Anna-Liisa

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Anna-Liisa (alternative spelling without hyphen) is a play by the Finnish writer Minna Canth , which deals with the fate of a child murderer. It premiered at the Finnish National Theater in Helsinki in 1895 and has since been filmed several times.

action

The 19-year-old farmer's daughter Anna-Liisa Kortesuo is about to get married to Johannes Kivimaa.

A few days before the line-up is ordered, Husso appears at Anna-Liisa, Mikko's mother. Mikko was a farmhand with the Kortesuos, but had fled the farm four years earlier. The reason for his escape was a secret relationship with the then 15-year-old Anna-Liisa, who became pregnant and gave birth to a child. It is not clear whether Anna-Liisa got involved with Mikko voluntarily - her statement: "He had no pity on my youth and inexperience - oh, how merciless he was towards me!" Suggests the idea of ​​rape.

After the birth, Anna-Liisa covered the crying child in a panic and in this way accidentally suffocated it. Mikko's mother Husso buried the dead baby in the forest and removed all traces. Only she, Anna-Liisa and Mikko know about the story, Anna-Liisa's parents never found out.

Shortly before the wedding, Anna-Liisa is blackmailed by Husso and Mikko - she is supposed to leave Johannes and marry Mikko, otherwise they want to reveal the secret of the child. They make their threat true and tell Anna-Liisa's horrified parents what happened four years ago. Anna-Liisa confesses everything. Her father, beside himself with anger and disappointment, initially wants to attack her with an ax, but soon calms down. The parents forgive their daughter and fear that she will harm herself.

In the end, Anna-Liisa voluntarily surrenders to the authorities and declares that hiding her deed and living with a lie did not make her happy. Though shocked by the act, officials are impressed by Anna-Liisa's honesty. Anna-Liisa says goodbye to her family and Johannes, who tells her that she is who he thought she was - namely honest and good - and lets herself be led away without resistance.

Film adaptations and translations

The play inspired numerous filmmakers, for example, as early as 1911, Teppo Raikas, an actor at the Finnish National Theater, tried to make a film, which was never completed, as the film material was destroyed during production due to poor storage. A second film adaptation from 1922 comes from Teuvo Puro and Jussi Snellman. The film adaptation of Orvo Saarikivi and Toivo Särkkä planned to mark the centenary of Minna Canth's birthday was only released in cinemas in 1945 after the costumes were stolen during production. Tuija-Maija Niskanen created a television play in 1988 with Anna-Leena Härkönen, Pekka Valkeejärvi and Heikki Paavilainen in the leading roles.

The play has been translated into English, Estonian, French, Spanish and German.

meaning

In her works, Minna Canth primarily describes the social and legal situation of the common people in Finland, especially that of women. In contrast to Työmiehen vaimo , for example , which Kindler's Neues Literaturlexikon accuses of black and white painting, in "Anna Liisa" good and bad are not clearly divided. Anna Liisa's character is presented in a differentiated way: she killed her child, kept her act a secret and continues to pretend to be a respectable young girl. Yet she is not a cold-blooded murderer, for she killed the child in the affect and suffers badly from the lies on which her life is built. The structure of the drama is similar to that of Minna Canth's contemporaries Henrik Ibsen (e.g. " A Doll's House " or " Rosmersholm "): The fateful event was years ago and catches up with those involved in the course of the plot.

swell

  1. ↑ http://www.teatteri.org/search/drama.php?id=5&language_code=en
  2. ↑ Elokuvat Minna Canthin teoksista ( Memento from January 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Minna Canth ( Memento from August 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

translation

Web links