For Finland, World War II meant two separate wars against the Soviet Union, the Russo-Finnish War (Winter War) of 1939–40 and the War of Continuation of 1941–44; during the latter, Finland was a cobelligerent of Germany. The unified national effort of the Winter War helped to heal old traumas, and a new cohesiveness between the two language groups as well as between different social classes emerged, only to be shattered again by the more controversial War of Continuation. In literature the war years marked a period of transition. The generation that began writing before or during the war suffered a crisis survived by few, among them the poets Hellaakoski, Mustapää, Aale Tynni, Viljo Kajava, and Arvo Turtiainen. A school of younger poets soon emerged whose work partook of the free rhythms, lack of rhyme, symbolic imagery, and unpoetic themes of modernism. They avoided political or religious commitment and shared an often skeptical outlook and an interest in problems of lyrical expression. The most prominent of the generation of poets active during the 1950s were Paavo Haavikko, also a prose writer and author of experimental plays, and Eeva-Liisa Manner, whose collection Tämä matka (1956; “This Journey”) signaled her adoption of modernism and who in her later works often exhibited a painful awareness of world events. Other noteworthy poets of the 1950s, a period rich in lyric poetry, include Helvi Juvonen, Tuomas Anhava (who was also a theoretician of modernism), and Lassi Nummi.

A similar development took place, more slowly, in prose. In fiction a restrained, objective style became customary, as in the work of Eila Pennanen and Eeva Joenpelto; the latter attracted a wide readership with her Lohja tetralogy, a series of novels situated in her home region, Uusimaa. Antti Hyry also used the objective technique; in Kevättä ja syksyä (1958; “Spring and Autumn”), which depicted characters behavioristically, it resulted in effective prose. Other writers explored new paths, notably Veijo Meri in such grotesque, Chaplinesque war novels as Manillaköysi (1957; Manila Rope), and Marja-Liisa Vartio, who blended realism and fantasy. A more traditional narrative style was retained by Väinö Linna, whose novel Tuntemation sotilas (1954; The Unknown Soldier), a depiction of the War of Continuation, initially caused an uproar, only to become one of the most widely read novels in Finland. Its characters were for decades widely known by name in Finland, because they seemed to embody the archetypal qualities attributed to people from the country’s various provinces. Linna’s trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla (1959–62; Here Beneath the North Star) revised equally successfully Finns’ interpretation of the Civil War of 1918.

The 1960s and beyond

In the 1960s Finnish society underwent great structural changes: a welfare system along the Swedish model was developed, and the process of urbanization accelerated, with a sizable proportion of the population moving to cities and, later, also to Sweden. Toward the end of the decade, protests against the Vietnam War radicalized the young. In the arts the 1960s was a period of challenging old taboos. Poetry became overtly politicized before prose did. Poets such as Matti Rossi and Pentti Saaritsa, both strongly influenced by Latin American poetry, adopted a frank, urbane, conversational style and took a firm left-wing stand on social and political questions. The spirit of the 1960s found its quintessential articulation in Pentti Saarikoski’s Mitä tapahtuu todella? (1962; “What Is Really Happening?”), a collage of fragments and quotations from political and classical texts, and in Väinö Kirstinä’s Luonnollinen tanssi (1965; “Natural Dance”). Arvo Salo’s Lapualaisooppera (1966; “The Lapua Opera”), a pacifist declaration and condemnation of the semifascist Lapualaisliike (“Lapua Movement”) of the 1930s, also exemplified the cultural climate of the 1960s. The socially critical pamphlet emerged as a favoured genre. Paavo Rintala, a prolific writer, cultivated the documentary novel, frequently addressing issues related to World War II. In his later works he used history as a filter through which to assess contemporary society as well as his own place in it (e.g., Faustus [1996]). A writer who took a somewhat different path was Pentti Holappa, a political columnist and poet, praised for the formal mastery of his diction. He introduced the French nouveau roman (New Novel) to Finland.

Finland’s development during the following decades moved between opposites: the party-loyal politicized culture of the 1970s, an era that witnessed an oil crisis and economic downturn, yielded to the prosperous and self-centred ’80s. In the 1990s Finland suffered a serious economic setback, with its unemployment figures higher than those recorded in the 1930s during the Great Depression. The nation’s social fabric did not escape unscathed.

The great novel of the 1970s was Hannu Salama’s Siinä näkijä missä tekijä (1972; “Where There’s a Crime There’s a Witness”), which explored a communist resistance movement during the War of Continuation. Salama had made literary history already with an earlier novel, Juhannustanssit (1964; “Midsummer Dance”), for which he was charged with blasphemy; his prison sentence was subsequently overturned by the country’s president. Many prose writers of the ’70s cultivated the regional novel, including Heikki Turunen, with his realistic depictions of northern Karelia, and Antti Tuuri of Ostrobothnia, with an unemotional, modernistic style. Eeva Kilpi, also an accomplished poet, became best known for her autobiographical novels about Karelian evacuees after World War II. Leena Krohn—a socially active writer, deeply concerned with the ethical dimensions of literature—depicted the world from the perspective of insects in her novel Tainaron (1985; Tainaron: Mail from Another City), written in epistolary form. Matti Pulkkinen’s Romaanihenkilön kuolema (1985; “The Death of a Fictional Character”), a postmodern novel that probes the possibilities of literary expression, caused a stir for its seemingly reactionary political views. Olli Jalonen and Annika Idström focused on the darker aspects of contemporary life. Jalonen’s Hotelli eläville (1983; “Hotel for the Living”) offers a dystopic view of modern society, while Idström’s Veljeni Sebastian (1985; My Brother Sebastian) explores the forces of evil through dysfunctional family relationships. Rosa Liksom (pseudonym of Anni Ylävaara) is a master of short prose who offers snapshots, usually rather grim ones, of the lives of social outsiders and eccentrics—a loner in Lapland or a drug addict in Helsinki—in language attuned to each environment. Whether her works use a dialect from northern Finland or urban Helsinki slang, they always include a robust helping of absurd humour. Other contemporary writers of note include Markku Envall, noted for his aphorisms, and Sirkka Turkka, who in her poetry addresses the fundamental issues of existence in an idiom that freely mixes the high and the low. Other prominent prose writers at the turn of the 21st century included Hannu Mäkelä, Hannu Raittila, Mari Mörö, and Irja Rane.