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Editorial

This’n’that
New home for Books from Finland; Jussi Nuorteva on the Finnish Literature Society; Anselm Hollo on Riina Katajavuori’s poems; Kristina Carlson on Anu Kaipainen; Iris Schwanck on the Poetry Academy; a new chairman for the Finnish Writers’ Union; Finns in Sweden; literary prizes

Riina Katajavuori
Practically public
Poems from Koko tarina (‘The whole story’, Tammi, 2001), translated by Anselm Hollo
Riina Katajavuori (born 1965) is a poet and the mother of two sons. In her latest collection of poetry, families struggle with everyday life in the midst of its incessant hurry – and little boys examine their fathers mercilessly

Anu Kaipainen
Manmother
Extracts from the novel Granaattiomena (‘Pomegranate’, WSOY, 2002), translated by Herbert Lomas
In this novel by Anu Kaipainen (born 1933), a mother and son share past family tragedies – the father’s death, the boy’s depression. The mother’s own childhood was fractured by war, and war is never far away, even now. But in the fact that Mother and her son need and love each other, lies the power that makes life endurable

Maria Säntti
Families in flux
Family relations are central to the material of fiction. At the beginning of the new millennium, the societal family unit is creaking at the hinges, struggling with changing gender roles and generation conflicts, writes Maria Säntti in her introduction to seven new Finnish novels published this autumn. Translation by Jüri Kokkonen
Photographs from Puu-Vallilan kasvot (‘Vallila and its wooden houses’, Helsinki-Seura, 2001) by Matti Koivumäki

Ranya ElRamly
How to peel an orange
Extracts from Auringon asema (‘The position of the sun’, Otava, 2002), translated by Hildi Hawkins
In a train between Luxor and Aswan a man and a woman, south and north, fire and water, summer and winter, sun and moon, meet; the daughter of an Egyptian father and a Finnish mother seeks her own place between two cultures and between two worlds

Mindele London
Season’s greetings
An extract from the novel Kolmastoista tuoli (‘The thirteenth chair’, Atena, 2002), translated by Herbert Lomas
In 1950s Finland, the Gold family lives a sophisticated and worldly life – divorce is fine, as long as the word is never mentioned, and the Jewish clan’s celebration of Christmas, too, is idyllically ambiguous

Timo Airaksinen
The age game
Extracts from Vanhuuden ylistys (‘In praise of old age’, Otava, 2002), translated by Hildi Hawkins
Old age is one of the few remaining taboos left to the post-modern individual – along with natural death from old age! Who wants to be old? The senior citizens of our time extend their youth by playing an age game, claims the philosopher and writer Timo Airaksinen, employing new tactics that are often successful in finding a new kind of happiness toward the end of life

Juhani Tolvanen
Life on the line
Tarmo Koivisto (born 1948) has been drawing a cartoon strip for more than a quarter of a century. The small town of Mämmilä – a Finland in miniature – operates in real time: Koivisto’s wide cast of characters are born, grow old and die, its landscape and world change. In his latest album, www.mammila.fi (Otava, 2002), the information society arrives in town: the local bar is converted into an internet café. The fourth in the series of four articles on new Finnish cartoon art

Reviews

Hildi Hawkins
Home, sweet home
Kirsi Saarikangas: Asunnon muodonmuutoksia. Puhtauden estetiikka ja sukupuoli modernissa arkkitehtuurissa [Transformations of the dwelling. Gender and the aesthetics of cleanliness in modern architecture]

Henrik Meinander
City of the dead
Juhani Seppovaara: Elävä hiljaisuus. Hietaniemen hautausmailla [Living silence. In the Hietaniemi burial grounds]

New translations

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Letter from Udmurt
The writer Anita Konkka is driven eastward by bus much faster than she feels is comfortable. But beside Tchaikovsky’s own Swan Lake, cows wander peacefully at pasture, and in the event all the Finno-Ugrian writers make it home safely from their congress



 
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