3|2007CONTENTS
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This’n’that
Beauty and horror at the 2007 Lahti International Writers’ Reunion
On the end of summer
Janna Kantola on Jouni Inkala’s poetry
Jani Saxell on short stories by Eeva Tikka
An addition to Books from Finland’s editorial board
On books that sell
Literary prizes
Jouni Inkala
Indebted to the centuries
Poems from Minuutin ja sen puolikkaan laajenevassa universumissa. Valitut runot 1992—2007 (‘In a minute and its half’s expanding universe. Selected poems’, 2007, WSOY), translated by Herbert Lomas.
The poet Jouni Inkala (born 1966) addresses e-mail viruses and examines
family photographs, attempting the impossible task of finding the best words
A short story from Hidas intohimo (‘A slow passion’, Gummerus, 2007), translated by Lola Rogers.
A keen gardener is looking forward to sharing his August potato crop with his charming neighbour — with a view to possibly joining their allotments, and their lives. Eeva Tikka (born 1939) colours her optimistic narrator with delicate shades of humour
Kesäillan kevyt käsitteellisyys, A summer evening’s slight conceptualness
from the collection Eros (WSOY, 2002), a poem translated by Herbert Lomas.
A paean to summer, a verbal symphony: this poem is a killer for any translator. Find out why...
Ilpo Tiihonen
On the diversity of a summer’s night
In his fictional contribution to this year’s Lahti International Writers’ Reunion, the poet and dramatist Ilpo Tiihonen (born 1950) takes a look at the beauty of a randomly chosen summer night, somewhere in Finland and in Paris
Paavo Haavikko
One and twenty
An extract from the epic poem Kaksikymmentä ja yksi (‘One and twenty’, Otava,
1974), translated by Anselm Hollo; One
and Twenty will be published by Aspasia of
Beaverton, Canada, this autumn
This ‘ironic, cinematic, postmodern
epic’ — as the translator Anselm Hollo
defines it — by the author Paavo Haavikko
(born 1931) moves capriciously back and
forth in time between Viking days and the
19thcentury
age of imperialism, and in
place between the sources of the Nile and
the Russian empire
Rachel Blau DuPlessis
Heroes and villains of One and twenty
The American poet and critic Rachel Blau
DuPlessis takes a look at the characters of
Paavo Haavikko’s poetic chronicle, getting
acquainted with its inspirational source,
the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala
Jorma Hinkka
Cover stories
The cover may effectively sell the novel — or
perhaps not. The graphic designer Jorma
Hinkka takes a look at nine different cover
designs from as many countries for Johanna
Sinisalo’s novel Ennen päivänlaskua ei
voi (Not Before Sundown, 2000). But does
the designer need to know anything about
the plot?
Extracts from case notes,
published in Parantunut
hoidosta huolimatta.
Päättömiä potilaskertomuksia (‘Improved in
spite of treatment. Puzzling case notes’) and
Sydänäänet kuuluneet lapsesta saakka. Päättömiä
potilaskertomuksia 2 (‘A pulse since
childhood. Puzzling case notes 2’; Otava,
2005 and 2007, illustrated by Katja Tukiainen),
translated by Lola Rogers.
Mervi Marttila, a departmental secretary in
a hospital, has found that doctors’ dictation
does not always appear very logical — and
absurd errors may also occur when the
transcription includes unfamiliar vocabulary
or when something is heard incorrectly.
Here is a selection of authentic case notes
Jyrki Lehtola
Mending fences
Finlandisation is a word used and
misused in the Finnsh media.
How do Finns get along with
their eastern neighbour in
the third millennium,
now that money talks
with the loudest voice?
Book statistics 2006
Jukka Petäjä
On publishing and globalisation
The journalist Jukka Petäjä reads A Political
Education. Coming of Age in Paris and New
York (Melville House Publishing, 2007), a
memoir by the American publisher André
Schiffrin, the founder of the celebrated
New Press. Publishing is increasingly tied
to globalisation — but is this a good thing,
for the United States and Europe in
general, and Finland in particular?
 Harri Hautala
National treasure
Mäkelä, Tomi: Sibelius, me ja muut
[Sibelius, us Finns and the rest].
Hannu Marttila
Flavour of the month
Klemettilä, Hannele: Keskiajan keittiö [The medieval kitchen].
Hannu Konttinen
Nature boy
Sulka ja kynä. Erik Bruunin julisteita ja käyttögrafiikkaa [The quill and the pen. Posters and graphics by Erik Bruun].
Select bibliography
Jouni Inkala
On writing and not writing
In this series guest writers ponder the
difficulties of writing. Here, Jouni Inkala
describes — in a poem, and in prose — the
nature of the dangerous lavahot
source of
poetic inspiration in which all his work has
its origin.
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