Väinö Linna

Väinö Linna (* 20. December 1920 in Urjala; † 21. April 1992 in Tampere) was one of the most well-known Finnish authors 20. Century. Its most well-known work the unknown soldier or “cross in Karelien “(Finnish original title: “Tuntematon sotilas”) appeared 1954.

lives

Väinö Linna was born in a small village in west Finland than child of Viktor (cattle tori) Linna (1874-1927) and Johanna Maria (Maija) Linna (1888-1972). To the training it went into the industrial city Tampere and worked there as a simple mechanic in a textile mill. 1940 it was called up into the army and was among other things used in the Finnish-Soviet continuation war as an NCO. Already during the war it made recordings and wrote later in its spare time its experiences down in this time. Its third novel, which itself with these war experiences busy, became so its most well-known book. After its literary success it lived as free lance writers.

further ones of works

in its Romantrilogie “here under the polar star” (Finnish original title: "" Täällä Pohjantähden alla ", 1959-62) describe the history of three generations of the small farmer family Koskela to Linna between 1884 and 1950. Here it processes also new aspects of Finnish contemporary history. In the life predominantly described in the novel small rural communities sharpen themselves the class differences during the Finnish civil war. Further the always-lasting fight against forces of nature is described, which coin/shape the life. This work was filmed just like “crosses for Karelien” and produced as play.

style

Linnas of works rank among social realism. Contrary to other Finnish colleagues, who wrote due to the small potential readership in their homeland on Swedish, Linna wrote its books in the native language.

trivia

up to the introduction of the euro in Finland it was shown on the 20 Finnmark - note.