FINNISH SCIENCE FICTION WRITTEN BY WOMEN
Introduction
The history of Finnish language literature is quite young. The first Finnish literary works and the
language of literary as well as the basics of the vocabulary for the country of several dialects were
formed mostly between 1840’s–1880’s. Finland, formerly being as part of Sweden and then of
Russia became independent in 1917. The independence idea was brewed by the Sweden spoken
intellectual elite, who not only supported the independence movement but often learned Finnish,
even translated their family names into Finnish form. Literature became an essential part of of the
national identity project. In the beginning Finnish literature was mostly realistic, according to the
international tendencies of the moment, which was dominated the realism and naturalism by the end
of 19th Century. This legacy of realism is still visible in Finnish literature.
The roots of Finnish science fiction are found at the end of the 19th century, when the work of Jules
Verne and Ludvig Hollberg were translated in to Finnish. The first Finnish story with evident
science fiction elements was “Muistelmia matkaltani Ruskealan pappilaan uuden vuoden aikona
vuonna 1833 (Memories from my trip to the vicarage of Ruskeala, around new year in 1983) from
Evald Ferdinand Jahnson (teacher and priest) published in the “Aura” magazine (Turku) in 1833. It
is important to remember that Finland is the third country in the world to be granted voting rights to
women. Only then we can understand why in this dystopia Jahnson fears to the growing of women's
rights. The men in this story are subordinate.
According to Jyrki Ijäs, topics covered in these early books have some elements in common with
the international science fiction, and specially describing the future, they naturally don´t arrive at
the same level of the classics of the time, but somehow represents an interesting field in Finnish
literature in general. There are many political dystopias before 1920’ not only related to increasing
women's rights, but also with the international situation, fear of the Soviet Union, back to being a
colony and later, after 1950’s about The World War III and especially a nuclear catastrophe.
Usually the future described by Finnish science fiction is pessimistic, except for books aimed at
young audiences.
In the era between the First and Second World War, were very popular "novels of engineers", i.e.
scientists and their inventions. This boom declined in the 60's. The same thing happened with the
space adventures. Most of these novels, directed both to an adult audience as a juvenile, were
written between 50’s and 60’s.
Finish Science Fiction written by women.
Just in the 40’s we can find a feminine presence in this genre. In 1947 Elsa Heporauta wrote
Seeritin rakkaudentie (Seerit´s Path of Love), in which the adventures of two pilots in the Harbu
star is narrated. For most of the critics this book is more fantasy than science fiction, because of
elements like the dragonfly wings Seerit has and the lack of description of a space travel for
example. But apparently Heporauta’s goal was to focus on life and the people of these planets.
In 1959 Terttu Pajunen-Kivekäs published Jäniksenä avaruuslaivassa (The stowaway on the
spaceship), book for a young audience. In this book the characters accidentally land on Venus
instead of the Moon (It seems that this disorientation is very common in Finnish juvenile science
fiction.) According to Jyrki Ijäs this book is very childish and simple. He thinks too many pages are
wasted in describing the Venusian animals and trying to find their names, and the narration is very
low. However is interesting to notice that those books mark the presence of women in the genre.
In the 80’s the publication of novels decreases, but several magazines appears. The first to start
publishing Finnish short stories written by Finns was Spin, a magazine of the first science fiction
society in Turky, then Aikakone (the Time Machine in 1981). The most important current
magazines are Portti (the Portal) and Tähtivaeltaja (The Star Rover). Until then, the presence of
women was not very notorious, but this situation changed. According to Johanna Sinisalo, several
factors contributed to this change. From the beginning the science fiction fandom had some very
active women included. These pioneer fans were feminist, so they saw science fiction as a very
powerful tool to discuss social power structures or “soft science” issues. Theses women were
networking actively and they shared opinions and ideas introducing new female or in other ways
interesting writers to each other.
One of these important pioneers is Leena Peltonen who died on July 5 2007. She was at first an
editor for the Portti magazine and later on, the chief editor of Aikakone magazine from 1988 to
1995. Leena Peltonen was also the active member of the early days of the Turku Science Fiction
Society and later the Tampere Science Fiction Society. She was a translator and critic of fantasy
and science fiction, and wrote many very comprehensive articles about mythology and fantasy. She
and, later on, other women editors have been supporting publishing of sf and fantasy stories of
women. This has clearly affected to awareness of young writers: there has been and there is
appreciated female writers. All these elements contributed to the increasingly large presence of
women in these magazines.
