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Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872) - Alexis Kivi (Kiwi) - originally Alexis Stenvall

 

Finnish national writer, playwright, poet, novelist, whose major work was Seitsemän veljestä (1870, Seven Brothers). Aleksis Kivi was the first professional writer publishing his works in Finnish. He died in poverty at the age of thirty-eight.

JUHANI:  . . .  What more? Isn't  our home now without the poor man's only treat, the roaring steam of the sauna? There the ruins of our sauna smoke and smoulder. And there's still the worst of devils left. Hrrh! With all its ten holes the stocks grin at us from the church porch. Bright lightning!  If such a bunch of worries doesn't lift a razor to a man's throat, what will? Oh you horned bull!
EERO: Now your memory is a little weak; there aren't ten holes in the stocks.
JUHANI: How many then?
EERO: How many stars in Charley's Wain, how many sons at Jukola?

JUHANI: We are seven. Seven holes therefore and seven sons. Well, all the worse. Seven holes! Always worse and worse. See how men and hard fate are joined together against us. Seven holes like millstone-eyes! What a mockery of hard fate!

(from
Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi, translated by Alex Matson, revised for the third edition by Irma Rantavaara, Helsinki: Tammi, 1973, pp. 94-95)

Aleksis Kivi was born at Nurmijärvi in southern Finland, some twenty miles north of Helsinki. He came from a poor background. His mother was Annastiina (Hamberg) Stenvall, the daughter of a smith, who was five years older than her husband. Eerik Johan Stenvall, Kivi's father, was a tailor, who could read and write. Eerik had learnt Swedish, the language every educated Finnish spoke, before a Finnish-language culture fully developed. Kivi also acquired a complete mastery of Swedish. However, in the wake of national awakening Kivi translated his surname (Stenvall, 'stone-bank') into Finnish (Kivi, 'stone').

In 1846, at the age of twelve, Kivi left for school in Helsinki, where he found lodgings at the home of a prison warder. For a year his teacher was A.J. Cranberg, an old sailor, and at his small cottage Kivi studied among others Swedish. While living at the home of a master tailor, named Albin Palmqvist, he read whatever books he managed to find.

With Palmqvist's daughter, Albina, who was five years his senior, Kivi discussed of such writers as Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Byron. Kivi fell in love with Albina, and according to some sources, he proposed marriage. Albina went in 1853 to Denmark, where she started to use morphin for her neuralgia. During the following years, Albina spent much time abroad, but when she visited Finland, she met Kivi several times. Kivi never married and Albina also remained single. She possibly influenced a number of Kivi's female characters in his plays, including Liisa in Yö ja päivä (1866), Elma in Karkurit (1866), Lea in Lea (1868), Marianne in Canzio (1868).

Kivi managed to finish in 1857 secondary school, despite occasionally neglecting his studies – partly because he suffered from hunger. In 1859 Kivi managed to enter the University of Helsinki, where he read the classics of world literature. At the Swedish theatre in Helsinki, he saw plays by Molière and Schiller and  became familiar with the work of the Danish dramatist Ludvig Holberg. Kivi's first drama, Kullervo, won a competition held by the Finnish Literature Society. The work was based on the Kalevala. Shakespeare's influence was seen in its dramatic technique. With the prize money Kivi could continue his literary career.

Kullervo established Kivi as a rising literary talent. His friends included such Finnish-speaking intellectuals as Fredrik Cygnaeus, Elias Lönnrot, Julius Krohn, and Emil Nervander. J.V. Snellman, a philosopher, journalist and politician, helped him economically. 

At university Kivi studied sporadically. He was more interested in writing and intended to become a celebrated poet like Runeberg. While in Nurmijärvi and Siuntio he relied on the loving care of Charlotta Lönnqvist, a self-sacrificing benefactress. Perhaps also the Adlercreutz family gave him some kind of support.

From 1863 Kivi devoted himself to his calling. He published 12 plays, collection of poems, and Seven Brothers, on which he worked for ten years.  When the novel finally appeared, it was crushed by the influential critic and poet August Ahlqvist, whose insensitiveness became later a symbol of oppression of artistic freedom. "It is a ridiculous work and a blot on the name of Finnish literature," Ahlqvist stated in the newspaper Finlands Allmäna Tidningen.

Seven Brothers – seven, like the number of stars in the Big Dipper – came out first in four volumes in 1870. The humorous novel tells of bunch of orphaned young men. To evade the Lutheran Church's requirement, that they learn to read and write before confirmation, and embracing the idea of back to nature, the brothers flee to the wilderness. After encountering all kinds of disasters, they return to society – matured and ready to take responsibilities.

