the oral and written literature produced in Finland in the Finnish, Swedish, and, during the Middle Ages, Latin languages.

The history of Finnish literature and that of Swedish literature are intertwined. From the mid-12th century until 1809, Finland was ruled by Sweden, and Swedish remained the language of the upper classes until the end of the 19th century, at which time a vigorous movement began to revive Finnish as a cultural medium. This article discusses works written in Finland both in the Swedish language (Finland-Swedish literature) and in the Finnish language. It also discusses works by Finnish writers in exile in Sweden.

Finnish folk poetry was rich, with a wide range of forms. The metre, a trochaic four-stress line, was well suited to the Finnish language and to the memorization of long passages. Most of the poems were epic sequences or short songs. The epics centred on mythical events or the deeds of a hero. Into this category fall an early poem about the creation of the world and poems on the quest of the sampo, the adventures of the warrior-adventurer Lemminkäinen, and the legend of the tragic hero Kullervo. In many, the central character is the shaman-hero Väinämöinen, regarded by some as mythical, by others as historical. These stories also formed part of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. The lyrics, many by women, dealt with everyday griefs and joys; many were love songs or described the moods of a solitary soul, and the setting was rural—a landscape of forests and lakes, with glimpses of a village community.

In oral transmission many poems changed or became confused with one another. The oldest were mythological, dating from pagan times (and surviving in remoter areas until the 12th century). Many were of medieval origin and contained datable events and persons. The first scholar to pay serious attention to Finnish folk poetry was Henrik Gabriel Porthan in the mid-18th century, and systematic collection through transcription began in the second half of the 18th century. The best-known collector, Elias Lönnrot (Lönnrot, Elias), concluded that the epic poems could be presented as a continuous folk epic. He joined a number together with connective material of his own and imposed a unifying plot; the result was the Kalevala (final form 1849), which was based on folk material but in structure was Lönnrot's creation. Lönnrot also published a selection of the lyrics, Kanteletar (1840–41; Eng. trans. Kanteletar), and their influence and that of the Kalevala as a whole on the Finnish national consciousness, art, and culture have been immense. Today the Finnish Literature Society (Finnish: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, often referred to as SKS) houses one of the largest collections of oral tradition in the world, with millions of items.

From the end of the 12th century, Finland had been a part of Sweden. Very little literature was created in Finland, however, during the pre-Reformation era. The earliest writer known by name is Jöns Budde, a monk at the Birgittine monastery in Naantali (Nådendal), whose work includes the translation of a number of Old Testament books into Swedish. Perhaps the most significant expression of Finland's literary culture of the medieval period is the religious songs in Latin in the collection Piae cantiones, printed in 1582 but in use much earlier.

The founder of literary Finnish was the religious reformer Mikael Agricola, the first Lutheran bishop of Finland, who published a Finnish primer (c. 1543) and a translation of the New Testament from Greek into Finnish (1548). (The first Finnish translation of the whole Bible was published in 1642.) In the prefaces to his translations, Agricola showed familiarity with Finnish mythology as well as with foreign patterns of versification.

After its separation from Sweden in 1809, Finland became an autonomous grand duchy of Russia. Its Swedish legal and social institutions remained intact, and Swedish continued to be its official language. The new political situation gave rise to calls for an independent Finnish culture. These first emerged among a group of intellectuals, the Turku (Åbo) Romantics, who stood ideologically close to the Uppsala Phosphorists.

Although a number of talented poets wrote in Finnish in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was only with Aleksis Kivi (Kivi, Aleksis) that a genuine Finnish literature came into being. His Seitsemän veljestä (1870; Seven Brothers), with its unique mixture of dialogue and lyric and mythical elements, was the first Finnish novel. His plays (e.g., Nummisuutarit 【1864; Heath Cobblers】) paved the way for Finnish-language drama; his poetry gained full appreciation only much later. Among his fellow poets were August Ahlqvist-Oksanen, Suonio (Julius Krohn), Kaarlo Kramsu, who wrote austere and powerful poetry, and J.H. Erkko, whose style was based on folk song.

In 1872 Kaarlo Bergbom (Bergbom, Kaarlo) founded the Finnish National Theatre. The 1880s saw the formation of a group of liberal writers known as Nuori Suomi (Young Finland), who founded the paper Päivälehti (from 1904 Helsingin Sanomat). Among the group's members were Juhani Aho (Aho, Juhani), a master of the lyrical nature novel, and Arvid Järnefelt. Rautatie (1884; “The Railroad”), Aho's first novel, is generally regarded as the most important work of fiction after Kivi. Järnefelt attracted attention with Isänmaa (1893; “The Fatherland”), a novel of student life. In Vanhempieni romaani (1928–30; “The Novel of My Parents”), he produced a classic portrait of his parents, who—in particular his mother, Elizabeth Järnefelt—had played a significant part in Finland's cultural life.