As the number of writers of short stories in magazines grew significantly, the Astronomical Society
URSA decided to hold a contest. The result was Jäinen vaeltaja: sata vuotta suomalaista
tieteiskirjallisuutta (1986, the Icy Wanderer: 100 Years of Finnish science fiction) edited by Jari
Koponen, Olavi Markkanen, Ritva Liisa Pilhjerta and Pentti Holappa. Of the 21 authors
anthologized, 9 are women. One of which, Eila Pennanen, is a renowned writer belonging to the
mainstream. URSA later published two other anthologies. In the first Tähtipuu: 33 kotimaista
tieteisnovellia (1990, The Star Tree, 33 Finnish short stories of science fiction), stand out the history
Tuli suora Sotka Lintu (The beautiful teal comes flying) from Eeva Liisa Tenhunen, whose plot is
inspired by the Kalevala. The following publication, Keskiyön mato Ikaalisissa (1991; The
midnight worm in Ikaalinen) contained short stories published in the magazine Portti during the
1980s and most of them were horror or fantasy stories. In this anthology the only science fiction
story is from the Maarit Verronen: Desierto.bas, based on a mystic computer disk.
The Science Fiction Writers Society of Finland (since 2011 the Scien ce Fiction and Fantasy
Writers Society), also held a contest and published the anthology Atoroxin perilliset: parhaita
suomalaisia tieteiskertomuksia in 1988) (The Heirs of Atorox: The Best Finnish Science Fiction
writers) edited by Pekka Supinen, Harri Haarikko, Raimo Nikkonen, Leena Peltonen and Ritva
Liisa Pilhjerta. A part of the stories arising from the contest that year, the anthology contained
texts from a competition organized by the Science Fiction Society of Tampere and the winning
stories from annual Atorox prize for the year’s best short story. Among the authors are Eija Elo
(winner in 1983 with Napoleonin vaihtoviikot – Napoleon’s bartering weeks) and Johanna Sinisalo
(winner in 1985 with Suklaalaput - Chocolate slips).
The Rural Cultural Association also held a contest in 1991 whose theme was the future. The result
was, according to Jyrki Ijäs, an abundance of texts with a lot of clichés and a pessimistic vision of
the future. One of the honorable mentions was for Johanna Sinisalo for Illan tähti yksinäinen
(Twinkle, twinkle, little star), a poetically constructed space history that stand out from the others.
Interestingly when they decided to publish an anthology of this contest they selected Sinisalo’s
work as title for the book instead of picking the winning title story.
During the 1990's some memorable novels were published, but above the anthologies were most in
number. According to Anne Leinonen, this is because short stories are traditionally preferred by the
Finish authors in general:"Finnish writers are doing an art apart from the short fiction. "
Maarit Verronen, a respected mainstream writer, published in 1992 Älä maksa lautturille (Do not
pay the ferry man). The book is divided into two parts. The first contains 9 stories, among which
Valaat ja albatrossit (whales and albatrosses) a sci-fi tale in which a group of people make a boat
trip in the middle of a war where biological and chemical weapons are used. It is a metaphor for the
relationship between man and nature. The second part of the book consists of seven stories about
Silverspitze. Those stories are characterized by a mix of science fiction and fantasy, with a slight
incline to the latter. The stories cover a long period of time and have about an immortal man, Peter
Urd, who lives in the mountains Silverpitze. Verronen´s novel Yksinäinen Vuori (The Lonely
Mountain, 1995) is the prequel to this series and talks about the youth of Peter Urd. But the novel
does not reach the literary quality of the stories. According to Jyrki Ijäs, it lacks of fluency and texts
are heavy; excess of words and unimportant details make then hard to read. Despite of these flaws
the novel was nominated for the Finland award, the most important national literary prize.
In his next book, Verronen go back to the stories. Viimeinen lapsitähti (The last child star, 1994)
contains thirteen stories- Characteristic for her she mixes elements of fantasy and sci-fi, but realist
description has also an important role in this book. The only completely science fiction story in this
book is Erämaat (Deserts) which takea place five years after the events narrated in the story
Desierto.bas. In this sequel, the main character is hired to monitor and review a Desierto disc. As in
the previous story, the character is able to escape from reality in the desert created by the computer.
As for young adult literature, there are some outstanding books of this time. Ovi toiseen maailmaan
(1989, A door into another world) from Marja-Leena Mikkola, and Panssarimyyrä (The Armored
Mole, 1991) from Ritva Toivola. The latter is a book of eight stories, mostly fantasy, but containing
some science fiction stories, too. The topics include ecology and nature, especially animal world.
