Customer Reviews (1)

A peek into history
This book describes the harshness of late 19th and early 20th century life on a farm, especially for a crofter. It's a good story of a simple man dealing with the harshness of the climate, the culture, and politics of the era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Absolutely breathtaking!
Several vignettes of various lives taken from a seemingly magical summer eve in a masterfully described Finland countryside. This ain't no ordinary prose! While reading this book, I experienced emotions usually felt whilelistening to my favorite music, looking at a desert sunset or drinking afine nut-brown ale. The words jump off the page, straight into your mindand create the most vivid, colourful images imaginable. Track down a copyof this book, it's definately a masterpiece! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not the equal of "People in the Summer Night"
I'm just not sure what to make of this book.After reading "People in the Summer Night" a number of years ago, I have been looking long and hard for another book by Frans Sillanpaa.I was very elated to be able to find this one on Amazon.com and looked forward to reading it.However, it was not the stirring novel that the other one was.

Part of the problem with "The Maid Silja" is that it is hard to get a good grasp on the purpose of the novel.The author essentitally says he is telling us about the last member of a long family tree.We get a brief glimpse of the first of three generations, a longer look at the second, and about half of the book is dedicated to the third generation; Silja.There are many passages in the book that flow along very well but then seem to look for a reason to switch gears.There is a fascinating look at the son of a fairly well-to-do farmer who marries below his station.The way his in-laws gradually drag him under is well told and may be especially interesting to those who "can relate".The transition of Silja from a young girl to a working girl is also touchingly rendered.The beauty of a father's love; often implied but seldom expressed, is well written.Somehow, as I moved along in the book, I kept wondering why things had to change.The departure of Silja from the professor's home was something I was never able to fully understand.Yet the scene of her return was probably worth the whole book.It was a "You can't go home again" scenario with the added proviso; "Not even for a day".After getting an interesting glimpse of the politics of Finland in what I presumed to be the 1920's, the end draws near.What puzzled me at the end was the message that the author left us with in a mere paragraph.It was an excellent message but I didn't think that the book had served as a laboratory that proved the theory.In others words, the book didn't seem to illustrate what the author's point was at the end.

Some years ago I saw a brief trivia questionaire about the Nobel Prize for Literature.The question I remembered was, "Was the Nobel Prize for Literature ever awarded for purely political reasons?".The answer was "Yes" and that it happened in 1939 when the Academy was so incensed over the Soviet Union's invasion of little old Finland that it awarded the prize to a run of the mill Finnish writer named Frans Sillanpaa.I was incensed when I read that because, after having read "People in the Summer Night", I was convinced that Sillanpaa possessed a genius for writing.After reading "The Maid Silja", I'm rethinking that opinion.

The Maid Silja
A novel by Finnish writer Frans Sillanpaa, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1939, The Maid Silja portrays the simple story of a young girl and her growth to womanhood.Sillanpaa captures the imagery of Finland's natural setting and the overwhelming romantic emotions of an innocent young woman during a turbulent period in Finland's history. It is reminiscent of another Scandanavian book, Kristin Lavransdatter,which similarly has central to its story the deep-seated feelings daughters have for their fathers, and the tumultuous changes this relationship undergoes as they mature. ... Read more

