#finlit

Teemestarin kirja by Emmi Itäranta

If you’ve followed me for a while (or read my description box), you might know that I’m Finnish. This is Highly Relevant™ as 2017 is a very special year for us Finnish people. On December 6, 1917, Finland declared its independence from Russia, which means that this year we’re celebrating 100 years of independence!

Naturally, this centenary year has spawned a multitude of projects and events to celebrate Finland (#suomi100) -- if you’re interested, you can read more about it here in English. One of my favourites is the book project called 101 kirjaa (”101 books”). Journalists Seppo Puttonen and Nadja Nowak have picked out 101 Finnish books (one from each year of independence) to represent how Finland and the Finnish people have changed during the last hundred years. And these 101 books are available to read online for free (though you need to have a Finnish library card or an account on the yle.fi website).

Here are six books from the list that I’m most interested in reading:

Pirkko Saisio: Kainin tytär (Daughter of Cain, 1984) (In Finland, homosexuality was officially declassified as an illness in the beginning of the 1980s and decriminalised a decade prior to that. Saisio’s story about love between two women demonstrates how painful it is to live and love under the pressures of a heteronormative society.)

Tytti Parras: Jojo (”A Yo-yo”, 1968) (In 1968, around 20 000 illegal abortions were performed in Finland. Jojo explores the topics of abortion and bodily autonomy. When the book was first published, its blunt and rebellious depiction of young women living in student circles caused an uproar and drew attention to the gulf between different generations.)

Valentin (Ensio Rislakki): Ruma Elsa (”Ugly Elsa”, 1949) (Ruma Elsa explores gender identity and femininity: the titular Elsa wears pants and calls herself Santtu. The play gained huge popularity when it was first published; it was performed at the Finnish National Theatre over a hundred times and was immediately made into a film.)

Elvi Sinervo: Vuorelle nousu (”The Ascent to the Mountain”, 1948) (This collection of novellas explores themes such as imprisonment, autonomy, abortion, femininity, and motherhood.)

Eila Pennanen: Ennen sotaa oli nuoruus (”Before the War, There Was Youth”, 1942) (Pennanen wrote her debut novel between 1941-1942, during the Continuation War against the Soviet Union. It's a desolate depiction of the fears and lost futures of the youth living in the 1930s in the midst of anxiety caused by social conflicts and the looming war.)

Martti Laine: Kuilu (”The Chasm”, 1937) (Kuilu depicts the life and struggles of a gay man living in Finland in the beginning of the 1900s. Since open discussion about homosexuality was still rare at the time the novel came out and because it depicted the Civil War from the point of view of the Reds, it received heavy criticism and Laine later changed his surname to Larni.)

Book Discussion Challenge || Feb 24 || Feminism

This book is Käsikirja sukupuoleen (”The Handbook of Gender/Sex”) edited by Tuija Saresma, Leena-Maija Rossi and Tuula Juvonen.

I got it for an introduction course to Gender Studies during my first year of uni and it was the first non-fiction book about feminism I ever read (!!!). It was a really eye-opening read to me because until that point I’d been getting most of my info on feminism/gender studies/queer theory online, which basically meant that everything I’d learned had been through a very anglo- and US-centric lens.

The book is divided into four sections: Sukupuolen käsityksiä ja käsitteitä (”Gender/Sex: Views and Concepts”), Äitiys, mieheys ja queeriys (”Motherhood, Masculinity, and Queerness”), Sukupuolen kulttuurit ja käytännöt (”Gender/Sex: Cultures and Practices”), and Neuvotteluja sukupuolesta (Gender/Sex: Discussions/Discourse). Each of the sections features 7-10 articles on various things re: gender, sex, queer theory, feminism, etc.

It’s a solid introduction to feminism and gender studies and I’d recommend it to any Finnish-speaking person who wants to know more about these topics (and specifically from a Finnish POV).