Abstract
Until the 1840s, the dominating language in Finland was Swedish, even if ca. 80 per cent of the population had Finnish as mother tongue. The administration, academic life, public matters and literary life were conducted in Swedish. The literature in Finnish was limited mostly to the religious domain, basic legislation and books of rudimentary instruction for agriculture and medicine, one or two newspapers and journals. The situation started to change in the 1840s, with the birth of the Finnish national movement. One of the most important actors in this movement was the philosopher, journalist and statesman Johan Wilhelm Snellman (1806–1881). This article presents his views on how translations from foreign languages can be used to form a Finnish national literature. His views in this matter were closely related to his theoretical philosophy that was heavily influenced by Hegel. Snellman demanded that the Swedish-speaking elite should change its language into Finnish, and create a high-class Finnish-language national literature of scholarly books and belles-lettres. Translations from foreign languages would give standards for Finnish writers and build contacts to the general European literature and culture. He initiated in 1870 a translation program that was managed by the Finnish Literature Society.
Highlights
This paper was read at a conference where the theme was “minority book”
The administration, academic, public matters and literary life were conducted in Swedish
This article concentrates for the most part on the role played by Snellman in the birth of the Finnish-language culture, especially on his thoughts and initiatives on translations as part of the national literature
Summary
This paper was read at a conference where the theme was “minority book”. Is this theme applicable to Finland in the nineteenth century? After all, at least 80 per cent of the population of Finland in the 19th century was Finnish-speak ing. In 1809, Sweden lost the region to Russia in a sideshow of the Napoleonic wars, and Finland became a Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire with an internal autonomy This did not mean that the Russian language would have come instead of Swedish, but the domination of the Swedish language continued into the Russian era. The Finnish language was not persecuted or oppressed but, certainly, it was neglected and left on a low cultural level.[1]. This was seen in the under-developed state of the Finnish-language literature in the 1840s, just before the situation began to change.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