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This digital document, covering the life and work of Frans Eemil Sillanpaa, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1970 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Mika Waltari, Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Juhani Aho, Arto Paasilinna, Tove Jansson, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Pentti Haanpää, Pentii Haanpää, Armas Launis, Björn Kurtén, Ior Bock, Zacharias Topelius, Julius Krohn, Johannes Linnankoski, Aleksis Kivi, Ilkka Remes, Matti Yrjänä Joensuu, Väinö Linna, Paavo Haavikko, Pentti Holappa, Simo Puupponen, Elias Lönnrot, Mitro Repo, Bo Carpelan, Uma Aaltonen, Mauri Kunnas, Joel Lehtonen, Liste D'écrivains Finlandais par Ordre Alphabétique, Marko Kitti, Jari Tervo, Ole Torvalds, Outi Alanne. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Arto Paasilinna est un écrivain finlandais, de langue finnoise, né le 20 avril 1942 à Kittilä en Laponie finlandaise. Il est l'auteur de nombreux romans (35 fin 2009) qui ont été traduits en plus de 27 langues (dont 13 en français mi-2010). Il écrit aussi pour le cinéma, la radio et la télévision. Paasilinna est, avec Mika Waltari, un des écrivains finlandais les plus connus dans le monde. Reino Paasilinna, député européen, est son frère. Arto Paasilinna est né en 1942 dans un camion, en plein exode ; sa famille, fuyant la guerre, est chassée vers la Norvège, puis la Suède et la Laponie finlandaise. Paasilinna - qui signifie en finnois "forteresse de pierre" - est un nom inventé par son père, né Gullstén, pour "finniser", comme beaucoup de Finlandais, un patronyme à consonance suédoise (à l'instar des personnes inspirée par le mouvement fennomane). Les circonstances de sa naissance et les premières années de sa vie ont fait dire à Paasilinna : "J'ai connu quatre états différents dans ma prime jeunesse. La fuite est devenue une constante dans mes récits, mais il y a quelque chose de positif dans la fuite, si avant il y a eu combat". Dès l'âge de tr...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Chapters: Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Martti Ahtisaari, Ragnar Granit. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 25. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (pronounced ) (born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, former President of Finland (1994-2000), 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and United Nations diplomat and mediator, noted for his international peace work. Ahtisaari was a UN Special Envoy at the Kosovo status process negotiations, aimed at resolving a long-running dispute in Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. In October 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts". The Nobel statement said that Ahtisaari has played a prominent role in resolving many conflicts in Namibia, Indonesia, Kosovo and Iraq, among other areas. Martti Ahtisaari was born in Viipuri, Finland (now Vyborg, Russia). His father, Oiva Ahtisaari (whose grandfather Julius Marenius Adolfsen had emigrated with his parents to Finland in 1872 from Tistedalen in southern Norway) took Finnish citizenship in 1929 and changed his surname from Adolfsen in 1937. The Continuation War (World War II) took Martti's father to the Eastern Front as a non-commissioned officer army mechanic, while his mother, Tyyne, moved to Kuopio with her son to escape immediate danger from the war. Kuopio was where Ahtisaari spent most of his childhood and first attended school "Kuopion Lyseo". In 1952, Martti Ahtisaari moved to Oulu with his family to seek employment. There he continued his education in a well-known high school "Oulun Lyseo" (among its former students are two other presidents of Finland: Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg and Kyösti Kallio) and graduated in 1952. He also...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=164603 ... Read more

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Chapters: Finnish-Language Poets, Finnish-Language Writers, Tapio Rautavaara, Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Mika Waltari, Arto Paasilinna, Pentti Linkola, Spede Pasanen, Vexi Salmi, Paavo Haavikko, Pentti Saarikoski, Kalle Päätalo, Kirsi Kunnas, Eino Leino, Sinikka Laine, Laila Hirvisaari, Risto Isomäki, Paula Vesala, Timo K. Mukka, Reino Helismaa, Antti Puhakka, Juha Vainio, Antti Tuuri, Arto Salminen, Pentti Haanpää, Hannu Mäkelä. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 84. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Acerbi (Italy)1994 The Year of the HareUNESCO Collection1994 The Year of the Hare Arto Tapio Paasilinna (born 20 April 1942 in Kittilä) is a Finnish writer, being a former journalist turned comic novelist. One of the most successful novelists of Finland, he has won a broad readership outside of Finland in a way few other Finnish authors have before. Translated into 27 languages, over seven million copies of his books have been sold worldwide, and he has been claimed as "instrumental in generating the current level of interest in books from Finland". Paasilinna is best known for his 1975 novel The Year of the Hare (Jäniksen vuosi), a best-seller in France and Finland, translated into 18 languages, awarded three international prizes, and adapted twice into feature films. Arto Paasilinna's brothers are authors Erno Paasilinna, Reino Paasilinna and Mauri Paasilinna. Arto Paasilinna was born on 20 April 1942 in the Alakylä part of the municipality of Kittilä, in Lapland, Finland. His parents were Väinö Paasilinna (19021950, born Gullstén, changed his surname in 1934 after a family conflict) and Hilda-Maria Paasilinna (19081983, born Niva). The Paasilinna's had seven children, five sons and two daughters, including the writer Erno Paasilinna; the author, MEP and TV personality Reino Paasilinna; t...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1647525 ... Read more

