Finnish literature
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What is Finnish literature?
Finnish literature includes oral and written works produced in Finland in Finnish, Swedish, and Latin (during the Middle Ages). From the mid-12th century to 1809, Sweden ruled Finland, with Swedish remaining the language of the upper class until the 19th century when Finnish was revived as a cultural medium.
The Kalevala, Finlandâs national epic compiled in the 19th century, fostered Finnish national consciousness and pride. Aleksis Kivi's SeitsemĂ€n veljestĂ€ (Seven Brothers) (1870) is considered the first novel written in Finnish. Frans Eemil SillanpÀÀ won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1939.
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What languages are used in Finnish literature?
Finnish literature includes works in Finnish, Swedish, and Latin. From the mid-12th century to 1809, Sweden ruled Finland, with Swedish as the language of the upper class until the 19th century, when Finnish was revived as a cultural medium.
Finland-Swedish literature has its own distinct identity. In 1863, Finnish gained equal status with Swedish. The religious songs in Latin from Piae cantiones, printed in 1582, are a significant expression of Finlandâs medieval literary culture. Sami languages are also used in literature to some extent.
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Who are some famous authors from Finland?
Finland has produced many famous authors who have contributed significantly to Finnish literature. Some of these authors include:
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Aleksis Kivi Kivi is known as the father of Finnish novel and drama and is the author of SeitsemÀn veljestÀ (Seven Brothers), the first novel written in Finnish.
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Eino Leino A versatile poet, Leino's work ranged from mystical themes to topical novels. His collection HelkavirsiÀ (Whitsongs) is considered his main work, reviving the spirit of Finnish folklore.
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Tove Jansson Jansson is a Finnish artist and writer-illustrator, known for creating the Moomins. She also wrote an autobiography, short stories, plays, and adult fiction, such as Sommarboken (The Summer Book).
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Frans Eemil SillanpÀÀ A Nobel Prize laureate, SillanpÀÀ is known for his epic prose, including Hurskas kurjuus (Meek Heritage) and Nuorena nukkunut (The Maid Silja).
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What is the Kalevala, and why is it important in Finnish literature?
The Kalevala is a Finnish national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot in the 19th century from Finnish oral tradition. It played a vital role in fostering Finnish national consciousness and pride.
Kalevala, meaning "land of heroes," is a poetic name for Finland. The epic poem consists of old Finnish ballads, lyrical songs, and incantations. The main characters include VÀinÀmöinen, a wise seer, the smith Ilmarinen, the warrior LemminkÀinen, and Louhi, a female ruler.
The Kalevala's style incorporates alliteration, parallelism, and repetition and has been translated into at least 20 languages. It has also inspired paintings and musical compositions and reflects its influence in The Song of Hiawatha.
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How does Finnish literature reflect the country's history and culture?
Finnish literature significantly mirrors the nation's history and culture. The Kalevala, a compilation of Finnish folklore, was vital in building national consciousness and pride in the 19th century. After separating from Sweden in 1809 and becoming an autonomous grand duchy of Russia, Finland saw calls for an independent Finnish culture.
The landscape of forests and lakes has been a primary source of inspiration for Finnish arts and letters. Writers like Aleksis Kivi, with SeitsemÀn veljestÀ, and Johan Ludvig Runeberg, who depicted Finnish people and landscapes, have been instrumental in creating a unique Finnish literary identity. Authors like Minna Canth addressed social issues, and VÀinö Linna portrayed war experiences, reflecting different aspects of Finnish life.
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What are some common themes or styles found in modern Finnish literature?
Modern Finnish literature is inspired by Finland's landscape of forests and lakes. Since Finland's separation from Sweden in 1809, Finnish literature has grown, with writers such as Aleksis Kivi, Minna Canth, and members of the Nuori Suomi introducing social criticism and realism.
Themes in modern Finnish literature include:
* Nature The Finnish landscape is a recurring theme.
* Social issues Socially conscious writers address ethical issues.
* Modernism Modernist poets adopted powerful imagery, free rhythm, and unrhymed lines.
