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Otto Manninen (1872-1950) |
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Finnish writer, poet, and highly acclaimed translator of world classics into Finnish. Along with Eino Leino in the beginning of the 20th century, Otto Manninen was a pioneer of poetry, who combined short expression with rich nuances. As a translator Manninen's range extended from Homer to Heine, and from Scandinavian dramatists to Finland-Swedish poets. In his own time Manninen's poems were not so widely read as his translations. All things like the twilight waver, Otto Manninen was born in Kangasniemi into a well-to-do farmer
family, known from the sixteeth century. Otto was the first of ten
childred of Topias and Matilda Manninen. Two of the children died very
young. Manninen was physically weak since birth. At the age of 21, he
was exempt from military service because of being underweight. Manninen studied at the Mikkeli Lyceum, where he learned
Latin and French, and later regretted his choice of Russian instead of
Greek as optional language. A top student, he was
awarded a stipend of 200 marks after graduating. (It was about twice a
worker's annual salary.) Manninen then entered the University
of Helsinki and received his M.A. in 1897. In 1898-1899 Manninen was subeditor of the literary magazine Valvoja. His early translations of Heine appeared in the student album Koitar, which the Savo-Karelian osakunta published sporadically. Parts of Heine's Saksanmaa: Talvinen tarina (Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen) came out in Valvoja in 1900 – the whole Finnish version was published in 1904 by Otava. Manninen
helped to introduce freer metres into Finnish poetry. In his
translations of Molière for the Finnish National Theatre, Manninen
created his own equivalent of
the alexandrine verse form, nicknamed "Manninen's alexandrine". (Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, edited by Mina Baker, 1998, p. 403) During these years, Manninen formed friendships with writers such as Ilmari
Calamnius (Ilmari Kianto), Kyösti Larson (Larin-Kyösti), and Maila
Talvio. Much of his satirical wit he directed at Kianto. When Eino Leino was writing his Helkavirsiä
(1903), they went through the text together. The result of this
cooperation was one of Leino's finest works. However, in the first year
it sold 229 copies. Manninen was appointed a lecturer at the University of Helsinki
in
1913, remaining at the post for the next 25 years. Viljo
Tarkiainen, an unseccessful competitor for the lectureship, published a
monograph on Manninen's work in 1933. In
addition, Manninen was a member of editorial staff of several
nonfiction
books, including the eleven volume Tietosanakirja (1909-21),
a language reviser for the Bible translation commitee (1921-37), and
the chairperson of the National Council for Literature for nearly
fifteen years. His follower in the 1930s was J.A. Hollo,
another prominent translator. Kuolo taikka voiton palmu! Otti, kiitti. - Orjan suku! In 1907 Manninen married Anni Swan, who
first had rejected his proposal. In between these years, Manninen sent love poems and self-reproaching letters to Swan. The
marriage became a happy union of two creative and similar, very private persons. They had
already dated while students in Mikkeli. Manninen was her persistent
suitor but Swan had
attraction towards Eino Leino. The writer Juhani Aho
encouraged Swan to focus on fairy tales. Satuja lapsille luettavaksi (1901),
illustarated by Aho's wife Venny Soldan-Brofelt, launched her career as the Finnish "Queen of fairy-tales". From the 1910s, the Manninens spent their summers on the island of Kotavuori in Puulavesi, where they built a villa. The place was visited by a number of their literary friends, Juhani Siljo, Joel Lehtonen, Aaro Hellaakoski. In the peaceful surroundings, Manninen finished his translations and did most of his other writings. Kotavuori became the subject of several of his small lyrical pieces. As a poet Manninen started his career relatively late, at the age of 33, with the collection Säkeitä I
(1905, Verses I). Many of its lyrics had appeared already in different
publications. The newest were pathetic farewell poems, dealing with feelings
