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    Finnish Literature

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    Finnish literature began with texts written in Swedish or Latin during the Middle Ages between 1200-1523 CE. The development of Finnish language literature began in the 16th century. One of the earliest works was a translation of the New Testament into Finnish by Mikael Agricola in 1548. In the 19th century, collections of Finnish folklore were compiled, most notably the Kalevala, considered Finland's national epic, published in 1835. The first novel in Finnish was Seven Brothers, published in 1870. In the 20th century, Finland gained independence in 1917 and literature explored themes of civil war and national identity. Notable Finnish authors who gained international acclaim include Mika Waltari.

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    Finnish Literature

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    f00roeth
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    Finnish literature began with texts written in Swedish or Latin during the Middle Ages between 1200-1523 CE. The development of Finnish language literature began in the 16th century. One of the earliest works was a translation of the New Testament into Finnish by Mikael Agricola in 1548. In the 19th century, collections of Finnish folklore were compiled, most notably the Kalevala, considered Finland's national epic, published in 1835. The first novel in Finnish was Seven Brothers, published in 1870. In the 20th century, Finland gained independence in 1917 and literature explored themes of civil war and national identity. Notable Finnish authors who gained international acclaim include Mika Waltari.

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    Finnish Literature

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    Finnish literature began with texts written in Swedish or Latin during the Middle Ages between 1200-1523 CE. The development of Finnish language literature began in the 16th century. One of the earliest works was a translation of the New Testament into Finnish by Mikael Agricola in 1548. In the 19th century, collections of Finnish folklore were compiled, most notably the Kalevala, considered Finland's national epic, published in 1835. The first novel in Finnish was Seven Brothers, published in 1870. In the 20th century, Finland gained independence in 1917 and literature explored themes of civil war and national identity. Notable Finnish authors who gained international acclaim include Mika Waltari.

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    99 views3 pages

    Finnish Literature

    Uploaded by

    f00roeth
    Finnish literature began with texts written in Swedish or Latin during the Middle Ages between 1200-1523 CE. The development of Finnish language literature began in the 16th century. One of the earliest works was a translation of the New Testament into Finnish by Mikael Agricola in 1548. In the 19th century, collections of Finnish folklore were compiled, most notably the Kalevala, considered Finland's national epic, published in 1835. The first novel in Finnish was Seven Brothers, published in 1870. In the 20th century, Finland gained independence in 1917 and literature explored themes of civil war and national identity. Notable Finnish authors who gained international acclaim include Mika Waltari.

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    Finnish literature
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact page Toolbox Print/export Languages Catal Cymraeg Eesti Espaol Esperanto Euskara Franais Galego Italiano Latina Magyar Polski Romn Suomi Svenska Edit links

    This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2012) Finnish literature refers to literature written in Finland. Earliest texts in Finland were written in Swedish or Latin during the Finnish Middle Age (ca. 1200 - 1523). Finnishlanguage literature was slowly developing from the 16th century onwards. First artistic heyday of the Finnish literature was the mid-19th century era of National Romanticism. Most of the significant works of the era, written in Swedish or increasingly in Finnish, revolved around achieving or maintaining a strong Finnish identity (see Karelianism).
    Contents [hide] 1 Pre-Nineteenth century 2 Nineteenth century 3 Twentieth century 4 Swedish-language literature 5 Further reading 6 See also 7 References
    Mikael Agricola

    Pre-Nineteenth century

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    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 (15101557) 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.

    Nineteenth century

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    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 the 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

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_literature[8/14/2013 7:15:39 PM]

    Finnish literature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    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 Lnnrot who compiled the volume. 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. It is a common misconception that Lnnrot merely "collected" pre-existing poetry. It is now widely accepted that the Kalevala represents an amalgam of loosely connected source materials, freely altered by Lnnrot to present the appearance of a unified whole. 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.

    Twentieth century

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    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 Sillanp (18881964). Sillanp 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 Vin 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 (19081979). (Sinuhe) The Egyptian (1945), partially an allegory of the Second World War but located in ancient Egypt, 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 (19441973) 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 early death.

    Swedish-language literature
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    Finnish literature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Even after the establishment of the Finnish as the primary language of administration and education, Swedish remained important in Finland. Johan Ludvig Runeberg (18041877) was the most famous Swedish-speaking writer of the nineteenth century. The opening poem Our Land (from The Tales of Ensign Stl ) was dedicated as the national anthem as early as seventy years before Finnish independence. During the early 20th century, the Swedish-language modernism emerged in Finland as one of the most acclaimed literal movements in the history of the country. The best-known representative of the movement was Edith Sdergran. The most famous Swedish-language works from Finland are probably the Moomin books by writer Tove Jansson. They are also known in comic strip or cartoon forms.

    Further reading See also

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    ThisisFINLAND - Finnish Literature Today [ edit source| edit


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    Finnish folklore Finnish language Finlandia Prize Project Runeberg

    References
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    Categories: Finnish literature

    Finnish culture

    Nordic literature

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