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Editorial: Territories

This'n'that
Anselm Hollo on Timo Hännikäinen's poems; Soila Lehtonen on Kari Hotakainen's best-selling novel; Maria Säntti on a new novel by Katri Tapola; Harry Forsblom on Arto Virtanen's short stories; books and the taxman; literary prizes; Electric Verses

Timo Hännikäinen
The oldest language
Poems from Istun vastapäätä ('I'm sitting across from', WSOY, 2002), translated by Anselm Hollo
In a bus or on a train, Timo Hännikäinen (born 1979) travels from one urban setting to another, with a volume of Kierkegaard on his knees – and yet claiming not to 'nurture unnecessary despair', for the 'sunlight is free'

Kari Hotakainen
Des res
Extracts from Juoksuhaudantie ('The Trench Road', WSOY, 2002), translated by David Hackston
A seemingly ordinary Finnish man, Matti Virtanen, gets it into his head that he must buy his family a house – and not any old house, but a 'des res' that is both rare and expensive, a vintage 'veteran's house'. Virtanen's obsession, in this sixth novel by Kari Hotakainen (born 1957), leads to a strange series of events involving estate agents, war veterans, and, in the end, the police

Kirsi Saarikangas
Homes fit for heroes
Docent Kirsi Saarikangas has studied that peculiarly Finnish phenomenon, the veteran's house, which lies at the heart of Kari Hotakainen's nove. Built in the aftermath of the Second World War, these wooden family houses were considered ideal conditions for future citizens, and are now sought-after residences for the new millennium

Katri Tapola
Song without words
Extracts from the novel Näiden seinien sisällä me emme näy ('Within these walls we are invisible', Tammi, 2003), translated by Hildi Hawkins
Like Kari Hotakainen's male protagonist, the main character of Katri Tapola's new novel, Ellen, is obsessed by home. Ellen's focus is on porridge bowls, bedspreads and bin liners; her husband is her slave. But in her home, true power lies in the hands of the child. In this second novel by Tapola (born 1961), her use of language takes the narrative far beyond the everyday

Ben Kaila
No home to go to
Photographs and texts from Koditon / Homeless by Ben Kaila; texts by Panu Räty (Musta Taide, 2002), translated by Jüri Kokkonen
Helsinki's northerly latitude means that no one is literally homeless; everyone has a place to sleep inside, at least in winter, but not necessarily somewhere they can call their own.
The photographer Ben Kaila (born 1949) went in search of them, and found there are as many human destinies as there are homeless

Arto Virtanen
Moving on
Extracts from a short story, 'Tunnin kuvat' ('One-hour processing'), in the collection Vapiseva sydän ('Tremulous heart', Tammi, 2002), translated by Herbert Lomas
A man's mid-life crisis is a central theme in Arto Virtanen's prose; not quite without irony though. In this story about two brothers, a home of one's own is a desired goal, both physically and philosophically

Seppo Heiskanen
Animal crackers
Markus Majaluoma (born 1961) is a graphic artist who has illustrated stories written both by other people and himself. His main characters may equally be people or storks, or a family in which the parents are storks and the baby is a human child. Children are the Majaluoma's heroes: they are active adventurers who are not frightened by ghosts or even truncated torsos of pirates.
This is the second of a series on book illustrators that will run in this year's issues of Books from Finland

Väinö Kirstinä
Green thoughts
Extracts from a collection of gardening essays, Puutarhassa ('In the garden', Tammi, 2003), translated by Hildi Hawkins
The poet Väinö Kirstinä (born 1936) spends his summers in the country living in an old wood cabin, and is curious about the surprising life of his garden. He can play god in deciding what can grow, what cannot. But nature is, of course, whimsical and stubborn, and being god is not easy

Jean-Luc Moreau
Vive la différence
The French translator Jean-Luc Moreau (born 1937) ponders the differences between Finnish and his native tongue, and the mysterious way in which translation makes him better acquainted with his own language

Review

Pia Ingström
Sitting pretty
Minna Sarantola-Weiss: Sohvaryhmän läpimurto. Kulutuskulttuurin tulo suomalaisiin olohuoneisiin 1960- ja 1970-lukujen vaihteessa [The advent of the three-piece suite. The coming of consumer culture to Finnish living-rooms in the late 1960s and early 1970s]

New translations

Select bibliography

Letter from Kuopio
Jouni Tossavainen lives and writes his poems in the town of Kuopio, some 400 kilometres north-east from the capital. At Easter, fish were still swimming under the ice. Elks, roaming the roads, are townsfolk, too