2|2008CONTENTS
You can read some of Books from Finland here: click the links.
This’n’that
The one and only Moomintroll; Tuomas Juntunen on Arne Nevanlinna’s first novel; Anselm Hollo on Riina Katajavuori’s new poems; a change in Books from Finland’s editorial board; literary prizes
Riina Katajavuori
Poems from Kerttu ja Hannu (‘Gretel and Hansel’, Tammi, 2008), translated by Anselm Hollo
A brother and a sister look back on their childhood, which included an involuntary visit to the deep, dark forest
Arne Nevanlinna
Dinner with Marie
Extracts from the novel Marie (WSOY, 2008), translated by Lola Rogers People with roots in France, Germany, Russia and Finland meet in the Helsinki of the early 20th century, where Marie, born and bred in Strasbourg, comes to live with her Finland-Swedish husband. Some seventy years later, Marie’s memories of that time flow through her mind – such as a tragicomic dinner à la Russe in the 1930s
 Jaakko Heinimäki
Over the rainbow
Juhani Peltonen (1941–1978) wrote funny stories with a sad twist, or vice versa. In his poems, novels and drama he employed romance, nonsense, and verbal comedy, all tinged with melancholy
Juhani Peltonen
Elmo’s fire
Extracts from the novel Elmo (WSOY, 1978), translated by Owen Witesman
Elmo the Finn is the best athlete in the world, in every sport, including team games, which he wins single-handed. But the lonely champion’s dreams are elsewhere, outside giant stadiums
This is the eleventh part in a series of portraits of classic Finnish authors that began in 2005
Tove Jansson
Apocalypse then
Extracts from Mumintrollet och jordens undergång (‘Moomintroll and the end of the world’ [the first Moomin cartoon, published in Ny Tid newspaper 1947–48]. Ny Tid, 2007), translated by David McDuff
In these extracts the Moomintroll family and their friends face a threatening apocalypse caused by a comet. A happy end ensues, thanks to the ingenious inventions of Moominpappa
Olli Löytty
Extracts from Maltillinen hutu ja muita kirjoituksia kulttuurien kohtaamisesta (‘A moderate Hutu and other essays about the meeting of cultures’, Teos, 2008), translated by Jill G. Timbers
Culture is a slippery concept when you use it to explain the various customs of human society. Multiculturalism in a traditionally homogenous country like Finland is a fairly new phenomenon – or is it? In this essay the scholar and writer Olli Löytty explores its history
Pasi Toiviainen
Survival tactics
What can be done about climate change? How to make use of both possible and impossible strategies? The environmental journalist Pasi Toiviainen introduces Risto Isomäki’s book 34 tapaa estää maapallon ylikuumeneminen (‘34 ways to prevent the overheating of the Earth’), also presenting some of the alternative methods of the ‘mad scientist’
Risto Isomäki
Will ants save mankind?
An extract from 34 tapaa estää maapallon ylikuumeneminen. Järkevistä vaihtoehdoista hullun tiedemiehen ratkaisuihin (‘34 ways to prevent the overheating of the Earth. From the sensible alternatives to the solutions of a mad scientist’, Tammi, 2008), translated by Hildi Hawkins
Ants are experts in the storing of carbon;the writer and scholar Risto Isomäki takes a look at whether we can use those billions of little hard-working creatures help save the atmosphere
Jyrki Lehtola
What do they think of us now?
Why does just the wrong kind of news from Finland make the rest of the world sit up and remember Finland exists? Jyrki Lehtola takes a look at the media, and the vexed question of what makes a good story
 Pia Ingström
Who’s cool in Moomin Valley
Happonen, Sirke: Vilijonkka ikkunassa. Tove Janssonin muumiteosten kuva, sana ja liike
[The Fillyjonk in the window: image, word and movement in Tove Jansson’s Moomin books]
Jukka Kemppinen
Face to face
Suomen kansallisbiografia I–X [The national biography of Finland I–X]
Hannu Marttila
Kotiruoka. Keittokirja kotia ja koulua varten (1908) [Home cooking. Cookbook for home and school] & Kotiruoka (2008) [Home cooking]’; Ladarsi, Ahmed: Mämmi
Select bibliography
Eeva Kilpi
On writing and not writing
Lounging is a method that works for the writer Eeva Kilpi (born 1928; her latest novel, Unta vain [‘Just dreaming’], appeared last year), as are forest walks and post-it notes, when horror of words looms at large
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