Toward the end of the 19th century, Finland's Swedish and Finnish literatures grew increasingly apart, and from the turn of the century it became customary to speak of literature written in Finland using the Swedish language—Finland-Swedish literature—as having its own distinct identity. In 1863 Finnish was given equal status with Swedish, and in 1906 parliamentary reform dismantled the old estate system and instituted universal suffrage, depriving with one stroke the Swedish-speaking elite of its dominant political position. A linguistic minority, keen on closing its ranks across class boundaries and creating a feeling of Swedish nationalism, was born. The ultimate aim was to construct, as one scholar put it, not “a little Sweden” in Finland but “a little Finland” in Swedish. Thus emerged the themes of loneliness and rootlessness, characteristic of Finland-Swedish literature ever since. Important writers of the transition period were Josef Julius Wecksell, a predecessor of Strindberg as an author of historical drama (Daniel Hjort, first performed 1862), and Karl August Tavaststjerna, who had extensive connections with the authors of “the modern breakthrough” (det moderne gennembrud (moderne gennembrud, det)) and is best known for his realistic novel Hårda tider (1891; “Hard Times”). Tavaststjerna also wrote poetry, and with his novel I förbund med döden (1893; “In Alliance with Death”) he contributed to European fin de siècle literature. He has been called the first Finland-Swedish writer.

Early in the 20th century a group of prose writers known as Dagdrivarna (“Idlers”) emerged with a crisp, cynical, and analytical tone, in style and motif akin to the Swedes Hjalmar Söderberg and Bo Bergman. The greatest talent among the Idlers belonged to Runar Schildt, whose novellas and plays dealt with ethical and artistic problems (e.g., Häxskogen 【1920; “Witchwood”】). Schildt also ventured beyond the boundaries of city and class to describe life in the Swedish-speaking countryside. Poets linked to this group include Arvid Mörne, whose work was devoted to the coastal skerries, and Bertel Gripenberg (Gripenberg, Bertel Johan Sebastian, Friherre), a master of traditional form whose ultraconservative politics rendered him controversial.

A style akin to the modernists'—with free rhythm, unrhymed lines, and powerful images—was adopted by a new generation of poets in the 1940s, among them Solveig von Schoultz, Ralf Parland, and Eva Wichman. Bo Carpelan was a poet and an accomplished prose writer, praised for the musicality of his language. Peter Sandelin, who started as a modernist, moved later toward social engagement with poems expressing ecological concerns. But during the 1960s a reaction set in. Poets rejected the modernists' aestheticism and individualism, and they introduced critical discussion of social issues. The most prominent representative of this socially committed poetry was Claes Andersson, while Lars Huldén, a prolific academician-poet and a master of many genres from cabaret texts to hymns, exemplified a poet who never conformed to popular trends. The lyric outburst of the 1970s brought forth a number of exciting poets, Tua Forsström among them, who at the turn of the 21st century ranked as one of the leading lyricists in Scandinavia. Musicality and rhythm, but also a touch of irony, are central to her poetic idiom. Agneta Enckell, who represented a younger generation, experimented with language, exploring its minutest components and thus creating what some have called “feminine language.” Henrika Ringbom, another younger poet with a distinct voice, won acclaim for the collection Den vita vinthunden (2001; “The White Greyhound”), its rich texture of metaphors derived from dreams, art, and film.

After Tavaststjerna, readers and critics alike craved a broad Finland-Swedish novel with a panoramic view of contemporary society. Equally persistently, however, lyric poetry and short prose prevailed. Among prose writers, Tito Colliander treated themes of guilt and atonement from a Russian Orthodox standpoint; Oscar Parland, a psychiatrist, offered masterful depictions of life from a child's perspective; and Tove Jansson (Jansson, Tove) won international recognition for her imaginative portrayals of the fairy-tale realm of Moomintrolls. In the 1970s Christer Kihlman, Henrik Tikkanen, and Jörn Donner gained fame with their confessional novels, revealing often sordid details in the lives of the Finland-Swedish ruling elite, but Märta Tikkanen's breakthrough prose-poem Århundradets kärlekssaga (1978; The Love Story of the Century), with its feminist perspective, deconstructed their seemingly sincere confessions.

Among dramatists, Walentin Chorell wrote heavily symbolic plays that were frequently staged in the 1950s but later fell into oblivion. Johan Bargum, a great stylist and author of numerous novels and short stories, scored a success with a play about the AIDS crisis, Finns det tigrar i Congo? (1990; “Are There Tigers in the Congo?”), cowritten with Bengt Ahlfors. Joakim Groth made a name for himself in the 1990s as a dramatist with works such as Härlig är jorden (1995; “It Is a Wonderful World”).

