Poetry
Paluu
Not translated into English
Katri Vala · 1934
Synopsis
Free-verse poems, darker than the earlier ones, in which the poet speaks of her relationship to the upheavals of the age. She compares herself to a willow leaning over a riverbank, crossed by the winds, where the rebellious spirit of the world whistles a tune made of storm, suffering, love and a little dawn. Peace, the defence of the human and social responsibility take the place of the ecstasy of her first books, without extinguishing the vital impulse.
Context
Published by Werner Söderström in 1934, it is the turning point of her work: the critic Raoul Palmgren, a theorist of Kiila, said that the circle had been founded in the spirit of this book. The reception was divided, in the political climate of the time, in the face of this socially engaged poetry tinged with the left. Lauri Viljanen linked it to a broad current of radical humanitarian poetry that was then running through the Nordic countries, Great Britain and America. Its author was among the first Finnish-language poets to write in free verse.
Who it is for
A slim collection in Finnish, in free verse; short texts alongside longer ones; nothing one needs to know beforehand.
Prizes and reception
One of its author's major books according to the national biography, and the one that gave its spirit to a whole circle of writers.