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Timo K. Mukka (1944-1973) |
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Finnish novelist, poet, short story writer, and artist, who depicted in his works the sexual fervor and ecstatic religiosity of the Lappish people. Timo K. Mukka's creative period lasted only six years. He died at the age of 28, his heath broken, depressed, and crucified by the leading sensationalist magazine of the 1970s. Mukka's best-known novel is Maa on syntinen laulu (1964, the earth is a sinful song), a story of sex, nature, fear of God, and death. Its rough, naturalistic film adaptation, directed by Rauni Mollberg, gained a huge popularity in the 1970s. "Ajatukseni virtaus on joskus kuin oikullinen luonteeni yleensä: etenkin niinä hetkinä joina voin eläytyä siihen mitä muinoin ennen tätä hetkeä tein. Mutta tarkemmin ajatellessani: sen teema on sama (mitä muutakaan se voisi), talvi. Siitä ei pääse minnekään. Ulkona on talvi, joulukuu. Pakkanen. Täällä sisällä ei palele eikä ole paha olla, ellei yhtämittaista halua kiduttaa itseään katselemalla ikkunasta ulos. Televisiossa on se, mitä me kaipaamme: viihdytys, jotta emme enää milloinkaan muistaisi, että kerran oli olemassa jotakin loistavampaa ja lämmittävää: aurinko." (in Täältä jostakin by Timo K. Mukka, Helsinki: Gummerus, fifth printing, 2015, p. 9) Timo Kustaa Mukka was born in Bollnäs, Sweden, where the
family was
evacuated in 1944 during the Lapland War between Finland and Germany, but he grew up in the village of Orajärvi in
Pello in northern Finland. While retreating from Lapland, the Germans burned their house in Orajärvi. Mukka's father, Kustaa Eemeli Mukka (b. 1898), married at the age of 42 Elli
Tuomi (b. 1910); she was 12 years younger. Timo was their third child. Kustaa
Eemeli earned his living in odd jobs, he was a Communist, and used to
survive periods of unemployment. Mukka learned to read before he went
to school. His artistic talents in painting, drawing, and literature
were noted already in his childhood, and also encouraged by his family.
At school, Mukka was an excellent student. Despite the family's poverty, his parents valued education and culture. At the age of 11 Mukka got Dostoevsky's Crime and
Punishment from the small village library. After finishing the book
he asked the librarian, "Do you have more from this
Dostoevsky?" Another important work for him was L. M Montgomery's Pieni runotyttö
(Emily of New Moon). He also began DXing. In 1957 Mukka contracted
cerebral meningitis. The illness
changed his personality – he suffered from headaches, started to smoke
and retired into his shell. His first collection of poems Mukka sent to the Karisto publishing house. It was
rejected. The rejection of his first novel by Gummerus, a logging story, was a passing disappointment. Mukka wrote it at the age of sixteen. This work, set in a logging site, dealt with sex, death, and abuse of young girls. After working in odd jobs and studying in Rovaniemi in a
vocational
school, Mukka left Lapland and entered in 1961, at the age of
seventeen, The School of the Fine Arts Academy. The move was made possible by a small inheritance from his uncle. In Helsinki he
met Tuula Pekkola, also an art student; they married two years later.
In Helsinki Mukka's moods changed between depression and exhilaration,
he neglected his studies, and he did not pass the probationary year.