These "country lads" won Kivi many enemies, who mostly came from the Fennoman movement. Fennomans emphasized agrarian and conservative values and traditions. However, the folk types that populate Kivi's work are not modelled on an idealized picture of the people. Kivi made fun with ignorance, laziness, tendency to heavy drinking, and antipathy towards formal education. Moreover, one of the seven brothers, named Simeoni, is a psychiatric case of some sort: he is fanatically religious, suffers from depression, and hallucinates. Simeoni remains unmarried. A miser, he eats moldy bread.

The mixture of comical, mythological, and tragic was not understood in Kivi's own time. Nowadays Seven Brothers has been interpreted at many levels. Having nearly finished the first draft of his translation of Ibsen's Peer Gynt, the poet Pentti Saarikoski thought that Kivi is better writer than Ibsen, because "you get this feeling that he made up the words himself, that every single word was being used for the very first time." (Aleksis Kivi and/as World Literature by Douglas Robinson, 2017,  p. 20)

In 1865 Kivi won the State Prize for his play Nummisuutarit (The Heath Cobblers). He lived in Siuntio from 1864, reading, writing, visiting his friends in Helsinki – and when he could afford it, he drank in local taverns. Noteworthy, Kivi also wrote a play about a beer outing at Schleusingen, Olviretki Schleusingenissä (1866), which was not published during his lifetime. This farce contains a brisk drinking song: "Terve, ruskee ohranneste": "Hail, brown barley juice, / Hail strong foaming cheer! / Let it all go down / So long as it's beer." (from 'Drinking Song,' in Odes by Aleksis Kivi, selected and translated with an introduction by Keith Bosley,  Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 1994, p. 46)

Although Kivi had many faithful friends, such as Kaarlo Bergbom, who established the Finnish Theatre, he was deeply depressed by the harsh words of criticism from Ahlqvist and others of his kind.

Most of his life Kivi was healthy. While in Nurmijärvi, he liked to swim, fish, and roam the wild forests with his rifle on his shoulder. The final period of Kivi's lfe was shadowed by economical worries, and a physical and mental breakdown.

From the late 1860s, Charlotta Lönnqvist could not support the author any more. All of Kivi's money, which he earned from his writings, went to debts. Showing signs of schizophrenia, Kivi was committed to the mental hospital in Lapinlahti. It has also been suggested that he suffered from borreliosis (lyme disease). Upon arrival, Kivi was given quinine, morphine, and laxative. Other therapeutic methods in Lapinlahti included straitjacketing, forced baths, and solitary confinement in dark rooms.

After nine months, on May 1872, Kivi's brother Albert brought him from Lapinlahti to Tuusula, where he spent his last months in a small rented cottage. Kivi died on the same year on December 31. According to the popular legend his last words were: "Minä elän!" (I am alive!).

Grove of Tuoni, grove of night!
There thy bed of sand is light.
Thither my baby I lead.

Mirth and joy each long hour yields
In the Prince of Tuoni's fields
Tending the Tuonela cattle.

Mirth and joy my babe will know,
Lulled to sleep at evening glow
By the pale Tuonela maiden.

Surely joy hours will hold,
Lying in thy cot of gold,
Hearing the nightjar singing.

Grove of Tuoni, grove of peace!
There all strife and passion cease.
Distant the treacherous world.

('Grove of Tuoni,' translated by Alex Matson,  Voices from Finland: An Anthology of Finnish Verse and Prose in English, Finnish and Swedish, edited by Elli Tompuri, Sanoma Osakeyhtiö, 1947, p. 149) 

One of Aleksis Kivi's most famous poems is 'Sydämeni laulu' (Grove of Tuoni, grove of night / Song of my Heart) – a dark and very moving work, in which a woman seems to wish her baby dead. The poem was basis for Jean Sibelius song (Op. 18 No. 6) with the same title from 1898. A mother sits alone with her child and asks: "Tell me, my child, my summerbright, tell me: wouldst thou not sail away from here to a haven of everlasting peace while the white pennant of childhood still flies clean? On the shore of a misty, tideless lake stands the dark manor of Tuoni; there in the heart of a shadowy grove, in the bosom of a dewy thicket a cradle is prepared for thee with snowy linen and wrappings. Hear therefore my song; it wafts thee to the land of the Prince of Tuoni. (Voices from Finland, p. 149) In Finnish mythology, Tuoni is the god of the Underworld, Tuonela is the land of the dead.

Usually literary critics have emphasized humorous aspects of Seven Brothers. None of the seven die, but death is one of themes in the book, starting from the backgound of the brothers: their parents have died.