In the 1980s and '90s Finland-Swedish literature remained a small minority literature, but, amid predictions of gloom, it witnessed a “boom” of prose. Ulla-Lena Lundberg came to prominence with her semi-documentary Åland trilogy, which charts life on the Åland Islands over 150 years; its style of narration changes from one volume to the next to reflect the styles typical of the different historical eras being described. Two novels by Lars Sund that centre on a woman from Ostrobothnia, a region in western Finland, and on her descendants use a self-reflexive narrator and show touches of magic realism; they toy in a postmodern manner with the genre conventions of the historical novel. Helsinki found its chronicler in Kjell Westö, who started as an experimental poet but later gained popularity with novels that recount a family's fate in the bilingual capital. With an ironic twist, Monika Fagerholm's novel Underbara kvinnor vid vatten (1994; Wonderful Women by the Water) contributed a feminist perspective and a quintessentially Finland-Swedish landscape—the archipelago—to Finland-Swedish prose.

By the end of the 19th century, Finnish-language literature had caught up with the country's Swedish literature in volume and quality. While lyric poetry and an urban outlook, with a focus on the educated classes, came to characterize Finland-Swedish literature, Finnish writers favoured the novel, the countryside, and the common folk.

Among the chief poets of the years between the world wars were Uuno Kailas and Kaarlo Sarkia, both of whom returned to classical ideals of poetry and traditional metres. The former wrote Uni ja kuolema (1931; “Sleep and Death”) and upheld a rigid moral code; the latter was a fastidious stylist and sensitive seeker after beauty. Aaro Hellaakoski and P. Mustapää (pseudonym of Martti Haavio) were recognized as major poets only after World War II; both broadened the traditional style, especially in rhythm.

Leading prose writers included Pentti Haanpää and Toivo Pekkanen, two autodidacts. In his short stories and novels, Haanpää observed with sharp irony and a keen sense of social justice the life of the rural poor, revealing himself as a skillful stylist who frequently criticized the army and the church, two sacrosanct institutions in the newly independent Finland. Pekkanen portrayed the industrial worker; many regard his account of his own childhood in a working class family, Lapsuuteni (1953; My Childhood), as a masterpiece.

In the years immediately before World War II, many literary trends were discernible: colourful romanticism, depth psychology, bitter social criticism. In 1936 a group of left-wing writers known as Kiila (“The Wedge”) was formed, most of their important work appearing after the war (e.g., Elvi Sinervo's novel Viljami Vaihdokas 【1946】). Haanpää's work also expressed left-wing ideas, as did that of the period's most notable dramatist, Hella Wuolijoki, who collaborated in 1940 and 1941 with German playwright Bertolt Brecht in writing Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti (performed 1948; Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti).

For Finland, World War II meant two separate wars against the Soviet Union, the Russo-Finnish War (Winter War) of 1939–40 and the War of Continuation of 1941–44; during the latter, Finland was a cobelligerent of Germany. The unified national effort of the Winter War helped to heal old traumas, and a new cohesiveness between the two language groups as well as between different social classes emerged, only to be shattered again by the more controversial War of Continuation. In literature the war years marked a period of transition. The generation that began writing before or during the war suffered a crisis survived by few, among them the poets Hellaakoski, Mustapää, Aale Tynni, Viljo Kajava, and Arvo Turtiainen. A school of younger poets soon emerged whose work partook of the free rhythms, lack of rhyme, symbolic imagery, and unpoetic themes of modernism. They avoided political or religious commitment and shared an often skeptical outlook and an interest in problems of lyrical expression. The most prominent of the generation of poets active during the 1950s were Paavo Haavikko (Haavikko, Paavo), also a prose writer and author of experimental plays, and Eeva-Liisa Manner (Manner, Eeva Liisa), whose collection Tämä matka (1956; “This Journey”) signaled her adoption of modernism and who in her later works often exhibited a painful awareness of world events. Other noteworthy poets of the 1950s, a period rich in lyric poetry, include Helvi Juvonen, Tuomas Anhava (Anhava, Tuomas) (who was also a theoretician of modernism), and Lassi Nummi.