Occasionally he could paint enthusiastically, and although his formal
art studies were relatively short, his sense of form became more
firmer. Some
of Mukka's paintings show the influence of Vincent van
Gogh
and Paul Gauguin. In an expressionistic oil
painting from 1962 he presented two naked women praying. The other is
pregnant and the heavy colors create an oppressive atmosphere. Later
similar religious anxiety marked his first novels. Together with other
art students, he traveled to Leningrad, where he visited the Hermitage
Museum.Mukka believed in socialism. "Jos sosialismi on haluttava,
ihmistä kiehtova, niin kyllä tiekin sinne löytyy," he thought. (Miltä männystä tuntuu olla mähty: Timo K. Mukan elämä by Sini Silveri, Helsinki: Gummerus, 2024, p. 64) In
the spring of 1962 Mukka returned ito Lapland,
without any clear plan what he would do next. His father Eemeli died in
the same year. Mukka took odd jobs to support his mother. During this aimless period Mukka applied for a national basic pension due to psychic reasons. His doctor stated that the best cure for his neuroses would be service in the Army. After a sudden religious awakening in Posio – he had been reading the Bible since his youth – Mukka joined the Jehovah's Witnesses for a period. In 1963 he painted several portraits of his family, among them a watercolor of a dead man, his father. In 1963 Mukka read Hamsun's novel Nälkä (Hunger); it had a deep impact on him. When his first book appeared Mukka was 19 – he had sent the
manuscript of Maa on syntinen laulu
(The Earth is a Sinful Song) to the publishing company Gummerus two
years earlier. In spite of mixed critics the book sold well – southern
critics were more negative than northern, but Mukka's romanticism was
ignored, or misunderstood in general. Helsingin Sanomat considered
the
work brutal and banal. In Pello, where Laestadianiam, a Pietist revival
movement, had a firm footing, the novel was sold under the counter in
the local bookshop. "Poudan Elina, joka on istunut aivan saarnaajan
edessä, nousee seisomaan. Monet seuraavat hänen esimerkkiään, heidän
silmänsä harittavat, kyyneleet eivät enää vuoda, vartalot huojuvat
edestakaisin. Mäkelän äijä maiskauttelee suutaan, puristelee
hurmioituneen naisen rintoja, Kurkelaisen emäntä tömistää jaloillaan.
Saarnaaja alentaa ääntään kuiskauksiksi. Outakodan Armaan lyhyt,
korkearintainen vaimo itkee: – Antheeksi jiesus, antheeksi . . .
yöläki mie sinua rukkoilin . . . silti meni lehmä . . .
antheeksi." (in Maa on syntinen laulu by Timo K. Mukka, Helsinki: Gummerus, 1966, p. 102) Mukka defended himself in a letter to his publisher in 1963, that "I don't intentionally aim at obscenities. I only write the way it must be written." The writer Panu Rajala has pointed out that Mukka had called his work "ballad" in its subtitle. It starts with a songlike poem and ends with words from a hymn. The story focuses on a young girl, Martta, her family, and the primitive living conditions in a remote village in Lapland. Changes in Martta's somewhat plumb body become a metaphor for the cyclical patterns of nature and human life. (At the beginning, she is photographed naked when she wakes up and later in the film, there is a sauna scene.) Martta falls in love with a young reindeer-breeding Laplander, Oula, and becomes pregnant. Her father, Isä-Juhani, chases Oula on thin spring ice, it breaks and Oula drowns. At the end Martta's gives a birth to an illegitimate child – life goes on. Isä-Juhani hangs himself. Before
the publication of the book, the writer Oiva Arvola met
Mukka
in Pello, where he lived a peaceful life with his wife – Tuula was
employed there as an art teacher in 1963 – hunting and
fishing, as he had done since his childhood. Arvola characterized his
colleague as shy and taciturn; he struggled with words and Arvola felt
that he was all the time embarrassed. From Pello, in the valley of the River Tornionjoki, the family moved to