* Realism Influenced by French and Norwegian writers, Finnish writers introduced realism and social criticism to their works.2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Finnish literature, the oral and written literature produced in Finland in the Finnish, Swedish, and, during the Middle Ages, Latin languages.
The history of Finnish literature and that of Swedish literature are intertwined. From the mid-12th century until 1809, Finland was ruled by Sweden, and Swedish remained the language of the upper classes until the end of the 19th century, at which time a vigorous movement began to revive Finnish as a cultural medium. This article discusses works written in Finland both in the Swedish language (Finland-Swedish literature) and in the Finnish language. It also discusses works by Finnish writers in exile in Sweden.
From the Middle Ages to the 18th century
Finnish folk poetry was rich, with a wide range of forms. The metre, a trochaic four-stress line, was well suited to the Finnish language and to the memorization of long passages. Most of the poems were epic sequences or short songs. The epics centred on mythical events or the deeds of a hero. Into this category fall an early poem about the creation of the world and poems on the quest of the sampo, the adventures of the warrior-adventurer LemminkĂ€inen, and the legend of the tragic hero Kullervo. In many, the central character is the shaman-hero VĂ€inĂ€möinen, regarded by some as mythical, by others as historical. These stories also formed part of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. The lyrics, many by women, dealt with everyday griefs and joys; many were love songs or described the moods of a solitary soul, and the setting was ruralâa landscape of forests and lakes, with glimpses of a village community.
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In oral transmission many poems changed or became confused with one another. The oldest were mythological, dating from pagan times (and surviving in remoter areas until the 12th century). Many were of medieval origin and contained datable events and persons. The first scholar to pay serious attention to Finnish folk poetry was Henrik Gabriel Porthan in the mid-18th century, and systematic collection through transcription began in the second half of the 18th century. The best-known collector, Elias Lönnrot, concluded that the epic poems could be presented as a continuous folk epic. He joined a number together with connective material of his own and imposed a unifying plot; the result was the Kalevala (final form 1849), which was based on folk material but in structure was Lönnrotâs creation. Lönnrot also published a selection of the lyrics, Kanteletar (1840â41; Eng. trans. Kanteletar), and their influence and that of the Kalevala as a whole on the Finnish national consciousness, art, and culture have been immense. Today the Finnish Literature Society (Finnish: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, often referred to as SKS) houses one of the largest collections of oral tradition in the world, with millions of items.
From the end of the 12th century, Finland had been a part of Sweden. Very little literature was created in Finland, however, during the pre-Reformation era. The earliest writer known by name is Jöns Budde, a monk at the Birgittine monastery in Naantali (NĂ„dendal), whose work includes the translation of a number of Old Testament books into Swedish. Perhaps the most significant expression of Finlandâs literary culture of the medieval period is the religious songs in Latin in the collection Piae cantiones, printed in 1582 but in use much earlier.
The founder of literary Finnish was the religious reformer Mikael Agricola, the first Lutheran bishop of Finland, who published a Finnish primer (c. 1543) and a translation of the New Testament from Greek into Finnish (1548). (The first Finnish translation of the whole Bible was published in 1642.) In the prefaces to his translations, Agricola showed familiarity with Finnish mythology as well as with foreign patterns of versification.
Two of the most noteworthy Finnish poets of the 18th centuryâJacob Frese and Frans Mikael FranzĂ©nâleft their country of birth for Sweden. Frese regarded himself a refugee from an enemy-occupied Finland. He was a gentler and more intimate poet than such Swedish contemporaries as Johan Runius, and his lyrics and hymns contain some of the emotional pietism that were a feature of 18th-century thought. The best of FranzĂ©nâs work was written prior to his emigration in 1811. His idylls of are full of pre-Romantic idealism drawn from German and English sources.
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The 19th century
After its separation from Sweden in 1809, Finland became an autonomous grand duchy of Russia. Its Swedish legal and social institutions remained intact, and Swedish continued to be its official language. The new political situation gave rise to calls for an independent Finnish culture. These first emerged among a group of intellectuals, the Turku (Ă bo) Romantics, who stood ideologically close to the Uppsala Phosphorists.