The title story tells about a girl with vision about the world one hundred years in the future. The
story Maailman paras flunssalääke (The Best Flu Medicine in the World) is about the inhabitants of
a remote planet who comes to Earth to take apples to cure their flu.
Salaisuuksia (Secret, 1992) from Leena Krohn is a fairy tales book that won the Topelius prize (The
most important prize for children literature in Finland). The stories are enjoyable both children and
adults. The story Mare Serenitatis contains elements of science fiction: it tells about the narrator's
aunt who has decided to live on the moon, although travels to this satellite are no longer
fashionable. Because of this the Earth decides to blow the satellite that is no longer useful. As a
result, the human race is facing terrible problems. Leena Krohn not only writes fantasy and is one of
the most prominent writers in Finland today. It is widely considered that of all the Finnish writers
belonging to the mainstream that also write fantasy literature, she is the most respected.
A bit more than 50% of fantasy and sci-fi literature in Finland is written by women. And it is not
necessarily children's literature, like in other languages like Spanish. The Finlandia prize awarded to
Johanna Sinisalo in 2000 for her novel Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi (Not before Sundown. Peter
Owen Publishers; London-2003), opened the doors of the high literature mainstream critics to the
fantasy and science fiction writers. After Sinisalo’s award, even some traditional authors started
including fantasy elements into their text, in a way that is very near the Latin American magical
realism.
Nowadays mixing genres is rather common in Finnish literature in general and in fantastic literature
in particular. It is difficult to classify a book as pure fantasy or science fiction as they generally
have both elements. Many books are on the borderline of literature and the mainstream. This may
be due to editorial reasons: it is easy to disguise the fantastic elements from the public and critics.
For example, in all Maarit Verronen’s books there is a strange atmosphere close to the fantasy and
science fiction. The novel Kylmien saarten soturi, (The Soldier of the Cold Island; 2001) talks about
the end of an endless war. While not exactly fantasy or science fiction, the elements in the text are
very close to the genre. Vuokko Tolonen admits that when writing her novel Tampereen Ilmasto
(The Tampere Climate, 1997), she did not plan to write a science fiction novel, but the book simply
came up that way. According to Pasi Karppanen a special kind of story has developed in Finnish
literature. These stories take place in Finland every day, where elements and mysterious events
occur suddenly. This is not science fiction or fantasy or horror and yet has something of everything.
This one is another characteristic of contemporary Finish fantasy and science fiction: to put strange
details or plotlines in "normal" Finnish everyday life and gradually make the world become strange.
It is mostly women who by choice are not interested in making this genre differentiation. In the
story Viikonloppu Maalla (A weekend in the country, 2006) by Irma Hirsjärvi, is described a
situation where the human race is a slave to aliens. The character is looking forward to the weekend
spent with two of the captors. It is never reveals the nature of them so we cannot define whether it is
a text of science fiction or fantasy. It could be extraterrestrial beings or supernatural ones.
One characteristic of Finnish science fiction is that, with certain exceptions, hard science fiction is
not a favorite of writers, especially of women. Most books talk about sociological problems. The
dystopia is widely used. A good example is the work of Leena Krohn. In the novel Pereat Mundus
(1998) she raises several issues like virtual reality and its consequences in humans, cryonics, and
sects. In her collection Sfinksi vai Robotti (Sphinx or robot; 1999) she talks about the philosophical
question of proving that we are not in a dream. In her novel Datura, Krohn discusses the
relationship between illusion/delusion and reality through the editor of a paranormal magazine
called the New Anomalist. This man has the habit of eating datura as a medicine.
So-called soft science fiction is in common. Favorites theme for female writers are sex and gender
issues, the role of women in society and family, and even the role of female sexuality and its
various options. In the story Toisinkainen (The Otherlin), Atorox prize winner in 2007, Anne
Leinonen realizes a reflections about the meaning of being subjugate, analyzing the relationship
between "master" and "slave" through a male character and another which it sexual identity is
actually difficult to define, but whose characteristics are traditionally associated with the feminine
ones.
Regarding the influence of the Kalevala, some writers accept it openly, while others don’t agree
completely: In Irma Hirsjärvi opinion: “In recent years the issues of national culture are increasing
but still very little is produced.” Anne Leinonen says “Perhaps the roots of the Kalevala are not so
obvious, but we use our traditions in the genre, trying to find a Finnish way of writing.” As a
foreigner what I notice is that the opinions are quite similar. It seems to be just a matter of
definition: what for some is the Kalevala, for other it is not about that, but rather topics or character
of national folklore.
