Lord of the rings and Finnish roots motivated to study Finnish culture

Students on the Finnish Literature and Culture -course at the
University of Toronto all seem to have different reasons for taking
the class.
Toronto-born Jacqueline Briggs, 22, explains that Kalevala,
the ancient Finnish epic, was one of her main motivations for taking
this spring term course. Or, to be more exact, the reason was J.R.R.
Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings -book. Briggs is a big Tolkien fan and she
knew that the writer had drawn from Kalevala and the Finnish language
while creating his masterpiece. She hadn’t had any previous exposure
to Finland or Finnish culture before this course.
“I hadn’t even met any Finns before this course!” she laughs.
Sudbury-born Pier-Ándrée Penttilä, 29, on the other hand was motivated by her Finnish roots.
”I wanted to get a better idea what Finnish literature had to say
of Finnish culture and what it means to be Finnish”, Penttilä, whose father is Finnish-Canadian, says.
Penttilä also had some knowledge of the literary traditions of Finland before taking the course. Her Finnish grandparents had been avid readers and had early on introduced her to Finnish books. In fact, her grandparents are the main source of her interest in Finland and Finnish culture since her father never taught her Finnish despite being fully bilingual.
”My grandparents emigrated to Canada after the Finnish civil war and they always maintained their Finnish roots, however”, she explains.

Finnish nationalism is fascinating
The course has comprised of reading English translations of mainly
older (late 19th century to 1950s) Finnish literary classics such as
Aleksis Kivi’s “Seven brothers”, as well as studying various aspects of
Finnish culture ranging from architecture to art and music. What are
Briggs’ and Penttilä’s thoughts on Finnish literature and culture now when the course is almost over?
”I have been really interested in the very strong nationalism in Finnish literature. That does not exist in Canada. It’s such a contrast “, Briggs,
whose major is Canadian poetry, says.
Briggs is also fascinated by the parallels between Finnish and
Irish history. Briggs’ ancestors came from Ireland and she is
intrigued how both cultures have been oppressed by their larger
neighbours as well as how Finnish and Irish immigrants have managed to transport their cultures to North-America and Canada.
Penttilä is fascinated with Finnish culture has been able to remain
distinct from both Russia and Sweden.
“This distinctiveness is clearly
reflected in the literature”, she says. Also the historical role of capitalist and socialist ideologies in Fi nland interest Penttilä. Her family background may have something to do with her interest in this
particular aspect of the Finnish history. Her grandparents namely were
on the opposite sides in the Finnish civil war where communists, i.e.
the “reds”, fought against the rightwing “whites” in 1918. The heated debates in the family caught her interest early on.
“How they ended up married is beyond me”, she adds.

Poor translations
There is one thing that both Briggs and Penttilä didn’t like about the
course. “I wasn’t impressed with the translations. They didn’t have any depth to them,” Briggs laments.
Penttilä agrees that the translations were disappointing.
“I can see that much was lost in translation”, she says. She is also surprised that so few Finnish novels have been translated into English.
“Despite the richness of
Finnish literature  –I find it truly surprising”, Penttilä marvels.
Both Penttilä and Briggs will continue their explorations into Finnish culture and literature.
Briggs is planning to take the Kalevala course offered by the Finnish studies programme of the university while Penttilä wants to take a Finnish language course on offer next September.
Penttilä’s ultimate goal, however, is to go to Finland and complete a
Master’s degree at a Finnish university. She has already located an
interesting programme in English at the University of Lapland called
”Northern Resources”.
”It sounds really interesting because of its interdisciplinary nature, Briggs, who has a zoology degree, says.

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