For further reading: Aleksis Kivi by V. Tarkainen (1915); Aleksis Kiven muisto by V. Tarkiainen (1919); Aleksis Kivi aikalaistensa arvostelemana by J.V. Lehtonen (1931); Nurmijärven poika by J.V. Lehtonen (1934); Aleksis Kiven persoonallisuus by Paavo E.S. Elo (1950); Aleksis Kiven runomaailma by Lauri Viljanen (1953); Aleksis Kivi 1860-1960. Bibliografinen opas Kiven maailmaan by Sulo Haltsonen (1964); Runoilija ja arvostelija by Eino Kauppinen (1966); Aleksis Kivi by Erik Ekelund (in Swedish 1960, translated into Finnish 1966); Aleksis Kiven näytelmät by Aarne Kinnunen (1967); Aleksis Stenvallin elämä by Veijo Meri (1973); A History of Finnish Literature by Jaakko Ahokas (1973); Tuli, aurinko ja seitsemän veljestä by Aarne Kinnunen (1974); Aleksis Kivi by Rafael Koskimies (1974); Paloon Stenvallit by Jaakko Puokka (1979); Syksystä jouluun by Kalle Achté (1982); Elon saarel tääl by Veijo Meri (1984); Aleksis Kiven maailmasta, ed. by Markku Envall (1984); Aleksis Kivi by Kai Laitinen (1989); Kohtalon vaihtoehdot by Oiva Ketonen (1989); Lumivalkea liina: Aleksis Kivi ja rakkaus by Esko Rahikainen (1998); 'Kivi, Pioneer and Classic' by Kai Laitinen, in A History of Finland's Literature, edited by George C. Schoolfield (1998); Aleksis Kivi by Hannes Sihvo (2002); Seitsemän veljestä ja lukemisen juonet by Aarne Kinnunen (2002); Metsän poika: Aleksis Kiven elämä by Esko Rahikainen (2004); Albina: Aleksis Kiven suuri rakkaus by Anja Kauppala (2003); Vimman villityt pojat by Pirjo Lyytikäinen (2005); Impivaaran kaski: Aleksis Kivi kirjallisuutemme korvenraivaajana by Esko Rahikainen (2009); Nyt ei auta pelko eikä vapistus: Aleksis Kiven terveydestä, kirjeistä, unista ja seitsemästä veljeksestä, edited by Jukka Aaltonen, et al. (2015); Kanervakankaalla: näkökulmia Aleksis Kiven runouteen, edited by Päivi Koivisto (2017); Aleksis Kivi and/as World Literature by Douglas Robinson (2017); Ihmissydän: henkilöitä ja kohtaloita A. Kiven maailmoissa by Reeta Holopainen, Sakari Katajamäki, Ossi Kokko (2018); Aleksis Kiven elämä ja sairaudet: tutkimus Aleksis Kiven sairauksista hänen elämänsä eri vaiheissa by Raimo K.R. Salokangas (2018); Saapasnahka-torni: Aleksis Kiven elämänkertomus by Teemu Keskisarja (2018); Mansikoita ja mustikoita: näkökulmia Aleksis Kiven runouteen. II, edited by Päivi Kovisto & Hanna Karhu (2020); Seitsemän veljestä ja opas sen lukemiseen, edited by Sakari Katajamäki (2020); 'Shakespeare's Legacy and Aleksis Kivi: Rethinking Kivi's Drama Karkurit [The Fugitives]' by Riitta Pohjola-Skarp, in Disseminating Shakespeare in the Nordic Countries: Shifting Centres and Peripheries in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Nely Keinänen and Per Sivefors (2022); 'Jukolan veljekset maallikkopsykiatrin vastaanotolla: ADHD-nimike ja muut tarttuvat diagnoosit Seitsemän veljeksen nykyluennassa' by Jani Tanskanen, in  Kulttuurintutkimus, Vol. 39 Nro 1 (2022); Alexis: elämänkertomus by Vesa Haapala (2023) - Literary festival: Kivi's birth-county Nurmijärvi is celebrating the national writer every year with plays and other events based on his works. Aleksis Kivi & Seitsemän veljestä featured in films, plays, opera, novels: Minä elän (1946), film dir. by Ilmari Unho, starring Rauli Tuomi; Nuori Aleksis (1947), novel, written by Elsa Soini; Aleksi Kivi (1974), play, written by Veijo Meri; Yössä Gehennan (1984), play, written by Ilpo Tuomarila; Yks perkele, yks enkeli (1985), play, written by Arvo Salo; Stenvallin tapaus (1995), novel, written by Kirsti Manninen and Jouko Raivio; Aleksi Kivi ja Serbian prinsessa (1996), novel, written by Antero Viinikainen; Aleksis Kivi (1997), opera, composed by Einojuhani Rautavaara; Aleksis Kiven elämä (2002), film dir. by Jari Halonen, starring Marko Tiusanen; Kivi (2010), novel, written by Hannu Mäkelä; Seitsemän veljestä (2021) novel, written by Juha Hurme; Karhunkaatajan tyttäret: kertomus seitsemästä sisaruksesta (2023), novel, written by Anneli Jordahl, translated by Jaana Nikula

