Finnish literature

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The history of Finland has been tumultuous. For a lot of it the language of the government and those in control was different to the majority of the population. This had a strong influence on 'Finnish literature' with many of the greatest works revolving around achieving or maintaining a strong Finnish identity.

See Karelianism

1 Pre-Nineteenth Century
2 Nineteenth Century
3 Twentieth Century
4 Swedish-language Literature
5 Further reading
6 See also

[edit] Pre-Nineteenth Century

Since Finnish is a relatively new language (at least the written form) there is almost no written literature from the Middle Ages or earlier. Important books such as The Bible and Code of Laws were only available in Latin, Swedish or a few other European languages such as French or German.

See Finland's language strife.

Written Finnish was essentially invented by the Bishop and Finnish Lutheran reformer Mikael Agricola (1510—1557). His main work was to translate the New Testament into Finnish, a task completed in 1548.

[edit] Nineteenth Century

Since the Middle Ages Finnish has been rich in folklore. Hundreds of old folk poems have been collected since the 1820s. Many of these have since been published as The Ancient Poems of the Finnish People. It is a colossal collection consisting of 27,000 pages in 33 volumes.

The most famous collection of folk poetry is by far the Kalevala. Referred to as the Finnish national epic it is mainly credited to Elias Lönnrot although he worked more as an editor and compiler. It was first published in 1835 and quickly became a symbol of Finnish nationalism. Finland was then controlled by Russia and had previously been part of Sweden. The Kalevala was therefore an important part of early Finnish identity.

See History of Finland.

The first novel published in Finnish was Seven Brothers (1870) by Aleksis Kivi (1834—1872): still generally considered to be one of the greatest of all works of Finnish literature. As in Europe in general, the popularity of the novel in Finland is connected to industrialisation with many of the first Finnish novels dealing with the life of the modern rich. In the case of Seven Brothers specifically, the theme is how barbaric residents of the countryside can survive in the developing urban civilisation - a common theme in Finnish novels.

[edit] Twentieth Century

Finland gained its independence in 1917 and soon after a civil war broke out. As with other civil wars it was to be depicted many times in literature, one of which is Meek Heritage (1919) by Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888—1964). Sillanpää was a strong leader of literature in the 1930s in Finland and was the first Finnish Nobel Prize winner.

Other works known world wide include Michael the Finn and The Sultan's Renegade (known in the US as The Adventurer and The Wanderer respectively) by Mika Waltari (1908—1979). (Sinuhe) The Egyptian (1945) is his best known work. Despite containing nearly 800 pages, no other book has sold so fast in Finland and the shorter English version was atop many best-seller lists in the US. One possible reason for their international success is their focus on post-war dissillusionment, a feeling shared by many at the time.

[edit] Swedish-language Literature

Even after the establishment of the Finnish language, Swedish remained important in Finland.

Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804—1877) was the most famous Swedish speaking writer of the nineteenth century. The opening poem Our Land (from The Tales of Ensign Stål) was dedicated as the national anthem as early as seventy years before Finnish independence.

The most famous Finland Swedish works are probably the Moomin books by writer Tove Jansson. They are better known today in comic strip or cartoon forms.