A similar development took place, more slowly, in prose. In fiction a restrained, objective style became customary, as in the work of Eila Pennanen and Eeva Joenpelto; the latter attracted a wide readership with her Lohja tetralogy, a series of novels situated in her home region, Uusimaa. Antti Hyry also used the objective technique; in Kevättä ja syksyä (1958; “Spring and Autumn”), which depicted characters behavioristically, it resulted in effective prose. Other writers explored new paths, notably Veijo Meri (Meri, Veijo) in such grotesque, Chaplinesque war novels as Manillaköysi (1957; Manila Rope), and Marja-Liisa Vartio, who blended realism and fantasy. A more traditional narrative style was retained by Väinö Linna, whose novel Tuntemation sotilas (1954; The Unknown Soldier), a depiction of the War of Continuation, initially caused an uproar, only to become one of the most widely read novels in Finland. Its characters were for decades widely known by name in Finland, because they seemed to embody the archetypal qualities attributed to people from the country's various provinces. Linna's trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla (1959–62; Here Beneath the North Star) revised equally successfully Finns' interpretation of the Civil War of 1918.

In the 1960s Finnish society underwent great structural changes: a welfare system along the Swedish model was developed, and the process of urbanization accelerated, with a sizable proportion of the population moving to cities and, later, also to Sweden. Toward the end of the decade, protests against the Vietnam War radicalized the young. In the arts the 1960s was a period of challenging old taboos. Poetry became overtly politicized before prose did. Poets such as Matti Rossi and Pentti Saaritsa, both strongly influenced by Latin American poetry, adopted a frank, urbane, conversational style and took a firm left-wing stand on social and political questions. The spirit of the 1960s found its quintessential articulation in Pentti Saarikoski's Mitä tapahtuu todella? (1962; “What Is Really Happening?”), a collage of fragments and quotations from political and classical texts, and in Väinö Kirstinä's Luonnollinen tanssi (1965; “Natural Dance”). Arvo Salo's Lapualaisooppera (1966; “The Lapua Opera”), a pacifist declaration and condemnation of the semifascist Lapualaisliike (“Lapua Movement”) of the 1930s, also exemplified the cultural climate of the 1960s. The socially critical pamphlet emerged as a favoured genre. Paavo Rintala, a prolific writer, cultivated the documentary novel, frequently addressing issues related to World War II. In his later works he used history as a filter through which to assess contemporary society as well as his own place in it (e.g., Faustus 【1996】). A writer who took a somewhat different path was Pentti Holappa, a political columnist and poet, praised for the formal mastery of his diction. He introduced the French nouveau roman ( New Novel) to Finland.

Finland's development during the following decades moved between opposites: the party-loyal politicized culture of the 1970s, an era that witnessed an oil crisis and economic downturn, yielded to the prosperous and self-centred '80s. In the 1990s Finland suffered a serious economic setback, with its unemployment figures higher than those recorded in the 1930s during the Great Depression. The nation's social fabric did not escape unscathed.

The great novel of the 1970s was Hannu Salama's Siinä näkijä missä tekijä (1972; “Where There's a Crime There's a Witness”), which explored a communist resistance movement during the War of Continuation. Salama had made literary history already with an earlier novel, Juhannustanssit (1964; “Midsummer Dance”), for which he was charged with blasphemy; his prison sentence was subsequently overturned by the country's president. Many prose writers of the '70s cultivated the regional novel, including Heikki Turunen, with his realistic depictions of northern Karelia, and Antti Tuuri of Ostrobothnia, with an unemotional, modernistic style. Eeva Kilpi, also an accomplished poet, became best known for her autobiographical novels about Karelian evacuees after World War II. Leena Krohn—a socially active writer, deeply concerned with the ethical dimensions of literature—depicted the world from the perspective of insects in her novel Tainaron (1985; Tainaron: Mail from Another City), written in epistolary form. Matti Pulkkinen's Romaanihenkilön kuolema (1985; “The Death of a Fictional Character”), a postmodern novel that probes the possibilities of literary expression, caused a stir for its seemingly reactionary political views. Olli Jalonen and Annika Idström focused on the darker aspects of contemporary life. Jalonen's Hotelli eläville (1983; “Hotel for the Living”) offers a dystopic view of modern society, while Idström's Veljeni Sebastian (1985; My Brother Sebastian) explores the forces of evil through dysfunctional family relationships. Rosa Liksom (pseudonym of Anni Ylävaara) is a master of short prose who offers snapshots, usually rather grim ones, of the lives of social outsiders and eccentrics—a loner in Lapland or a drug addict in Helsinki—in language attuned to each environment. Whether her works use a dialect from northern Finland or urban Helsinki slang, they always include a robust helping of absurd humour. Other contemporary writers of note include Markku Envall, noted for his aphorisms, and Sirkka Turkka, who in her poetry addresses the fundamental issues of existence in an idiom that freely mixes the high and the low. Other prominent prose writers at the turn of the 21st century included Hannu Mäkelä, Hannu Raittila, Mari Mörö, and Irja Rane.