Seven Brothers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seven Brothers (originally Seitsemän veljestä) is the only novel of the Finnish author Aleksis Kivi and the first significant novel in the Finnish language. It was first published in 1870 and has been twice translated into English, first by Alex Matson and later by Richard Impola.

Seven Brothers is a tragicomic tale about seven brothers of Jukola family who end up handling their farm after their parents have died. Brothers include the strong Juhani, two sets of twins; Tuomas and Aapo, and Timo and the hunter Lauri; the would-be-preacher Simeoni and the youngest Eero.

[edit] Plot summary

At first, the brothers are not a particularly peaceful lot and end up quarreling with the local constable, jury, vicar, precentor and teachers – not to mention their neighbours in Toukola village. No wonder young girls' mothers do not regard them as good suitors. When they should learn to read before they can accept church confirmation and therefore official adulthood, they escape.

Eventually they end up moving to distant Impivaara in the middle of relative wilderness but their first efforts are shoddy – in a Christmas eve they end up burning their new house. Next spring they try again and manage to kill a hostile herd of bulls. Ten years of clearing forest for fields, hard work and hard drinking – and Simeoni’s delirium tremens - eventually make them change their ways. They learn to read on their own and eventually return to Jukola.

In the end most of them become pillars of the community and family men. Still, the tone of the tale is not particularly moralistic. It is interesting to note that the novel was particularly reviled by the literary circles of Kivi's time, who disliked the unflattering image of Finns it presented. The brothers themselves were seen as crude caricatures of the nationalistic ideals of the time. Foremost in this hostile backlash was the influential critic August Ahlqvist, who called the book a "ridiculous work and a blot on the name of Finnish literature". [1]

The book was translated to Helsinki slang by Sami Garam, as "Allu Stemu: Seittemän broidii".

[edit] Other uses

• Seven Brothers is the English name given to the group of small islands off the east coast of the horn of Africa, in the Dact-el-Muyun, Yemeni, section of the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. These islands, along with Perim, may be the "stepping stones" for one or more of the out-of-Africa migrations of homo species in antiquity.
• In Christian hagiography, the "Seven Brothers" are the sons of Felicity of Rome.