after being rejected by loved one. In 'Paljon' Manninen wrote: "Lie mull' eessä mieron pettu, /
orvon taival, orjan taakka: / kiitos, ett' on kirjoitettu / kohtaloni
tähtiin saakka." The book, in which Manninen used his wide store of words from old written language, to archaisms and his own neologisms, sold only 358 copies in the Christmas market period. In his review in Uusi Suometar V.A. Koskenniemi found the work difficult because of its compressed expression: "Hra Manninen punoo ajatuksensa niin mutkikkaasti rakennettuihin lauseihin, että lukijan täytyy usein jonkun säkeen luettuaan palata takaisin etsimään ajatusta kuin langanpäätä sekaantuneesta lankavyyhdestä." (Otto Manninen: Säkeiden runoilija by Pentti Lyly, edited by Hanna Karhu & Tellervo Krogerus, 2022, p. 198) Moreover, the general opinion was that a great translator is not necessarily a great master of poetry. Manninen was very sensitive to criticism of any sort, hiding
it behind a mask of nonchalance. Koskenniemi's harsh words created a
permanent, undefinable
antagonism between the two poets. However, although the reviews were
mixed, Manninen was generally recognized as a highly original poetic
voice, and Säkeitä
was awarded the state prize for literature, 1300 marks. The finishing
poem 'Veet viihtyy' was according to Eino Leino among the best in the
collection. (Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden historia by Eino Leino, 1910, p. 86) Manninen published his verses at long intervals. The second collection, Säkeitä II
(Verses II), came out in 1910. One of its most analyzed poems is 'Musa lapidaria', about the process of creativity,
which Manninen originally wrote in Swedish. It took 15 years before he
finished the third collection, Virrantyven (1925, Still
waters). By this time, Manninen's expression had became more open and more intelligible to all. In his study Otto Manninen runoilijana (1933), Viljo Tarkiainen saw that Virrantyven did not reach the level of the earlier works. Most of the collection consisted of anniversary poems, translations, and patriotic poems written in the aftermath of the Civil War of 1918. Manninen was on the side of the Whites, and like F.E. Sillanpää, Eero Järnefelt, and his other associates, he had been a member of the Civil Guards. In Virrantyven, spring is a symbol of renewal and new hope,
but this old image was also given national and historical meanings. A
noteworthy exception in Manninen's nationalistic overtones is the
antimilitaristic 'Pyhä sota' (Holy war), which mocked expansionism
driven by the mentality of war – it could have been written by a
leftist poet, that he definitively was not. "Nykyaikainen sota on
inhimillistä, / kuten sivistyskansa on kaukana villistä. / Kera
kristityn kun soti valkoinen kristitty, / ain' onkin päät muotojen
mukaan listitty." At the end, Manninen makes a reference to the Dum-Dum
bullets. In 'Jean Sibelius', written for the composer's 50th
birthday, Manninen did not spare his words of praise, "In
triumph you arrive, and castles quake / and bosoms yield to beauty in
your wake. / None can resist the sceptre of your sounds: / your empire
grows a pace and knows no bounds." Sibelius wrote in his diary: "It's
diffucult not to parody all this." (poem translated by Keith Bosley, in Sibelius: A Composer's Life and the Awakening of Finland by Glenda Dawn Goss, 2009, p. 380) Matkamies (1938, The
traveler) was Manninen's last collection. It included several poems, such as 'Nyt' (Now) and
'Kaukainen tie' (Distant road), which dealt with the loss of his son
Sulevi (1909-36). Manninen describes him as a guiding star, who now
