularly Hekla, which stood near to where the author had stayed in Laugarvatn, Iceland. Hekla, like many Icelandic volcanoes, was active and unpredictable, and it has become a metaphor for both Jack's passing as well as for the author's own roiling emotions. Interspersed between these recollections and local histories, however, are the author's own reminiscences as a geology student. To conclude, the chapter discusses a letter written by Jack's childhood friend, Will, which was sent to the author during her stay in Iceland.