Orajärvi. Their financial problems continued. Mukka began to read the Mahabharata. While in Mallorca with Tuula, Mukka met the writer Juhani Peltonen. In 1970 the Mukkas were evicted from their apartment due to unpaid rent. Like Dostoevsky, Mukka was an obsessive gambler. However, there was no casinos in Lapland. During his drinking bouts Mukka could play all his money and end far from home – once as far as to Canary Islands. Mukka's affairs with other women made his homecomings often catastrophic. After moving to Rovaniemi, Mukka lived city life. He planned to write a historical play on Simo Hurtta (ca. 1660–1725), a ruthless Swedish tax official. In Rauni Mollberg's film version of The Earth is a Sinful Song nearly all of the actors were amateurs, whose ostentatiously less refined outlook arose a debate about racism. Especially Mollberg's portrayal of the Lappish people as primitive and exotic was both criticized and praised. "Pleasures are simple—an outdoor dance (where a drifter is killed); drink; religion; the sauna; and sex, indulged in and depicted with a minimum of fuss.The seasons pass. Lives change. People grow up, grow older, die, are killed, are born. The cycle is ancient and eternal; the landscape is literal paradise and figurative hell." (The New York Times, November 19, 1975) Mollberg shows in close-ups, how Martha's father puts his hand inside a cow's birth canal. The film was shot in the village of Kittilä, north of Pello. Backwardness, pietism, and sex proved to be an irresistible combination for the public. Against expectations, The Earth is a Sinful Song was a phenomenal commercial and critical success and received much attention abroad as well. It was Mollberg's debut film, although he had directed much for the television. In
1964 Mukka started his service in the Army. He was soon in
conflict with its system by refusing to carry a weapon and swear his
oath. In the military hospital he was given Librium. When an old
barracks building burned down, he was interrogated three times, before it turned out that the
house had been set in fire by an assistant duty officer, who was a
pyromaniac. After Mukka was
discharged he published a pacifist novel, Täältä jostakin (1965),
which was largely based on his own experiences. Tabu (1965), published a few months after The
Earth is a Sinful Song,
depicted the sexual and religious awakening of a thirteen-year oldy
girl. Milka, the narrator,
falls in love with an elder man, called "Kristus-Perkele" (the
Christ-Devil). He also has an affair with her mother, Anna.
Eventually he leaves them both and Milka has his child. Mukka once
described the novella as a parody of the holy family. In Hebrew the
name Milka means "queen, ruler" (Milcah). Both Milka and her mother
descend into madness. Anna's name refers to Saint Anne, the mother of
Virgin Mary. Tabu
was adapted into screen by Mollberg under the title Milka
(1980). Mollberg's film was praised for its photography and poetry.
Again the director used amateurs. Irma Huntus, a 17-year-old school
girl, was cast in the title role. She had
several naked scenes. These shots confused her life in the small
village where she returned after the filming was over. Helena Ylänen
wrote in the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, that Mollberg had
"unleashed his fascination with the white naked human flesh. He makes a
number of excuses to undress people, in particular the undeveloped
girl's body of Milka." Mukka quickly gained a reputation as a writer of "sexual hysyteria". The poet Pentti Saaritsa defined him in the Ylioppilaslehti (student newspaper) as "villin pohjolan sexus". In 1966 Mukka published two thin books – Laulu Sipirjan lapsista, meditative observations about life in a northern village in two periods, and Punaista, a collection of songs and poems. Koiran kuolema (1967) was a collection of short stories about sexuality and death, and did not bring much new to Mukka's favorite themes. In the late 1960s he actively participated into various literary events and discussions. He had joined the Communist Party in 1966 and two years later he stood as a candidate in the municipal elections without much success. "I want to give rise to revolutions," Mukka said in an article. He traveled in the Soviet Union and in 1969 he spent a month in Iceland, sitting much of the time at a bar counter. The artist Reidar Särestöniemi became Mukka's close friend in the