helps his father to accept his own fate. During his short career, Sulevi Manninen translated with his father Molière's play Porvari aatelismiehenä (The Bourgeois Gentleman) into Finnish and published a collection of poems, Levoton päivä (1936). The other sons, Antero and Mauno, also were writers. Antero Manninen, who worked as a civil servant at the university, translated among others Kipling's poem 'The White Man's Burden' into Finnish in 1976. Mauno Manninen (1915-1969), his youngest son, became a theater manager and wrote two collections of poems, Rautaiset tornit (1944) and Kaks silmää vain (1965). He married in 1965 Lina Heydrich, the widow of the assassinated Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich, known as "The Hangman" or The Butcher of Prague." Manninen translated into Finnish such world classics into Finnish as Goethe's Faust, Sophocles' Oedipus, Euripides' Medea, and Homeros' Ilias and Ulysses – the latter was also translated by Pentti Saarikoski in the 1970s. But when Manninen closely followed the classical hexameter and utilized the whole scale of language material, Saarikoski abandoned the meter, and took liberties with the original text to make the epic readable for the general public. Manninen's version, which do not correspond to standard Finnish usage, has been criticized for its artifical character. Nevertheless, as a literary achievement, it is unsurpassable. Saarikoski considered Manninen's Ulysses an ambitious, magnificent failure. (Pentti Saarikoski: vuodet 1964-1983 by Pekka Tarkka, 2003, p. 280) A supporter of the ideology of Finno-Ugric brotherhood, Manninen also translated into Finnish Estonian poetry and works by the Hungarian writers János Arany and Sándor Petöfi. Manninen's laconic, tight use of language, differed a lot from the dominating songful lyrics of the early decades of the 20th century. Viljo Tarkiainen stated in 1933 that a poet Manninen was more important to Finnish literature than his acclaimed translations. The British poet and translator Keith Bosley said of Manninen: "His own poems show him to be a kind of Finnish Valéry, and perhaps the most challenging Finnish poet to translate." (Skating on the Sea: Poetry from Finland, edited and translated by Keith Bosley, 1997, p. 17) From the first collection to the last, Manninen kept his quality high, without much changes in his plain style or world view. Pessimism and resignation is often the prevailing mood. Manninen's recurrent conclusion is that the best hopes and dreams are doomed to fail. 'Rauhanmies' in Virrantyven satirized conformity and loud-mouthedness: "Pois luonto lyhytmalttinen / ja paatos ylenpalttinen! / Tie tasainen, asfalttinen / on varmin vaeltaa." Noteworthy, when Manninen turned 70 in August 1942, he was congratutaled by President Svinhufvud and C.G. Mannerheim, the Commander-in-Chief of the army, in the middle of the Continuation War. Manninen died in Helsinki on April 6, 1950. Muistojen tie (Road of memories) was assembled from the poet's literary estate in 1951. His statue (1954) by the sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen is situated in Mikkeli. For further reading: Otto Manninen runoilijana by V. Tarkiainen (1933); Otto Manninen: ein finnischer Dichter by Hans Fromm (1952); Otto Mannisen Homeros-suomennosten runomitasta by Aarre Heino (1970); A History of Finnish Literature by Jaakko Ahokas (1973); 'Otto Manninen,' in Suomalaisia kirjailijoita: pikakuvia by Eino Leino (2nd ed. 1983); Suomalaisen runouden struktuurianalyysiä by Hannu Launonen (1984); Kotavuoresta rakkaudella, ed. by Antero Manninen (1997); 'Otto Mannine,' in Skating on the Sea: Poetry from Finland, edited and translated by Keith Bosley (1997); 'Manninen' by Kai Laitinen, in A History of Finland's Literature, edited by George C. Schoolfield (1998); Suomen kirjallisuushistoria 2: Järkiuskosta vaistojen kapinaan, edited by Lea Rojola (1999); Silkkihienot siteet. Anni Swanin ja Otto Mannisen kirjeenvaihtoa 1898-1908, ed. by Antero Manninen and Hellevi Arjava (2000); Juuret Rasikankaalla: Otto Mannisen ja hänen sisarustensa kirjeenvaihtoa 1897-1913, edited by Hellevi Arjava (2001); Säkeiden synty: geneettinen tutkimus Otto Mannisen runokäsikirjoituksista by Hanna Karhu (2012); Romanttinen moderni: kirjoituksia runouskäsityksistä by Tuula Hökkä (2016); 'Many Ways to Use and Play with Rhymes: The Poet Otto Manninen and the Rhymes in Finnish Rhymed Couplets' by Kati Kallio, in Versification: Metrics in Practice, edited by edited by Frog, Satu Grünthal, Kati Kallio and Jarkko Niemi (2021); Tarinankertoja: Anni Swanin elämä by Riitta Konttinen (2022); Otto Manninen: Säkeiden runoilija by Pentti Lyly, edited by Hanna Karhu & Tellervo Krogerus (2022) Selected works:
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