Another of the most notorious characteristics of Finnish fantastic literature is the characterobserver. Indeed, it is very difficult to find among contemporary texts -both from men and womena true hero, Hollywood style. Most seem to be it by chance and become the center of the story not
for its specific qualities, but rather for being in the appropriate time and place. Neither they are the
typical anti-heroes, who discover their hidden potential as the plot advances. In the Finnish texts,
the main character is left with its flaws and limitations from beginning to end of history. Krohn’s
Datura's character is a journalist frustrated not only because of his frail health, but for the characters
he must treats daily. He works as an editor of a pseudo-scientific and sensationalist publication as
"collaborators" whose daily interviews arouse despair but contempt. Mikael, Sinisalo’s main
character in Ennen Päivänlaskua ei voi, is a young gay photographer who one day finds a young
troll on the garbage and secretly decides to take care of him. The consequences of this act put him
into several involuntary experiences that change his life completely. Melancholy is another
characteristic of these characters.
The novels are closer to science fiction when written for adult and fantasy when written for children
and young adults. In the “adult literature” we can even find some speculative fiction texts. Vuokko
Tolonen’s novel Tampereen Ilmasto (The weather in Tampere, 1997), describes a world in which
the EU has absorbed all nations, creating a violent atmosphere around the planet. All the characters
try to survive in their own way, especially Irma, who lives among the wretched wanderers who have
managed to evade the system.
In the young adult literature stand out Leena Laulajainen, Anu Holopainen, Ritva Toivola (who
cultivates the humor in his writing) and Marja Luukkonen, whose book Aarnilinnun tytär (Tap
Daughter, 2001) is a good example of this mixture of genres in Finnish fantastic literature. Valtteri
lives with a computer that examines his homework, a door controlling his exits and entrances, one
active super automatic washing machine and a vacuum cleaner. Each of these machines has its own
personality and makes decisions for themselves but cannot replace Valtteri’s parents. In a society
that is between the technological and the agricultural society, the young boy lives happy enough
even though his father lives in another city, teaching good manners to pigs and that his mother fly
from one place to another on the planet dictating conference after conference.
In the short stories, the themes are closer to the fantasy: Among those who excel in hem are: Viivi
Hyvönen, and the winners of the PORTTI contest: AC Ross, Jenny Kangasvuo, Susi Vaasjoki and
winner of Nova-contest: Natalia Laurila. As Anne Leinonen describes the situation: “Finns, we are
doing a special art form of short story. North American writers for example, make long stories with
many details, with a close end and almost as movies. Finns tend to write shorter stories that end
abruptly or are open ended.”
Whether the question is about short story or novel, the writing product must satisfy high standards.
Anne Leinonen explains: “"Our novels are very different from other (SciFi novels), perhaps
because this genre is not very popular yet and it is difficult to make accept a science fiction
manuscript to a publisher. Our novels should have a high literary value which means that we must
often disguise of science fiction in some way. Our science fiction cannot be pure entertainment-type
space opera, we must have something important to say at the same time." Irma Hirsjärvi has a
similar opinion: "Now more than ever in Finnish literature themes and motifs of fantasy and science
fiction are intertwined. Even more, for example ecological science fiction dystopias are seen as
"mainstream motives and advertised as such. But science fiction literature is still written and
criticized many times by people connected to the fandom, the people of the mainstream are rarely
interested in it. If they do, they carefully avoid using the term science fiction.”
Despite complaints from writers about how difficult it is to publish these genre books, of the tricks
they must use to achieve this, a few sales in a country of only 5 million inhabitants, science Finnish
science fiction written by women is doing quite well, when compared to the situation in other
languages such as Spanish. Hopefully it will soon be out of their borders, as happened with the
Sinisalo’s Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi. Readers will appreciate it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
BOOKS:
SINISALO, Johanna: Editor. The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy. Translated by David Hackston.
Dedalus, Cambs; 2005
SINISALO, Johanna. Jamais avant le coucher du soleil. Actes Sud. Arles; 2003
ARTICLES:
ILJÄS, Jyrki: The history of Finnish science fiction books. Portti, special English issue. Tampere;
2003
ESKOLA, Kanerva: Profound speculations, mainstream appreciation and humour- Finnish science
fiction literature at the turn of the millennium. Portti, special English issue. Tampere; 2003
IN INTERNET:
USVA INTERNACIONAL: www.usvazine.net
Information about science fiction in general:
http://kosmoskyna.net/Arkisto/2003/2003-02/Finnish.html
http://koti.mbnet.fi/pasenka/kirjallisuus/a-fandom.htm
THANKS TO
Irma Hirsjärvi
Anne Leinonen
Johanna Sinisalo