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Editorial: The city in the city

This 'n' that
The poetic absurdism of Catharina Gripenberg; Bror Rönnholm on the new poems by Catharina Gripenberg; Hannu Marttila on Raine Mäkinen's novel on Anton Chekhov; Jarmo Papinniemi on Juha Seppälä's new prose; mature love stories of Nyyrikki magazine; literary prizes; Arto Melleri in memoriam

Catharina Gripenberg
Travelling alone
Poems from Ödemjuka belles lettres från en till en ('Humble belles lettres from one to one', Schildts, 2002), translated by David McDuff
Anything may happen in Catharina Gripenberg's linguistically capricious poems. Grass flowers in the glove compartment, hearts glow like waffle-irons. Gripenberg (born 1977) writes melancholy but humorous letters to illustrate distance between people

Raine Mäkinen
A toast before dying
Extracts from the novel Voin jo paljon paremmin. Tehov Badenweilerissa ('I already feel much better. Chekhov in Badenweiler', Loki, 2004), translated by Jill G. Timbers
Raine Mäkinen (born 1938) paints a vivid picture of Anton Chekhov's last days, tinged with tragicomedy - a genre at which the Russian writer himself, of course, excelled. Champagne at the deathbed is the idea of the narrator of this extract, the ambitious German doctor Schwörer, who has amorous designs on Chekhov's half-German wife, Olga

Juha Seppälä
The honey of the bee
A short story from Mitä sähkö on ('What electricity is', Otava, 2004), translated by Herbert Lomas
Warmed by the harvest sun, the narrator of this short story by Juha Seppälä (born 1956), remembers his grandfather with longing and sorrow. It is the deep existential sorrow - life as 'a series of lettings go' - told in few words, that touches the reader here, the human grief born out of love, shared by all

Pentti Haanpää
In the wildernesss
Two short stories from the collection Heta Rahko korkeassa iässä ('Heta Rahko at a great age', Otava, 1947), translated by Herbert Lomas
Pentti Haanpää (1905-1955) had an eye for the absurd and satire. The characters in the hundreds of short stories he wrote are often men with extraordinary ambitions. In these two stories, the central characters are obsessed with athletic enterprises.
This is the second part in a new series of brief portraits of classic Finnish authors; Pentti Haanpää is introduced by Vesa Karonen

Maria Antas
To love or not to love?
Small-scale dramas and intimate phenomena may not perhaps be stuff that Nobel prize-winners are made of, but Maria Antas claims that an epic-scale literature is not the only type of great literature. She takes a look at relationships, central in three new novels, that are born within families - not necessarily out of love: Sisarteni elämät ('The lives of my sisters', Tammi, 2004) by Sisko Istanmäki, Jos rehellisiä ollaan ('To be quite honest', Otava, 2004) by Regina Rask and Musta perhonen ('Black butterfly', Sammakko, 2004) by Kiba Lumberg
Translators: Silvester Mazzarella, Herbert Lomas

Hannu Marttila
Street cred
A hundred years ago the photographer Signe Brander specialised in recording vistas of the quickly growing town of Helsinki. The journalist Hannu Marttila takes a look at his city and her photographs, published in Signe Brander 1869-1942. Helsingin valokuvaaja ('Signe Brander 1869-1942. Photographer of Helsinki'‚ Helsinki City Museum, 2005)

Pasi Mäenpää
Image and imagination
The sociologist Pasi Mäenpää, a specialist in urban culture and public space, focuses on one of Signe Brander's photographs from the early 20th century: how permanent is the city as a phenomenon? What has changed, and how?

Kimmo Pietiläinen
Two cultures
The head of the publishing company Terra Cognita, which specialises in natural sciences, argues for the importance of small presses in bringing new ideas to the wider culture.
This is the second article in a series in which Finnish publishers write about their work and mission

Reviews

Soila Lehtonen
Sealspotting
Heikki Hyvärinen, Mervi Kunnasranta, Petteri Nieminen, Juha Taskinen: Hyle. Saimaan oma norppa [Hyle. Saimaa's own seal]

Markus Itkonen
Letter-perfect?
Tuija Kuusela: Taiteilijat kirjaimia piirtämässä. Suomen kultakauden kirjataidetta [Artists drawing letters. Book art of Finland's Golden Age]

New translations

Select bibliography

Laura Ruohonen
Message in a bottle
Mother, daughter and a small island in the cold Baltic: how fatal the shipwreck? The playwright Laura Ruohonen wrote a message for the bottle. Her play Kuningatar K. (Queen C.) was recently produced in the Dramaten theatre in Stockholm, Sweden.
An Island Far from Here was commissioned to be produced in England in 2003; Olga has been produced also in Scotland and Ireland