Diary
Synkkä yksinpuhelu
Not translated into English
Olavi Paavolainen · 1946
Synopsis
Nearly a thousand pages drawn from the diary and press cuttings of a writer assigned during the Continuation War to an information company, tasked with telling the conflict to the home country. The first part gives broad space to the nature and culture of Karelia; the second reports what he sees of the war, mostly from the main headquarters. As the pages go on, he calls into question the nationalist fervour that sweeps his country along.
Context
It appeared from Werner Söderström in 1946, in two volumes, subtitled “diary pages from the years 1941-1944”. It divided the public and the political class: patriots condemned it, the left welcomed it. The second part was the most criticised, and from its publication it was suspected that some conclusions about the outcome of the war had been written after the fact. Hurt by this reception, its author gradually withdrew from literature. A second edition of 1960 includes his photographs. Jaakko Pakkasvirta made the film Pedon merkki from it in 1981.
Who it is for
Two volumes, about a thousand pages, in Finnish. A little knowledge of the course of the Finnish wars from 1939 to 1944 is needed.
Prizes and reception
One of the most disputed books of postwar Finland, and its author's last major book.