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Chapters: Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Edith Södergran, Johanna Sinisalo, Arvid Mörne, Paavo Haavikko, Leena Krohn, Uuno Kailas, Umayya Abu-Hanna, Marita Lindquist, Jörn Donner, Joel Lehtonen, Ilkka Tuomi, Lauri Honko, Ilkka Remes, Paavo Susitaival, Tommy Tabermann, Rakel Liekki, S. Albert Kivinen, Jyrki Hämäläinen, Kirsti Paltto, Juhani Aho, Anni Sinnemäki, Sami Garam, Risto Isomäki, Mauri Kunnas, Onni Palaste, Reijo Mäki, Aino Kallas, Riitta Uosukainen, Martti Haavio, Kjell Westö, Kai Linnilä, Kati-Claudia Fofonoff, Matti Yrjänä Joensuu, Lau Nau, Björn Kurtén, Martti Löfberg, Rabbe Enckell, Timo K. Mukka, Yrjö Kokko, Irmelin Sandman Lilius, Stefan Hammarén, Hans Aslak Guttorm, Outi Alanne, Simo Puupponen, Johannes Linnankoski, Matti Kuusi, Pedar Jalvi, Aale Tynni, Rauni Magga Lukkari, Aleksi Bardy, Ilmari Susiluoto, Seppo Jokinen, Anna-Leena Härkönen, Tommi Liimatta, Veijo Meri, Peter Nyman, Alexis Kouros, Inger-Mari Aikio-Arianaick, Runar Schildt, Rosa Liksom, Meri Utrio, Lauri Viljanen, Erno Paasilinna, Viljo Kajava, Lauri Soininen, Anja Kauranen, Antti Tuuri, Kimmo Lehtonen, Bo Carpelan, Arto Salminen, Pentti Haanpää, Jukka Kajava, Pentti Holappa, Benedict Zilliacus, Leena Lehtolainen, Wallu, Toni Jerrman, Ulla Aartomaa, Gustaf Von Numers, Matti Rönkä, Mark Levengood, Katri Vala, Tuula Kallioniemi, Ilmari Kianto, Jarl Hemmer, Risto Rasa, Axel Gabriel Sjöström, Saima Harmaja, Pelle Miljoona, Kristian Smeds, Juha Ruusuvuori, Kaarlo Bergbom, Minttu Mustakallio, Roman Schatz, Aarne Haapakoski, Leena Lander, Tuija Lehtinen, Arto Melleri, Kira Poutanen, Volter Kilpi, Urho Karhumäki, Kari Aartoma, Walter de Camp, Paavo Cajander, Karin Smirnov, Gösta Ågren, Aatto S., Reko Lundán, Veikko Ennala, Elmer Diktonius, Yrjö Soini. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 266. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerp...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=308076 ... Read more

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Chapters: Finnish-Language Poets, Finnish-Language Writers, Tapio Rautavaara, Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Mika Waltari, Arto Paasilinna, Pentti Linkola, Spede Pasanen, Vexi Salmi, Paavo Haavikko, Pentti Saarikoski, Kalle Päätalo, Kirsi Kunnas, Eino Leino, Sinikka Laine, Laila Hirvisaari, Risto Isomäki, Paula Vesala, Timo K. Mukka, Reino Helismaa, Antti Puhakka, Juha Vainio, Antti Tuuri, Arto Salminen, Pentti Haanpää, Hannu Mäkelä. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 84. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Acerbi (Italy)1994 The Year of the HareUNESCO Collection1994 The Year of the Hare Arto Tapio Paasilinna (born 20 April 1942 in Kittilä) is a Finnish writer, being a former journalist turned comic novelist. One of the most successful novelists of Finland, he has won a broad readership outside of Finland in a way few other Finnish authors have before. Translated into 27 languages, over seven million copies of his books have been sold worldwide, and he has been claimed as "instrumental in generating the current level of interest in books from Finland". Paasilinna is best known for his 1975 novel The Year of the Hare (Jäniksen vuosi), a best-seller in France and Finland, translated into 18 languages, awarded three international prizes, and adapted twice into feature films. Arto Paasilinna's brothers are authors Erno Paasilinna, Reino Paasilinna and Mauri Paasilinna. Arto Paasilinna was born on 20 April 1942 in the Alakylä part of the municipality of Kittilä, in Lapland, Finland. His parents were Väinö Paasilinna (19021950, born Gullstén, changed his surname in 1934 after a family conflict) and Hilda-Maria Paasilinna (19081983, born Niva). The Paasilinna's had seven children, five sons and two daughters, including the writer Erno Paasilinna; the author, MEP and TV personality Reino Paasilinna; t...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1647525 ... Read more

