Paavo Juhani Haavikko (January 25, 1931 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

– October 6, 2008) was a Finnish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, essayist and publisher, considered one of the country's most outstanding writers. He published more than 70 works, and his poems have been translated to 12 languages.

Biography

Paavo Haavikko was born and grew up in Helsinki. His father was a bookbinder and later worked in the import business. In 1951 Haavikko graduated from the Kallio Coeducational School, and published his first collection of poems. In the 1950s Haavikko published several more poetry collections, culminating in the collection entitled Talvipalatsi ('The Winter Palace'; 1959). He was at the forefront of the emerging modernist movement in Finland, and in the following decades he had a profound influence on many other genres as well. As a result of his literary achievements, he became the leading writer of his generation and of the entire postwar period in Finland. PaavoHaavikko-MLVartio-1960

Haavikko's first wife Marja-Liisa Vartio was also a writer. They had two children. Marja-Liisa Vartio died in 1966, and Haavikko stopped writing for a long time. Haavikko married Ritva Rainio in 1971. They lived separately since 1983.

Career as a writer

Haavikko started his career as a poet, but he published in almost every genre of literature. His drama has seldom been played on traditional theatre scenes. Television series Rauta-aika illustrated freely the Finnish National epic

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and ...

. Operas ''Ratsumies'' (English title: The Horseman) and ''Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan'' (English title: The King goes forth to France) were composed by

Aulis Sallinen Aulis Sallinen (born 9 April 1935) is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". Sallinen ...

to librettos by Haavikko. Haavikko placed many of his works in historical context but included references to more modern politics, such as

Juho Kusti Paasikivi Juho Kusti Paasikivi (; 27 November 1870 – 14 December 1956) was the seventh president of Finland (1946–1956). Representing the Finnish Party until its dissolution in 1918 and then the National Coalition Party, he also served as Prime Minister ...

and

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

in his play Agricola ja kettu ('Agricola and the Fox'), or Urho Kaleva Kekkonen as a Viking ruler. He scrutinized Finland's leading politicians and civil servants in his column in weekly magazine Suomen Kuvalehti. Images occurring often in Haavikko's poetry included the king, palaces, gardens, and the woods. Haavikko was talented in describing love, romantic and relationships between men and women. After the death of his first wife he started to write about subjects less discussed in poetry: economy, politics and society.

Reception

The high opinion of Haavikko's poetry was not confined to his home country:

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

considered The Winter Palace as "one of the great poems of the century".

Business life

From 1967 to 1983, Haavikko was literary director of the Otava publishing company, and from 1989 to his death owner of the

Art House An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily ...

publishing company. He and his family had a company producing peat for fuel. He also owned forest. When he died, his family inherited 3 million euros.

Honours

*Aleksis Kivi Prize, Finnish Literature Society, 1966 *

Pro Finlandia Medal The Order of the Lion of Finland ( fi, Suomen Leijonan ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Lejons orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President ...

, 1967, *Honorary Doctorate from the University of Helsinki, 1969 *Knight First Class of the White Rose of Finland, 1978 *

Neustadt International Prize for Literature The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, ''World Literature Today''. It is considered one of the more prestigious int ...

in 1984. *In 1993, he won the

Swedish Academy Nordic Prize The Nordic Prize (''Swedish'': nordiska pris) is a literary award presented annually by the Swedish Academy. The recipient is someone from the Nordic countries who has done significant work in any of the Academy's areas of operations or interests. ...

, known as the 'little Nobel'. * America Award, 2007

Works

Haavikko's works represent many different literary genres, including the librettos for the two operas. His career as is exceptional in its mere productivity: a book every eight months according to his own reckoning.

