Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

Pohjolan prinsessat. Viikinkineidoista renessanssiruhtinattariin
[Princesses of Pohjola. From Viking maidens to Renaissance princesses]
Jyväskylä: Atena, 2009. 223 p., ill.
ISBN 978-951-796-595-8
€ 33, hardback

This book, a side project to Anu Lahtinen’s doctoral dissertation, tells of the women of the Nordic royal families from the 7th to the 17th centuries. The term ‘princesses’ is used here to refer to female members of ruling families who did not hold positions of power themselves. With its brief biographies of people who have long remained hidden in the historical shadow of great men, this book sheds light on a little-researched subject. Many princesses of the medieval Swedish, Danish and Norwegian realms grew up into significant political figures; they needed cunning, a good command of languages and even fighting skills in order to survive the tumults of that age. The rollicking parties and romantic escapades of Cecilia, one of the five daughters of King Gustav Vasa of Sweden, are reminiscent of the ‘party princesses’ of our own time. A Viking-era princess, Alfhild, became a pirate captain; according to medieval tales, she disguised herself as a man and managed to lead a crew of female pirates in a number of raids along the shores of the Baltic.

Keskiajan julmuus
[Medieval cruelty]
Jyväskylä: Atena, 2008. 365 p., ill.
ISBN 978-951-796-517-0
€ 34, hardback

Darkness, cruelty, violence and ignorance are characteristics commonly associated with the medieval era. This book aims to show that this type of thinking contains a number of myths and misconceptions that have arisen in both scholarly and popular culture. She investigates how cruelty arose in medieval culture and society and how it was understood, as well as its antitheses: sympathy, fraternity and mercy. The focus of this study is from the 13th century to the first half of the 16th century. The author has relied on writings, art, folk tales and documentary sources from theoreticians, chroniclers and poets in her study. Particular attention is paid to those groups who represented the ‘non-human’ in medieval thinking, such as women and children, the infirm, common people and animals. This book also outlines a broader chronological perspective in its subject matter and addresses the issue of when the medieval era was labelled as being cruel and why that label has stuck. Hannele Klemettilä, a post-doctoral researcher at the Finnish Academy, is a cultural historian.

Kaiken takana oli pelko. Kuinka Viro menetti historiansa ja kuinka se saadaan takaisin
[Fear behind it all. How Estonia lost its history and how to get it back]
Toim. [Ed. by] Sofi Oksanen & Imbi Paju
Helsinki: WSOY, 2009. 563 p., ill.
ISBN 978-951-0-35111-6
€ 29, hardback

Twentieth-century Estonian history was marked by a brief German occupation (1918) and a Soviet occupation lasting nearly half a century (1940–1991). This book contains more than 30 articles by Finnish, Estonian, Russian, British and American experts in the field, dealing with with subjects that include the propaganda of the Soviet occupation, the methods of political oppression, environmental pollution, corruption and the situation of the arts and culture during the occupation. There are also previously suppressed memoirs and reminiscences by survivors of the Gulag prison camps. Sofi Oksanen (born 1977) is a Finnish writer of Estonian heritage who was awarded the 2008 Finlandia Prize for Fiction for her novel Puhdistus (‘Purge’), which is based on Estonian history. Imbi Paju (born 1959) is an Estonian film director and writer. The book deals with the morality of a totalitarian state in general, and examines how different contries have approached the concept of human rights violations in recent times. It has given rise to much debate about Finland’s relations with neighbouring Estonia and its people.

Kirje Siperiasta [A letter from Siberia]
Finnish translation by Paula Autio
Helsinki: Schildts, 2008. 233 p., ill.
ISBN 978-951-50-1783-3
€ 29, hardback

Swedish original: Brevet från Sibirien
Esbo: Schildts, 1997. 233 p., ill.
ISBN 951-50-0865-4
€ 29, hardback

Kirje Siperiasta is based on letters and memoirs covering a period of more than 80 years by Elna Schdanoff (Russian spelling Zhdanova, 1885–1977). Born in St Petersburg, Elna belonged to a Finland-Swedish family of industrial entrepreneurs in Russia. Her father was director of a Belgian mining and steel company, and after the revolution of 1917, her Russian husband Vadya Zhdanov became the first engineer in the Soviet steel industry. In the whirlwinds of the Revolution the Zhdanovs decided to remain in the Soviet Union. Vadya Zhdanov was executed as a spy during the Stalinist purges of 1938; Elna was sentenced to tens years of forced labour and deportation. According to the book’s editor, Zhdanova’s nephew Christian Sundgren, his aunt’s memoirs were not published in Finland when she wrote them because of the self-censorship of the Finnish press. In addition to the account of her imprisonment, the book generates interest with descriptions of Russian industry before and after the revolution. In the 1950s Zhdanova’s brother finally managed to obtain permission for his sister  to travel to Finland where she remained for the rest of her life.

Konsten att härska. Gustaf III inför sina undersåtar
[The art of ruling. Gustav III in the presence of his subjects]
Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland / Stockholm: Atlantis, 2008. 439 p., ill.
ISBN 978-951-583-159-0
€ 35, hardback

The book, based on Henrika Tandefelt’s  doctoral dissertation (2007), explores the meaning of kingship in Gustavian political culture. King Gustav III (1746–1792), who ruled over Sweden and its ‘Finnish territory’ with his machinery of government officials, devoted himself to phenomena which have received little attention from historians. Complicated rules of etiquette, ceremonies, tournaments, and various genres of art were the object of much study on the part of the king, who had both ethical and political aims in meddling in these. Tandefelt examines topics like royal favours – the granting of noble ranks, and medals and titles – and the rhetoric used by the king. The final part of the book looks at Gustav III’s actions against Russia during the 1788–1790 war.

Puhdistus
[Purge]
Helsinki: WSOY, 2008. 380 p.
ISBN 978-951-0-33973-2
€ 29.90, paperback

Sofi Oksanen’s first play Puhdistus (‘Purge’) was staged at Finland’s National Theatre in 2007. Oksanen (born 1977) has an Estonian-Finnish background and studied at the Theatre Academy. Puhdistus, her third novel, retells the story of her play about two women and moves through the past by flashbacks between 1939 and 1992. Aliide has experienced the horrors of the Stalin era and the deportation of Estonians to Siberia, but she herself has to cope with the guilt of opportunism and even manslaughter. More…