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Chapters: Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Arvo Tuominen, Paavo Yrjölä, Matti Yrjölä. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 18. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Arvo "Poika" Tuominen (18941981) was a Finnish Communist revolutionary and later a social democratic journalist and politician. Tuominen was given his nickname Poika in 1920 because of his boyish lookspoika means "boy" in Finnish. Tuominen was born in 1894 in Kuotila (part of Hämeenkyrö) to the family of a rural carpenter. In 1912 he moved to Tampere to become a carpenter's apprentice and soon joined the Social Democratic Party of Finland. During the Finnish Civil War in early 1918, Tuominen sided with the Finnish Red Guards and edited Kansan lehti, a radical social democratic newspaper in Tampere. After the Red Guards were defeated in May 1918, Tuominen and several other radical social democratic leaders fled to Russia, where they split from the mainstream of Finnish Social Democratic Party and founded the Communist Party of Finland in Petrograd in August-September 1918. Tuominen returned to Finland and became a supporter of Otto Wille Kuusinen's faction within the party. In 1921 he traveled to Petrograd, where Kuusinen's adherents, supported by the Comintern leadership, successfully challenged Kullervo Manner's supporters at the next party congress. Tuominen was elected to the party's Central Committee and was put in charge of its Finnish bureau. He returned to Finland, where he was arrested on January 26, 1922 and subsequently imprisoned for publishing a proclamation urging Finnish workers to fight on the Soviet side during the Soviet-Finnish conflict over Karelia. He was released in the spring of 1926 and was elected secretary of the Finnish Federation of Trade Unions. He was again arrested in April 1928 for maintaining contacts with...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=4459889 ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! FransEemil Sillanpää (pronunciation) (September 16,1888-June 3, 1964) was one of the most famous Finnish writers. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1939"for his deep understanding of his country'speasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their wayof life and their relationship with Nature." Frans Eemil Sillanpää was born into a peasant familyin Hämeenkyrö. Although his parents were poor, theymanaged to send him to school in Tampere. In 1908 he moved toHelsinki to study medicine. Here his acquaintancesincluded the painter Eero Järnefelt, Jean Sibelius, Juhani Ahoand Pekka Halonen. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Mika Waltari, Arto Paasilinna, Pentti Linkola, Spede Pasanen, Paavo Haavikko, Pentti Saarikoski, Kalle Päätalo, Kirsi Kunnas, Eino Leino, Sinikka Laine, Laila Hirvisaari, Risto Isomäki, Timo K. Mukka, Antti Puhakka, Antti Tuuri, Arto Salminen, Pentti Haanpää. Excerpt:Finnish national romantic poets Olli Kymäläinen, Pietari Makkonen and Antti Puhakka in Johan Knutson's aquarelle . Antti Puhakka (April 24, 1816 March 30, 1893) was a Finnish national romantic poet from Kontiolahti in Finnish Karelia . He was known for using Kalevala meter in his poems . Puhakka was illiterate until the age of 21, but after gaining the skill of writing he wrote nearly 20,000 lines of poetry . He later became a member of the Finnish Literature Society . Antti Puhakka was elected to the Diet of Finland four times after 1862, representing land-owning peasants , and became a popular politician in Finland . His most well-known poems are "Tuhman Jussin juttureissu" and "Surulaulu 1850 vuoden kiellosta." References (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Antti Tuuri (2009) Antti Elias Tuuri (b. 1 October 1944, Kauhava , Southern Ostrobothnia ) is a Finnish writer, known for his works dealing with Southern Ostrobothnia . The Äitini-suku -series tells the stories of the Finns who emigrated to the United States . He got the The Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1985 for Pohjanmaa and the Finlandia Prize in 1997 for his novel Lakeuden kutsu . Tuuri has also translated some Icelandic sagas . Many of his novels have been made into films including Rukajärven tie also known as "Ambush" in English, about the Continuation War 1941-44 in Karelia, Russia and Talvisota , the Winter War 1939-1940. Websites (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Arto Paasil... ... Read more