Poetry

* ''Tiet etäisyyksiin'' (1951) WSOY * ''Tuuliöinä'' (1953) Otava * ''Synnyinmaa'' (1955) Otava * ''Lehdet lehtiä'' (1958) Otava * ''Talvipalatsi'' (1959) Otava (''The Winter Palace'') * ''Puut, kaikki heidän vihreytensä'' (1966) Otava * ''Runoja matkalta salmen ylitse'' (1973) Otava * ''Kaksikymmentä ja yksi'' (1974) Otava; English translation ''One and twenty'' (2007) Translated by Anselm Hollo. Beaverton: Aspasia Books. * ''Viiniä, kirjoitusta (1976)'' Otava. . * ''Puolustuspuhe'' (1977) WSOY - poems and aforisms * ''Viisi sarjaa nopeasti virtaavasta elämästä'' (1987) Art House * ''Toukokuu, ikuinen'' (1988) Art House * ''Rakkaudesta ja kuolemasta'' (1989) Art House * ''Talvirunoja'' (1990) Art House * ''Puiden ylivertaisuudesta'' (1993) Art House * ''Prosperon runot'' (2001) Art House

Poetry compilations

* ''Runot 1951–1961'' (1962) Otava * ''Runot 1949–1974'' (1975) Otava * ''Runoelmat'' (1975) Otava * ''Sillat. Valitut runot'' (1984) Otava * ''Runot! Runot 1984–1992'' WSOY 1992 *:Includes ''After the Deadline'' (1984), ''Con amore, con furore'' (1985), ''Viisi sarjaa nopeasti virtaavasta elämästä'' (1987), ''Toukokuu, ikuinen'' (1988), ''Talvirunoja'' (1990), ''Musta herbaario'' (1992) and all the poems from aphorism books ''Pimeys'' (1984) and ''Kansalaisvapaudesta'' (1989). When ''After the Deadline'' and ''Con amore, con furore'' were first published, the author distributed them only to a small circle of friends. ''Musta herbaario'' was previously unpublished. * ''Kirjainmerkit mustat. Runot 1949–1966'' (1993) WSOY * ''Tyrannin ylistys. Runot 1970–1981'' (1994) WSOY * ''Valitut runot'' (2006) WSOY

Plays

* ''Münchausen; Nuket: Kaksi näytelmää'' (1960) Otava * ''Ylilääkäri: Kaksi näytelmää'' (1968) Otava. Includes plays ''Ylilääkäri'' and ''Agricola ja kettu''. * ''Soitannollinen ilta Viipurissa 1918'' (1978) Otava . * ''Viisi pientä draamallista tekstiä'' (1981) Otava . * ''Sulka: 12 näytelmää'' (1997) WSOY. . *:Includes: ''Sulka'' (1973). Ratsumies (1974) (''The Horseman''), ''Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan'' (1974) (''The King Goes Forth to France''), ''Harald Pitkäikäinen'' (1974), ''Agricola ja kettu'' (1968), ''Kuningas Harald, jäähyväiset'' (radio play, 1978), ''Kaisa ja Otto'' (1976), ''Herra Östanskog'' (1981), ''Ne vahvimmat miehet ei ehjiksi jää'' (1976), ''Naismetsä'' (radio play, 1989), ''Englantilainen tarina'' (1990), ''Anastasia ja minä'' (1992) (''Anastasya and I''). * ''Airo ja Brita'' (1999) Art House . * ''Hitlerin sateenvarjo'' (2004) WSOY .

Other prose

*''Kullervon tarina'' (1982) (Kullervo's Story)

Libretto

*'' Paavo the Great. Great Race. Great Dream.'' (2000) * Ratsumies (1974) (''The Horseman'') * ''Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan'' (1974) (''The King Goes Forth to France''),

References

External links

* *Pekka Tarkka
"In memoriam Paavo Haavikko 1931–2008"
''Books from Finland.'' Retrieved 4 April 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Haavikko, Paavo 1931 births 2008 deaths Writers from Helsinki 21st-century Finnish poets Finnish dramatists and playwrights Finnish male short story writers Finnish short story writers Finnish-language poets Finnish-language writers Finnish publishers (people) 20th-century Finnish poets 20th-century Finnish novelists 20th-century dramatists and playwrights Finnish male poets 20th-century short story writers 21st-century short story writers 20th-century male writers 21st-century male writers Recipients of the Eino Leino Prize