Mika Waltari

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Mika Waltari 1935

Mika Toimi Waltari  [ ˈmikɑ ˈvɑltɑri ] (born September 19, 1908 in Helsinki ; † August 26, 1979 there ) was one of the most successful writers in Finland . His works have been translated into more than 30 languages. Please click to listen!Play

Life

Mika Waltari 1928

Mika Waltari was born in Helsinki in 1908 to the Lutheran pastor and teacher Toimi Armas Waltari and his wife Olga Maria Johansson. In 1912 the family moved to Mikkeli for two years , where Toimi Waltari wrote several novels and children's books, including the book Unohdettuja (1912), which was based on his experience as a prison chaplain. Shortly after returning to Helsinki, Toimi Waltari passed away at the age of 32 when Mika was five. He and his two brothers were raised by his mother, who worked as a civil servant, and his two uncles, the theologian Toivo Waltari and the engineer Jalo Sihtola. In 1926 Mika Waltari graduated from Helsingin Suomalainen Normaalilyseo and began studying theology at the University of Helsinki at the request of his mother , but soon turned to literary studies and philosophy , from which he graduated in 1929.

He then worked as a journalist , translator and literary critic . In 1925 he published his first own literary work. From 1938 he worked as a freelance writer. He wrote poetry, short stories ( A stranger came to the court ) and detective novels ( Commissioner Palmu ), some of which he published under the pseudonyms Leo Arne, Kristian Korppi, Leo Rainio and Mikael Ritvala . From 1957 he was a member of the Finnish Academy. 1970, he was from the University of Turku the honorary doctorate awarded. Mika Waltari was buried in the Hietaniemi cemetery.

Best known are his historical novels, for each of which he conducted an intensive source study. He achieved global success with Sinuhe the Egyptian , a novel about the eventful life of an Egyptian doctor at the time of Pharaoh Akhenaten , which was filmed in 1954 with Edmund Purdom and Victor Mature .

Waltari's literary style is characterized by a combination of sobriety, melancholy and subtle humor. Characteristic of his works is a seemingly simple, plain language that refrains from impressing the reader with embellishments and which can be all the more effective in its effect because of this. The recurring topic is the fatefulness of human existence and the question of religious knowledge.

In 2008 the Ateneum hosted a large exhibition in honor of Mika Waltaris, which presented contemporary painters; such as Yrjö Saarinen, Eemu Myntti, Mauno Markkula, Aimo Kanerva etc., who were important representatives of Finnish painting in his day. In October 2000, the Finnish Mika Waltari Society (Finnish: Mika Waltari -seura ) was founded in Helsinki , with the aim of presenting the writer's life and work to the public and promoting academic engagement with the author. A complete catalog of the author's works as well as a bibliography of the foreign language translations of his works are available on their website.

The Finnish rock band Waltari was named after him, and the asteroid (4266) Waltari was named after the writer.

German translations

Almost all German translations of Waltari's novels and stories, which were particularly successful on the German book market from the 1950s to the 1970s, were not made from the Finnish original, but via bridging languages, usually Swedish or English. The German translation of Sinuhe Egyptiläinen (Sinuhe the Egyptians) by Charlotte Lilius is based on the slightly shortened Swedish translation by Ole Torvalds , which was slightly shortened when it was translated into German. The novels Mikael Karvajalka (Michael the Finn) and its sequel Mikael Hakim (The Renegade of the Sultan) were translated from English by Ernst Doblhofer , the English translations in turn being based on Swedish translations of the novels and the novels accepting more abbreviations from translation to translation had to. Doblhofer's German translation by Mikael Karvajalka has been shortened by around 40 percent compared to the Finnish original. It was only in 2013 that Kübler Verlag began to publish several historical novels of Waltaris for the first time in full translations from Finnish, and in autumn 2014 the Cologne publisher Bastei Lübbe published the first unabridged German translation of the novel Sinuhe der Egyptter, which can be traced back directly to the Finnish original out (translator: Andreas Ludden ).

Works (selection)

Historical novels

Other works

  • 1936: City of Sorrows and Joys ( Suuri illusioni ), German translation by Rita Öhquist , Wuppertal 1948
  • 1937: The stranger / a stranger came to the farm ( Vieras mies tuli taloon )
  • 1940: Commissioner Palmu ( Komisario Palmun erehdys )
  • 1943: Fine van Brooklyn , German translation by Andreas Ludden, Lampertheim 2014
  • 1947: The Paris tie ( Pariisilaissolmio ), German translation by Andreas Ludden, Lampertheim 2014
  • 1949: Before nightfall ( Neljä päivänlaskua ), German translation from English by Elfriede Wagner , Vienna 1955
  • 1953: Kuun maisema
  • 1962: Tähdet kertovat, komisario Palmu!

literature

  • Ritva Haavikko: Kirjailijan muistelmia . Toimittanut Ritva Haavikko. WSOY, 1980.
  • Ritva Haavikko: Mika Waltari - mielikuvituksen jättiläinen . WSOY, 1982.
  • Paavo Rissanen: Valtakunnan illuusio. Uskonnollinen kokemus ja ajattelu Mika Waltarin tuotannossa . Helsinki 1982
  • Markku Envall: Suuri illusionisti: Mika Waltarin romaanit . WSOY, 1994.
  • Matthias Quaschning-Kirsch: Mika Waltaris self-talk with Nikolaus von Kues , in: K. Fitschen / R. Staats: Basic Concepts of Christian Aesthetics , Wiesbaden 1997, 151–161
  • Panu Rajala: Noita palaa Näyttämölle. Mika Waltari parrasvaloissa . WSOY, 1998
  • Juri Nummelin: Unohdettu Waltari . BTJ, 2008.
  • Ritva Haavikko: Mika Waltari, sananvalloittaja . WSOY, 2008.
  • Risto Lindstedt, Reijo Vahtokari: Mika Waltari: Muukalainen maailmassa . WSOY, 2007.
  • Panu Rajala: Unio mystica: Mika Waltarin elämä ja teokset . WSOY, 2008.

Web links

Commons : Mika Waltari  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hietaniemi Cemetery: MERKITTÄVIÄ VAINAJIA , page 21. (PDF; 552 kB)
  2. ↑ Mika Waltarin keräilijäa tietolipas
  3. ↑ Mika Waltarin teosten käännökset
  4. ↑ On the problem of translations via bridging languages ​​and the associated shortening of Waltari's historical novels, cf. the editor's afterword in the new translation by Mikael Karvajalka (Michael the Finne) by Andreas Ludden in Kübler Verlag, Lampertheim 2013, pp. 857 ff ( ISBN 978-3-86346-067-9 )
personal data
SURNAME Waltari, Mika
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Waltari, Mika Toimi (full name); Arne, Leo (pseudonym); Korppi, Kristian (pseudonym); Rainio, Leo (pseudonym); Ritvala, Mikael (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Helsinki
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 1979
Place of death Helsinki