Arto Paasilinna
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Arto Paasilinna (born April 20, 1942 in Kittilä) is a Finnish author and ex-journalist. Jäniksen vuosi being the most successful of his books has been translated into French, Estonian, Japanese, Dutch, English, German, Czech, Icelandic, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Danish, Croatian, Greek, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian and Slovenian.
Arto Paasilinna is one of the most popular current-day authors in Finland, but he has also received a quite broad reader base outside of Finland, in countries such as France and Germany.
Paasilinna's books reflect quite common Finnish life, usually from a middle-aged male perspective. Fast-paced, light and humorous in style, many of these narratives can be described as picaresque adventure stories with often a satirical angle towards modern life. Certain of his stories also qualify as modern myths, not least The Year of the Hare, which sets an ex-journalist's quest for authentic life and values in the Finnish backwoods against the emptiness and meaninglessness of modern consumer society. Vatanen, the hero of this novel, takes an injured young hare with him on his quest, nursing the animal back to health, while his own dissatisfaction with his former urban lifestyle becomes ever more evident.
Paasilinna is sometimes accused of writing books that are very similar to each other, but his style of writing has kept a loyal and growing fan base strengthened by Paasilinna's many best-sellers over his long career.
The writer Erno Paasilinna and the MEP Reino Paasilinna are brothers of Arto Paasilinna.
[edit] Bibliography
- Operaatio Finlandia (1972)
- Paratiisisaaren vangit (1974)
- Jäniksen vuosi (1975) English translation The Year of the Hare
- Onnellinen mies (1976)
- Isoisää etsimässä (1977)
- Sotahevonen (1979)
- Herranen aika (1980)
- Ulvova mylläri (1981)
- Kultainen nousukas (1982)
- Hirtettyjen kettujen metsä (1983)
- Ukkosenjumalan poika (1984)
- Parasjalkainen laivanvarustaja (1985)
- Vapahtaja Surunen (1986)
- Koikkalainen kaukaa (1987)
- Suloinen myrkynkeittäjä (1988)
- Auta armias (1989)
- Hurmaava joukkoitsemurha (1990)
- Elämä lyhyt, Rytkönen pitkä (1991)
- Maailman paras kylä (1992)
- Aatami ja Eeva (1993)
- Volomari Volotisen ensimmäinen vaimo ynnä muuta vanhaa tavaraa (1994)
- Rovasti Huuskosen petomainen miespalvelija (1995)
- Lentävä kirvesmies (1996)
- Tuomiopäivän aurinko nousee (1997)
- Hirttämättömien lurjusten yrttitarha (1998)
- Hirnuva maailmanloppu (1999)
- Ihmiskunnan loppulaukka (2000)
- Kymmenen riivinrautaa (2001)
- Yhdeksän unelmaa (2002)
- Liikemies Liljeroosin ilmalaivat (2003)
- Tohelo suojelusenkeli (2004)
- Suomalainen kärsäkirja (2005)
- Kylmät hermot, kuuma veri (2006)
