karri reviewed Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat by Johan Ludvig Runeberg
Review of 'Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
How to rate your national poet's work? One would have to consider the historical significance also, if you're so inclined.
It's a collection of poems, meant to mold, improve and create the Finnish national spirit in the 19th century. The translation that I read is archaic language, thus hard to parse. If I should be blunt, it's war propaganda written by a priest no less, with frequent references to "blood", and glorification of one's sacrifice, during the Finnish War. However, there are also beautiful descriptions of the Finnish landscapes and nature.
There are many reviews here, most likely from students, who are half-forced to read this and may seem to find it quite the simple-minded bore. It seems more like a trend to despise everything to do with Finnish national pride with the youth these days. It's not that I particularly enjoyed the read, but I'd suggest to take a …
How to rate your national poet's work? One would have to consider the historical significance also, if you're so inclined.
It's a collection of poems, meant to mold, improve and create the Finnish national spirit in the 19th century. The translation that I read is archaic language, thus hard to parse. If I should be blunt, it's war propaganda written by a priest no less, with frequent references to "blood", and glorification of one's sacrifice, during the Finnish War. However, there are also beautiful descriptions of the Finnish landscapes and nature.
There are many reviews here, most likely from students, who are half-forced to read this and may seem to find it quite the simple-minded bore. It seems more like a trend to despise everything to do with Finnish national pride with the youth these days. It's not that I particularly enjoyed the read, but I'd suggest to take a more open mind on these topics and try to approach the material more thoughtfully, instead of stressing out about your home work deadlines and therefore crucifying the work - which seems to often be the case.
There are moments of true beauty here, although I'm not so sure that the Finnish translation from the original Swedish is entirely without its flaws - though I haven't read the original - and would be quite useless at such attempt - even more so than with the archaic Finnish.
One could've easily seen this is as suitable propaganda for the Finnish Reds as well, as it's significantly targeting the lowest ranks, but it didn't quite suit the purposes, being anti-Russian imperialism.
Overall, while sometimes I had no idea what's going on, I found the themes quite repetitive and transparent propaganda, which is of course what you'd like to do to reach the masses. I understand the importance the material had in its time and it's historically somewhat interesting to go through at least once. I'm sorry for the past generations who I hear had to learn the entire content by heart; it's not worth of such commitment.
Despite how the content obviously has deeply resonated with Finns for understandable reasons, I'd say the material fails to speak to the modern audiences due to our current interconnectedness, a plethora of technological advancements and to a degree more nuanced understanding of the world. That is not to say we might not need a bit of primal behavior and morale boost from "The Tales of Ensign Stål", if, knock on wood, the world were to become more unstable.