Ilmari Turja (28 October 1901 – 6 January 1998) was a Finnish writer, best known as a journalist and playwright, with a career spanning nearly eight decades from the 1920s to the 1990s.
Early life and education
Kaarlo Ilmari Turja was born to a farming family in
Isokyrö
Isokyrö (; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region, from Vaasa. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is .
In the name of the municip ...
in western central Finland, to Jaakko and Evelina Turja. However, when he was four, the Turja family moved to the nearby city of
Vaasa
Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),
After graduating from secondary school in 1922 and completing his military service, Turja went on to study law at the
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...
, obtaining his law degree in 1929 and qualifying as ''
Varatuomari
(lit. 'vice-judge' or 'reserve judge'; Swedish: ), or Master of Laws with court training, is a Finnish legal title for a qualified lawyer who has been trained on the bench and is equipped to appear before a court.
The title dates back to the 1 ...
'' (Master of Laws with court training, cf.
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
) in 1932.
Journalistic career
Turja is perhaps best known as the Editor-in-Chief of the weekly news and political commentary magazine ''
Suomen Kuvalehti
''Suomen Kuvalehti'' ( or 'the Finnish picture magazine') is a weekly Finnish language family and news magazine published in Helsinki, Finland.
History and profile
''Suomen Kuvalehti'' was founded in 1873 and published until the year 1880. The m ...
'', which he led from 1936 to 1951. In addition to that, he also held the same post at two other weekly magazines, ''Kansan Kuvalehti'' (1929—1934) and ''Uusi Kuvalehti'' (1952—1963). Collectively, his career of running three notable and influential magazines over a period more than thirty years has been described as "unparalleled" in Finnish journalism.
Afterwards, Turja wrote
columns
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...
for the '' Apu'' magazine for 27 years, into the early 1990s.
Turja has been credited with introducing
investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...
to Finland, and promoting it throughout his career. He was also a known advocate of
freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...
.
Bibliography
Turja's major literary works include:
Books
*''Ruijanrantaa ja Ruijanmerta'' (1928)
*''Johannes Renko, Ylioppilas'' (1938), with stage adaptation in 1958
''Johannes Renko'' remains Turja's only novel. His editor at the time,
Mika Waltari
Mika Toimi Waltari (; 19 September 1908 – 26 August 1979) was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel ''The Egyptian'' (). He was extremely productive. Besides his novels he also wrote poetry, short stories, crime novels, plays, ...
, is known to have been unimpressed by the quality of his
prose
Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...
, and actively encouraged Turja to become a dramatist instead.
Much of his extensive ''
causerie
Causerie (from French, "talk, chat") is a literary style of short informal essays mostly unknown in the English-speaking world. A causerie is generally short, light and humorous and is often published as a newspaper column (although it is not defi ...
'' and column production was also republished in book format as anthology collections, in at least nine separate volumes.
Plays
*''Tuomari Martta'' (1938), adapted to 1938 film '
*''Särkelä itte'' (1944), adapted to 1947 film '
*''Isä ja poika'' (1958)
*''Päämajassa'' (1966), adapted to 1970 film '' Päämaja''
*''Jääkäri Ståhl'' (1978), adapted to 1981 opera by the same name, composed by Ilkka Kuusisto
Honours and awards
In 1967, Turja was awarded the ' medal of the
Order of the Lion of Finland
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
...
.
In 1970, the honorary title of '' Professori'' was conferred on Turja.
He was also recognised with several notable literary and cultural awards.
Personal life
In his student years, Turja was a member of the Finnish nationalist Academic Karelia Society.
He was married to Salli Alanen (m. 1930 — her death in 1993), and they had four children.
During both the
Winter
Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...
and
Continuation War
The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...
s, Turja served in the military communications corps of the
Finnish Army
The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...
, reaching eventually the rank of ''
Kapteeni
(Captain) is an officer's rank in Finland, immediately above (lieutenant) and below (major).
In peacetime training, a is the commander of a company. (Majors can also be in this role, but usually majors work in command staff rather than in ind ...
'' (Captain).
He was a long-time friend of President
Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...
, whom Turja had first met when publishing Kekkonen's writings (under the pseudonym 'Pekka Peitsi') in ''Suomen Kuvalehti''.