Photo: Flickr.com, Pestpruf, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 The Moomins, imaginary characters whose adventures were written and illustrated by Tove Jansson, have captivated audience around the world.
As we get closer to the Finnish Literature Day, also Aleksis Kivi’s birthday, the 10th of October, we asked thisisFINLAND.fi facebook fans to vote for their favourite Finnish book. Here are the rankings based on their votes.
Finland has an active cultural life, as evidenced in particular by its literature vitality. Today, many Finnish literary works are being translated into different languages, and the reputation of Finnish writers, in Finnish as Swedish, is expanding worldwide.
1. Tove Jansson - Tales from Moominvalley
Photo: C.G.Hagström / Lehtikuva
Native Swedish speaker, Tove Jansson (1914-2001) is primarily known as the creator of the enchanted Moominvalley, imaginary characters which she wrote about and illustrated in her series. All of these works, such as Moomin Papa at Sea, have found worldwide success with a audiences of all ages. In 2014 she will be more relevant than ever, as Finland celebrates the centenary of her birth.
2. Elias Lönnrot - The Kalevala
Photo:Flickr.com, 50 Watts, CC BY 2.0
Originally a rural physician, Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884) took benefit of his stay in Kainuu, in the North-East of Finland by collecting poems sung in popular oral tradition. Impassioned by his discovery, he published the fruits of his labour under the title of The Kalevala, a vast mythological epic that helped awaken and cement Finnish national consciousness of the 19th century. The themes of The Kalevala, complemented by trips to Karelia by Lönnrot, have influenced many Finnish artists such as the composer Jean Sibelius.
3. Mika Waltari - The Egyptian
Photo: Courtesy of WSOY
Mika Waltari (1908-1979) is one of the most renowned Finnish writers: beyond his novels, Waltari has published poems, authored plays and screenplays. After his first novel, inspired by a visit to Paris in the late 1920’s, he published many thrillers. In the wake of the Second World War appeared the historical novel, The Egyptian, noted for its faithful reconstruction of life of the Pharoahs of Egypt, the book is considered Waltari’s best.
4. Sofi Oksanen - The Purge
Photo: Toni Härkönen
Born in 1977, Sofi Oksanen became known in 2003 for the novel Stalin's Cows. In 2008 came The Purge, a portrait of great psychological accuracy of three women struggling with the communist system in Estonia during the USSR, earned Oksanen international recognition: she received the European Book Prize and the Prix Femina Étranger. Known for her feminist sensibility, Oksanen speaks out regularly on social issues in Finnish Press columns. She is also a playwright.
5. Arto Paasilinna - The Year of the Hare
Photo:Pia Grochowski
Arto Paasilinna was born in 1942 in Lapland. He came into literature after practising various trades. Author of numerous novels (The Forest of the Hanged Foxes, Life Short, Rytkönen Long), he would gain international praise for The year of the Hare, a story of pastoral tribulations by a narrator with whom a hare became his faithful companion. Translated into over twenty languages, this novel became the first in what would be a long series of literary successes, particularly in France. Critics praised him for his use of sarcasm combined with an extraordinary sense narration and farce: qualities that give his stories an unmistakable tone.
6. Väinö Linna - Under the North Star
Photo: Pia Grochowski
Väinö Linna (1920-1992) is one of the most influential Finnish writer’s of the post-war era. Of simple background, originally a worker, he took part in the Fenno-Soviet wars of 1939-1944. The experience would lead him to write a realistic novel that earned him success: The Unknown Soldier. With Under the North Star, he paints a historical portrait of a Finnish family across many generations attempting to describe the social reality in familiar settings. Many of Linna’s novels were adapted into films.
7. Riikka Pulkkinen - True
Photo:Jouni Harala / Otava
Riika Pulkkinen born in 1980 caused a sensation with the 2006 release of her first novel The Border, which features characters struggling with violent internal conflict, wherein topics of Alzheimer's disease and euthanasia are also evoked. She later confirmed her talents with her following two novels, notably, True, where Pulkkinen continues to explore the fine corners of the human soul. Highly regarded as a promising novelist, she also regularly writes columns in the Finnish media.
8. Aleksis Kivi - The Seven Brothers
Photo: Posts and Telecommunications of Finland archives of Finland
Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872) started as a playwright of which Heath Cobblers, continues to be the most popular. The Seven Brothers came out in 1870 of which the author spent 10 years writing: the scathing, yet truthful, depiction of Finnish rural life received mixed critical reception. Exhausted by work and illness, Kivi passed away, destitute, at the age of 38. Today he has been promoted to the rank of national writer; he is reputed to have paved the way for Finnish literature, as before him the core of literature was written in Swedish. He also left behind many poems, some of which were turned into songs.
9. Hannu Mäkelä - Mr. Boo
Photo: Courtesy of Tammi
Born in 1943, Hannu Mäkelä is a particularly productive writer, author of novels and poetry. It is however in his works for children, based on the imaginary person of Boo-a farcical man of sorts appearing to children in night that earned him much success and international recognition. Since 1973 Mäkelä has published a series of stories based on his favourite character. The popularity of this figure of childish imagery is amplified in the records of M.A. Numminen, a singer of unbridled imagination, who transcribed the adventures of "Mr. Boo" into music to the delight of young Finns.
10. Leena Lehtolainen - My First Murder
Photo: Tomas Whitehouse
After her first novel was published at the age of 12, Leena Lehtolainen (born in 1964) has been known for her thrillers in which appears the recurring character of Inspector Maria Kallio such as in My first Murder, Her enemy and Copper Heart. Adapted to television and theatre, some of which were critically acclaimed for their well crafted intrigue and catching atmosphere, the books of Lehtolainen have been translated into over twenty languages.
