Arto Paasilinna
Arto Paasilinna (born April 20, 1942 in Kittilä) is a Finnish author and former journalist. Jäniksen vuosi being the most successful of his books has been translated into French, Estonian, Japanese, Dutch, Catalan, English, German, Czech, Albanian, Icelandic, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Danish, Croatian, Greek, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Russian and Galician.
Arto Paasilinna is one of the most popular current-day authors in Finland, but he has also won quite a broad readership outside of Finland, in countries such as France and Germany.
Paasilinna's books reflect quite common Finnish life, usually from a middle-aged male perspective. Fast-paced, light and humorous in style, many of these narratives can be described as picaresque adventure stories with often a satirical angle towards modern life. Certain of his stories also qualify as modern myths, not least The Year of the Hare, which sets an ex-journalist's quest for authentic life and values in the Finnish backwoods against the emptiness and meaninglessness of modern consumer society. Vatanen, the hero of this novel, takes an injured young hare with him on his quest, nursing the animal back to health, while his own dissatisfaction with his former urban lifestyle becomes ever more evident.
Arto Paasilinna has been translated into French fairly extensively. There are at least half a dozen of his novels available in the Folio paperback series. His 1974 novel Paratiisisaaren Vangit appears as Prisonniers du Paradis. This book is the humorous story of a UN charter that crashes on a deserted Pacific island. The passengers are lumberjacks and other forestry workers, midwives and nurses. Like The Year of the Hare (Jäniksen Vuosi or, in French, Le lièvre de Vatanen), the narrator is a journalist. The multinational castaways (Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and English) give Paasilinna ample opportunity to poke fun at issues of language domination and national stereoptypes. The castaways set up a cashless society in which the only remuneration comes in the form of a cup of alcohol distilled in their jungle café in exchange for work for the collectivity. There is also a family planning clinic offering free IUDs. Soon, they find that they are not alone on the island and come up with a plan to get help. Paasilinna has written some 33 novels. As his publishers say, "The annual Paasilinna is as much an element of the Finnish autumn as falling birch leaves."
Paasilinna is sometimes accused of writing books that are very similar to each other, but his style of writing has kept a loyal and growing fan base strengthened by Paasilinna's many best-sellers over his long career.
Two of his novels, Lentävä kirvesmies and Rovasti Huuskosen petomainen miespalvelija were adapted to graphic novels by Hannu Lukkarinen.
The writer Erno Paasilinna and the MEP Reino Paasilinna are brothers of Arto Paasilinna.
Bibliography
- Operaatio Finlandia (1972)
- Paratiisisaaren vangit (1974)
- Jäniksen vuosi (1975)
- Onnellinen mies (1976)
- Isoisää etsimässä (1977)
- Sotahevonen (1979)
- Herranen aika (1980)
- Ulvova mylläri (1981)
- Kultainen nousukas (1982)
- Hirtettyjen kettujen metsä (1983)
- Ukkosenjumalan poika (1984)
- Parasjalkainen laivanvarustaja (1985)
- Vapahtaja Surunen (1986)
- Koikkalainen kaukaa (1987)
- Suloinen myrkynkeittäjä (1988)
- Auta armias (1989)
- Hurmaava joukkoitsemurha (1990)
- Elämä lyhyt, Rytkönen pitkä (1991)
- Maailman paras kylä (1992)
- Aatami ja Eeva (1993)
- Volomari Volotisen ensimmäinen vaimo ynnä muuta vanhaa tavaraa (1994)
- Rovasti Huuskosen petomainen miespalvelija (1995)
- Lentävä kirvesmies (1996)
- Tuomiopäivän aurinko nousee (1997)
- Hirttämättömien lurjusten yrttitarha (1998)
- Hirnuva maailmanloppu (1999)
- Ihmiskunnan loppulaukka (2000)
- Kymmenen riivinrautaa (2001)
- Yhdeksän unelmaa (2002)
- Liikemies Liljeroosin ilmalaivat (2003)
- Tohelo suojelusenkeli (2004)
- Suomalainen kärsäkirja (2005)
- Kylmät hermot, kuuma veri (2006)
- Rietas rukousmylly (2007)