Finnish literature

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Finnish literature bears evidence of the strong influence of the country's tumultuous history. For a long time the language of the government and of those in control wasn't the majority language, Finnish. Many of the greatest works revolve 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 written language there is almost no 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 established by the Bishop and Finnish Lutheran reformer Mikael Agricola (1510—1557) who mainly based it on western dialects. His main works were a translation of the New Testament into Finnish, a task completed in 1548, and a primer in Finnish.

[edit] Nineteenth Century

Since the Middle Ages Finnish has been rich in folklore. Hundreds of old folk poems, stories and their like have been collected since the 1820s into a collection that might be the largest in world. 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 morphology of stories was first prepared by Antti Aarne (Aarne-Thompson, The Types of the Folk Tale), used widely in e.g. the United States until recent times.

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 politically controlled by Russia and had previously been part of Sweden. The Kalevala was therefore an important part of early Finnish identity. Beside the collection of lyric poems Kanteletar it has been and still is a major influence in art and music, like Jean Sibelius.

See History of Finland.

Essentially 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 and the United States, 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 middle-class or the clash of the traditional peasants with e.g. railway. In the case of Seven Brothers specifically, the theme is how uneducated residents of the countryside can survive in the developing urban civilisation and authority - 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, as in 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. The theme was taken up by Väinö Linna, already phenomenally successful because of his novel The Unknown Soldier. In this and other cases the very strangeness of the Finnish environment and mentality have been major obstacles to international renown.

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 disillusionment, a feeling shared by many at the time.

Beginning with Paavo Haavikko and Eeva-Liisa Manner, Finnish poetry in the 1950s adapted the tone and level of the British and American - T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound were major influences and widely translated. Traditionally German and especially French literature have been very well known and sometimes emulated in Finland. Paradoxically the great Russian tradition might have been less known, possibly because of a political aversion.

The most famous poet was Eino Leino - who in addition to his own writing was also a proficient translator of, among others, Dante. Otto Manninen was a master of meters and translated both The Iliad and Odyssey by Homer. After the wars Pentti Saarikoski might initially have been a counterpart of the beat generation, but being well educated, he translated Homer, Joyce and many important English and American writers.

Timo K. Mukka (1944-1973) was the wild son of Finnish literature. During a period of less than a decade in the 1960s, Mukka sprang virtually from nowhere to produce nine novels written in a lyrical prose style. His two greatest masterpieces are the novel The Song of the Children of Sibir and the novella The Dove and the Poppy - after which he ceased writing until his tragically early death.

[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.