Selected works:

  • Kullervo, 1859 (play)
    - Kullervo (music by Aulis Sallinen; svensk översättning Lars Huldén,1993)
    - Aleksis Kivi's Heath Cobblers (Nummisuutarit) and Kullervo (translated by Douglas Robinson, 1993) / Kullervo (music by Aulis Sallinen; English translation Erkki Arni, 1993) - Hu hai en chou lu = Wuhoi jansau luk = A Legend of Hate and Love around the Sea and the Lake/Kullervo (translated by Chapman Chen, 2005)
  • Nummi-suutarit: komedia 5:ssä näytöksessä, 1864 (play)
    - Sockenskomakarna (övers. av Per Åke Laurén, 1917)
    - Aleksis Kivi's Heath Cobblers (Nummisuutarit) and Kullervo (translated by Douglas Robinson, 1993)
    - films: Nummisuutarit, 1923, dir. Erkki Karu, starring Axel Slangus, Heidi Blåfield, Kirsti Suonio, Aku Käyhkö; Nummisuutarit, 1938, dir. by Wilho Ilmari, starring Unto Salminen, Aku Korhonen and Siiri Angerkoski; Nummisuutarit, 1957, dir. by Valentin Vaala, starring Martti Kuningas, Lauri Leino, Alice Lyly; Puolimatkan krouvi, TV film 1967, dir. by Eino Salmelainen, Matti Tapio, starring Nisse Rainne, Reino Kalliolahti and Ossi Kostia; Eskon häämatka, TV film 1967, dir. by Eino Salmelainen, starring Lauri Leino, Elna Hellman, Tapani Perttu 
  • Vuoripeikot, 1864 (short story)
  • Kihlaus: komedia yhdessä näytöksessä, 1866 (play)
    - Förlofningen (öfvers. af Per Åke Laurén, 1916)
    - Eva (translated by R. P. Cowl, 1926, reprinted 1980)
    - films: 1922, dir. by Teuvo Puro, starring Iisakki Lattu, Martti Tuukka and Annie Mörk; 1955, dir. by Erik Blomberg, starring Mirjami Kuosmanen, Hannes Häyrinen. Heimo Lepistö; TV film 1961, dir. by Seppo Wallin, starring Kaarlo Halttunen, Leo Riuttu, Kirsti Ortola;  TV film 1966, dir. by Eino Salmelainen, Matti Tapio, starring Lauri Lahtinen, Veijo Pasanen, Jorma Huttunen 
  • Kanervala: runoelma, 1866
    - Ljunglandet och andra dikter (övers. av Thomas Warburton, 1995)
  • Yö ja päiwä: näytelmä yhdessä näytöksessä, 1866 (play)
    - Natt och dag (övers. av Arvid Mörne, 1915)
    - TV film 1967, dir. by Jouko Turkka, starring Jyrki Nousiainen, Merja Linko, Heikki Kinnunen, Olli Tuominen, Kristiina Halkola 
  • Karkurit: näytelmä viidessä näytöksessä, 1866 (play)
  • Olviretki Schleusingenissä, 1866 (play, published first time in Kootut teokset III, 1916)
    - TV film 1967, dir. by Veikko Kerttula, starring Arvi Anttila, Pekka Autiovuori and Tapio Hämäläinen, Leo Jokela, Heikki Kinnunen, Seppo Kolehmainen, Martti Kuisma, Rolf Labbart,Pekka Laiho, Matti Lehtelä, Seppo Lehtonen, Vesa-Matti Loiri, Esko Mattila, Matti Nurminen, Saara Pakkasvirta  
  • Canzio, 1868 (play)
  • Lea: näytelmä yhdessä näytöksessä, 1868 (play)
    - Lea: skådespel i två akter (öfvers. af Per Åke Laurén, 1916)
    - TV film 1958, dir. by Kaarlo Wilska. Heikki Packalén, starring Lauri Lehtovaara, Iris-Lilja Lassila, Jaakko Pakkasvirta 
  • Seitsemän weljestä: kertomus, 1870/1873
    - Sju bröder (övers. av Per Åke Laurén, 1919; Elmer Diktonius, illustrerad av Marcus Collin, 1948; Thomas Warburton, 1987)
    - Seven Brothers: A Novel (translated by Alex Matson 1929/1952) / The Seven Brothers (translated by  Rickhard A. Impola, 1991) / The Brothers Seven: A Tale (translated by Douglas Robinson, 2017)
