Ilmari Kianto

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Finnish stamp issue for the 100th birthday of Ilmari Kianto (1974)

Ilmari Kianto (born May 7, 1874 in Pulkkila , † April 27, 1970 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish writer who lamented the lot of the rural poor, whom he also adored. Admittedly an enemy of the church, he was close to the religiosity of Tolstoy , with whom he also exchanged letters. When he died (at the age of 95) at the same age as prestige, the follower of polygamy left almost 70 books and 12 children behind .

life and work

The son of the evangelical pastor Calamnius studied philosophy and literature in Helsinki and Moscow . After a short army service, he had abandoned a military career, which was reflected in his first book, the novel Väärällä Uralla (The Wrong Path) , published in 1897 . After finishing his studies (1903) Kianto was. as he called himself now, initially as a teacher and journalist in the city of Kajaani , from 1909 as a freelance writer in Suomussalmi . He also translated works by Pushkin , Lermontov , Goncharov and Tolstoy.

He presented an attack against the elite and especially the clergy of the country in 1908 with the novel Pyhä viha . Influences from Émile Zola , Georg Brandes and Björnstjerne Björnson were revealed here . Kianto was friends with the writer Arvid Järnefelt , a Tolstoy fanatic like himself. He advocated "polygamy" in 1917 in the novel Aviolitto . His first marriage, signed in 1904, had meanwhile broken down. In total, he married three times. In 1912 he moved into a new large house built for him on Lake Kianta , called Turjanlinna (Turja's Castle). While he got to know Germany and Switzerland in 1910, he traveled through Russian Karelia in 1914 and wrote a book about his impressions.

The red line

Kianto's novels Punainen viiva (The Red Line, 1909) and Ryysyrannan Jooseppi (Joseph vom Lumpenstrand, 1924) received the most attention . Both address rural poverty in northern Finland. The background of the first-mentioned book, which is rather poor in action, is the newly granted universal suffrage. The hero of the second book is a slacker and smuggler who has too many children. Kianto treated these “distant relatives” of Rousseau's noble savage with humorous indulgence and punishing severity at the same time. “Jooseppi is well aware that God is not on his side. In the end he is killed by a falling tree. "

The 1930s bothered Kianto especially with annoyance at his various wives and children. The war followed in 1939/40 . When the 65-year-old narrator evades the approaching Russians, he leaves a note on the kitchen table for them, saying that they should spare his house, after all, he once studied in Russia. There would be an orphaned island nearby, as well as a remote summer house - it belonged to Kianto's pious sister Aina. The Russians did not penetrate as far as Kianto's “castle” on the lake, but he was temporarily jailed for treason. Kianto reported on this self-inflicted test in 1948 in his book Omat koirat purivat ( Our own dogs have bitten).

As the last mistress of the "castle", which had been rebuilt several times, Kianto married Ella Mirjam ( Mirkku ) Lähteinen in 1956. Until then, the polygamist had been content with several “secretaries”, some of whom are said to have even mastered the use of a typewriter.

German editions

  • The red line. Roman, Dresden 1920 and Leipzig 1957

A detailed catalog of works can be found at Petri Liukkonen.

literature

  • Vihtori Laurila: Ilmari Kianto. 1944
  • Elli Tompuri (Ed.): Voices from Finland. 1947
  • Unto Kupiainen: Huumorin sukupolvi. 1954
  • Uolevi Kianto: Saat kertoa kaiken, sanoi Iki-Kianto. 1967
  • Hannes Sihvo: Ilmari Kianto yes Vienan Karjala. 1969
  • Jaakko Ahokas: A History of Finnish Literature. 1973
  • Juhani Niemi: Kansanrakastaja vai kansanvihollinen. 1978
  • Uolevi Kianto: Tervetuloa kotiin, Iki. 1978
  • Maria-Liisa Nevala: Ilmari Kianto: Anarkisti yes himisyyden puolustaja. Helsinki 1986
  • George C. Schoolfield (Ed.): A History of Finland's Literature. 1998

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Petri Liukkonen 2008 , accessed on November 24, 2011, emphasizes, however, that in contrast to Maila Talvio , Kianto had by no means glorified the farmers.
  2. ↑ Both were also filmed for the first time in 1959 and 1955. Punaainen viiva also served Aulis Sallinen in 1978 as a template for an opera that is still performed.
  3. ↑ Ekkehard Pluta 2010 , accessed November 24, 2011
  4. ^ War in Suomussalmi , accessed November 24, 2011
  5. ↑ It was made into a film in 1974.

Web links

Commons : Ilmari Kianto  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Kianto, Ilmari
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Suomussalmi
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 1970
Place of death Helsinki