Ruotsinkieliset kirjailijat Karjalassa ja Viipurissa: aikalaishavaintoja ja nostalgiaa

Abstract


 
 
 Swedish-speaking writers in Karelia and Vyborg: contemporary observations and nostalgia
 The article examines Swedish and Swedish-speaking Finnish writers in Karelia and their descriptions of Karelia. The main focus is on the period between the world wars, but there are also some examples from both earlier and later peri- ods. Some of the writers were born in Karelia, while others visited more occa- sionally. The material under study includes fictional prose, poetry, memoirs, and historical studies. The examples illuminate ethnographic and folk-type descrip- tions; nostalgic descriptions of villa and manor life; the impressions of Swedish writers (especially Gunnar Ekelöf, Johannes Edfelt and Harry Martinson); Olof Enckell’s Karelian trilogy; and some other descriptions of wartime history and a couple of works of history. The main themes are: nostalgic memories, the joys and sorrows of the artist’s life, the experience of loss, and the contrast between East and West, and Karelia as a borderland. For many, it was an impressive experience to visit Edith Södergran’s home and meet the poet’s elderly mother. Karelia became a large place of memory (lieu de mémoire), within which were smaller places of memory, such as villas and mansions, which were constantly repeated in the writers’ presentations.