    - films: Seitsemän veljestä, dir. Wilho Ilmari 1939, starring Edvin Laine, Eino Kaipainen, Kaarlo Kytö, Kaarlo Kartio, Joel Rinne, Unto Salminen, Arvo Kuusla; TV series 1960-61, starring Olavi Naalisvaara, Keijo Komppa, Ari Laine, Oiva Luhtala, Raul Wallinvirta, Kai Savola, Ernest Ervasti; 1976, dir. by Kalle Holmberg, Matti Tapio, starring Esko Salminen, Vesa-Matti Loiri and Heikki Kinnunen; animation 1979, dir.  Riitta Nelimarkka, Jaakko Seeck; TV-drama in 12 parts 1989, dir. by Jouko Turkka, starring Kai Lehtinen, Jarmo Mäkinen, Martti Suosalo, Jari Pehkonen, Taisto Reimaluoto, Pertti Koivula, Tero Jartti; TV film 2004, dir. by Kari Heiskanen, starring Pekka Räty, Tom Petäjä, Tapani Kalliomäki, Mikko Jurkka, Paavo Honkimäki, Janne Kallioniemi, Iikka Forss
  • Margareta: näytelmä yhdessä näytöksessä, 1871 (play)
  • Valitut teokset I-II, 1877-78 (foreword by Eliel Aspelin-Haapkylä)
  • Koto ja kahleet, 1878 (short story)
    - TV film 1971, dir. by Mirjam Himberg, starring Pekka Autiovuori, Veikko Honkanen, Kauko Laurikainen, Lauri Leino, Marjatta Linna, Risto Palm, Vilho Siivola, Maija-Leena Soinne
  • Paimentyttö: kertovainen runoelma, 1904 (ed. A.V. Forsman)
  • Kootut teokset 1-4, 1915-19 (edited by E.A. Saarimaa ja V. Tarkiainen; 1944-5; fourth printing 1984)
  • Selman juonet, 1916 (play, in Kootut teokset. 3)
    - TV film 1984, dir. by Seppo Wallin, starring Pekka Autiovuori, Hannu Huuska and Martti Järvinen
  • Leo ja Liina, 1916 (play, in Kootut teokset. 3)
  • Valikoima runoja, 1916 (ed. E. A. Saarimaa and V. Tarkiainen)
  • Alma, 1916 (play, in Kootut teokset. 3)
  • Eriika, 1922 (short story)
  • Kanervala: runoelmia, 1944 (illustrated by Matti Visanti)
  • Sydämeni laulu: Aleksis Kiven runokartano, 1946 (illustrated by Matti Visanti)
  • Aleksis Kiven ajatuksia, 1946 (edited by Eino Kauppinen)
  • Aleksis Kiven tarinoita, 1947 (illustrated by Matti Visanti)
  • Vuoripeikot, 1947 (illustrated by Erkki Tanttu, afterword by Oskari Nousiainen)
  • Kootut runot, 1954 (introduction by Lauri Viljanen)
  • Halavan himmeän alla, 1988
  • Heilahda korkealle keinu: valikoima runoja, 1988 (edited by Salme Saure)
  • Odes, 1994 (selected and translated with an introduction by Keith Bosley)
  • Sydämeni laulu: valikoima runoja, 2007 (illustrated by Pekka Vuori)
  • Kaukametsä: Aleksis Kiven runoja, 2009 (eds. Aimo Hakkarainen and Timo Niitemaa)
  • Aleksis Kivi: Kirjeet. Kriittinen editio, 2012 (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura; edited by Juhani Niemi et al.)
  • Olviretki Schleusingenissä: näytelmällinen osotelma neljässä osassa: Kriittinen editio, 2018 (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura; edited by Juhani Niemi, et al.)
  • Canzio: näytelmä viidessä näytöksessä: Kriittinen editio, 2019 (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura; edited by Juhani Niemi, et al.)
  • Yö ja päivä; Lea; Alma; Margareta: Kriittinen editio, 2019 (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, edited by Pentti Paavolainen, et al.)


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