mid-1960s. With Särestöniemi, he went to Stockholm to help him to set up an exhibition. They traveled to Las Palmas in 1968. Mukka himself never held a private exhibition. Ja kesän heinä kuolee (1968) was about a writer, named Timo, who has problems with his writing, but his sexual energy is inexhaustible. Timo is shot by his friend Lars, a moviemaker. This book received poor reviews. Heimo Pihlajamaa called the work half-done in the literary journal Parnasso – "lyrical parts were awkward reading". Lumen taju was a collection of enigmatic, dream-like stories, defying easy interpretations. The graphic design of the book by his new publisher, WSOY, was more refined than in his previous works. In its last story, 'Susi' (the wolf), a border guard jaeger hunts a wolf and kills it when it is asleep. Back in the garrison a company commander kisses the dead animal. In the morning one of the jaegers has disappeared and the wolf lies in his bed. Kyyhky ja unikko (1970) came out when Mukka was 25 – it was his last novel, a sad ballad of Pieti, who is tired of living, and Darja, a young girl, who brings love into his empty life, before Pieti kills her. In addition to his literary writing, Mukka contributed short pieces to DX-aaja magazine. From the late 1969 Mukka planned a large book on Lapland, its myths, families, and sources of livelihood. One of its models was Chin Ping Mei, the classical Chinese novel from the 16th century. The project was never realized. Mukka continued with his suicidal habits – he smoked years about 3-4 packs of cigarettes daily, drank 30-40 cups of coffee, and stayed awake at nights. In 1972 he had an infarct of the heart. The notorious article, 'Riiput jo ristillä. Timo K. Mukka' (You are already hanging on a cross . . .), published in the magazine Hymy in 1973, was an additional, cruel blow on the author, and shadowed his last months. The article was written under the psudonym Rauno Jaakkola. A few years earlier Hymy had published an article on Mukka entitled 'Juon itseni hengiltä' (I drink myself to death), written by Raimo Jussila, again a psedonym. Mukka died in Rovaniemi of a heart attack on March 27, 1973. Next year appeared Erno Paasilinna's biography of the author, an analysis of the social conditions and personal problems that eventually broke him. Timo K. Mukka (1996), published by Pohjoinen in the Ars Nordica series, again drew attention to the work of "the holy sexus of the north" and introduced his lesser known artistic production. For further reading: 'Tulkinta romaanista Maa on syntinen laulu' by Panu Rajala, in Romaani ja tulkinta, ed. Mirjam Polkunen (1973); 'Riiput jo ristillä. Timo K. Mukka' by Risto Juhani in Hymy (1/1973); Timo K. Mukka: legenda jo eläessään by Erno Paasilinna (1974); 'Eräitä fragmentteja Timo K. Mukan kirjailijankohtalosta' by Oiva Arvola, in Suomalaisia kirjailijoita: kirjailijat kirjailijoista, ed. Mirjam Polkunen and Auli Viikari (1982); Marginalia ja kirjallisuus, ed. Matti Savolainen (1995); Timo K. Mukka 1944-1973, ed. Riitta Kuusikko (1996); 'Rural and Urban Lives' by Markku Envall, in A History of Finland's Literature, edited by George C. Schoolfield (1998); 'Pohjoiset reservit' by Maria Lähteenmäki, in Historiallinen aikakauskirja (3/2001); Olen maa johon tahdot: Timo K. Mukan maailmankuvan poetiikkaa by Leena Mäkelä-Marttinen (2008); Keskeltä melua ja ääntä: Timo K. Mukan myöhäistuotanto, kirjallisuuskäsitys ja niiden suhde 1960-luvun yhteiskunnallis-kulttuuriseen keskusteluun by Elina Arminen (2009); Kuvia pohjoisen tasavallasta: Mukka, Särestöniemi ja Palsa, edited by Jyrki Siukonen (2011); Maan höyryävässä sylissä by Toni Lahtinen (2013); Lappi palaa sodasta: mielen hiljainen jälleenrakennus, edited by Marja Tuominen & Mervi Löfgren (2018); 'Exotic and Primitive Lapland—Othering in The Earth Is a Sinful Song (1973)' by Kaisa Hiltunen, in Nordlit, November (2019); 'Trauma and Tragedy: Timo K. Mukka’s Tabu (Taboo),' in Fictions of Madness: Shattering Minds and Worlds in Modernist Finnish Literature by Anna Ovaska (2023); Miltä männystä tuntuu olla mähty: Timo K. Mukan elämä by Sini Silveri (2024) Selected works:
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