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Urho Karhumäki (1891-1947) - wrote also as Jussi Haukka, Nalle and Tavi Ylämaa |
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Prolific Finnish writer who received the gold medal for his book Avoveteen
(1936, To open waters) at the Art competitions at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
The story depicts a young man, Yrjö Niemelä, who drifts from a job to
another, but finally finds his place and true love in the world. In the
final of the novel Yrjö, who is a talented athlete, wins an
international competition, the 5 000 meters run. "Hän aloittaa urakkansa varhain aamulla, sillä teillä muutamissa paikoin on tällöin vielä lumesta hiukkasen apua. Sitä paitsi hänen on oltava perillä illalla hyviin aikoihin, muuten ukko imee kaikki löylyt nahkaansa. Hän juoksee aamupuolen keveästi hölkkien kestävyysjuoksijan tapaan. Lihakset ja hermot eivät hetkeksikään saa virittyä siihen tunnetilaan, että on jokin urakka suoritettavana. Hän juoksentelee niinkuin hermot olisivat kierretyt kerälle reppuun. Hän väheksyy penikulmataipaleita, jopa mielessään suorastaan halveksii niitä. Penin kuuluma? Mitä se onkaan? Tuparakin ääni kajeana syysaamuna mäeltä mäelle!" (from Avoveteen, 1936) Urho Karhumäki was born in Multia into a farmer family. When he was 13-years old the family moved to Saarijärvi. There Karhumäki began to read enthusiastically all the books he could borrow from the public library of Saarijärvi, works of Aleksis Kivi, Johannes Linnankoski and Juhani Aho and so forth. Aho became his favorite writer. However, at school, his literary aspirations and talents were not noted. In 1913 Karhumäki graduated from the Jyvaskyla Teacher Training School. He then worked as an elementary school teacher in Alavus (1913-14), Padasjoki (1914-1915), and Vihti/Nummela (1915-29). From 1916, Karhumäki was married to Elin Ida Sipilä. Between the years 1929 and 1949 Karhumäki was employed at the Pellervo-Association as
an official. With his family he settled in Helsinki, but the job required constant
traveling around the country. Several of
Karhumäki's works were published by Pellervo. He also contributed to a wide range of periodicals, including Joulupukki, Maan Joulu, Joulu-Lotta, and Karjaväen joulu. At the notorious Berlin Olympics, Avoveteen was awarded with the gold medal in Epic works category. The silver medal went to Um den Gipfel der Welt, about the British mountain climber George Mallory, written by the German poet Wilhelm Ehmer (1986-1976). Felix Dhünen (1896-1939) won the gold medal in the category Lyric works for his poem 'Der Läufer' (The Runner). At the Summer Games, Finland got eight gold medals, Karhumäki's first prize included. Of all the famous Finnish long-distance runners, it was Hannes Kolehmainen, a four-time Olympic Gold winner, not Paavo Nurmi, whom Karhumäki admired most. Avoveteen was translated into German (1937), Swedish (1939), Hungarian (1943), and Dutch (1948). The cover of the Finnish edition was designed by Onni Oja. Both this novel and its sequel, Testamentti (1938, The Testament) were published by WSOY. With the sizable prize money and royalties, Karhumäki was able to pay off much of his huge debts from a failed business venture. Mika Waltari defined Karhumäki as "an idealist who has direct insight into the nature of the present-day rural population." ('The Finnish Literature of Today' by Mika Waltari, in Books Abroad, Vol. 10, No. 3, Summer, 1936) As a novelist Karhumäki made his debut with Rantasuon sankarit(1924), finished in ten days while he was recovering from pneumonia. The cover design was made by Martta Wendelin. Set in the 1860s, the novel told about a young farmer, Taavetti, who is cheated and falsely condemned to prison. There he learns to master his temper and at the end, a changed man, he returns back home to his wife and little son: "Saunamäen viettoisaa rinnepolkua kipitteli tukevin jaloin pikku raivaaja ilakoiden ja vastaansa heilutellen. Hänen perässään astelivat rinnakkain mies ja vaimo sielussaan kesäjuhlan aattotunnelma ja kasvoillaan ratkaisevan taistelunsa voittaneiden vakava rauha." Also the following works Karhumäki wrote in short periods, usually on vacation. Besides novels Karhumäki published juvenile books, several plays and short stories. Under the pseudonym of Jussi Haukka he wrote A.I.V.-rehua (1938), a two-act play. In 1936 Risto Orko from the production company Suomi-Filmi commissioned Karhumäki and Toivo Pekkanen to write the screenplay for the screen adaptation of Aleksis Kivi's novel Seitsemän veljestä. This screenplay was turned down and the next attempt was made by V.A. Koskenniemi. (Poikki! toteutumattomat kotimaiset elokuvat by Niko Jutila, 2020, pp. 13-14) Eventually the film, based on the screenplay by Mika Waltari and Kalle Kaarna, was produced in 1939 by T.J. Särkkä's Suomen Filmiteollisuus. Karhumäki was appointed in 1938 director of the literary association Nuoren Voiman Liitto (Young force association). Its litererary periodical Nuori Voima offered an appreciated forum for aspiring writers. The end of the Winter War (1939-40) gave immediately birth to a number of books dealing with the national struggle, among them Pentti Haanpää's Korpisotaa (1941, War in the wilderness), Yrjö Jylhä's Kiirastuli (1941, Purgatory), and Karhumäki's Miesten matkassa (1941, Along with the men). This practically forgotten novel was composed in first person and based on real-life experiences of the author's friend, Eemeli Lamminaho, also a farmer's son. Karhumäki looked the war from the viewpoint of the common soldier, who doesn't hate the enemy, but who defends without hesitation his country and freedom. "Hän on syyntakeeton, vain asetta käyttelevä välikappale mahtavimpien voimien kädessä. Ihmisenä minulla ei ole siis mitään syytä eikä edes oikeutta häntä vihata. Mutta tällä paikalla, missä seison, minulla on vapaan maan asekuntoisena kansalaisena oikeus, jopa pyhä velvollisuus hänet tuhota. Minä teen sen! Totisesti minä puolustan maatani ja vapauttani, tätä paikkaa tässä tahollani niin kauan kuin sydämeni sykkii ja tämä verraton tuliase kädessäni laulaa." Jylhä and Haanpää portrayed the war with much more intensity and depth, whereas Karhumäki uses rough humor and nearly surrealistic images. When a dying comrade confesses that he has killed, not only in the war, but in Lapland during the peace, Eemeli consoles him: "Don't worry, it goes to the same account anyway..." Karhumäki depicts also the strange moment, when peace comes, and the shooting ends in silence. Russian soldiers climb out of the trenches, former enemies shake hands, sharing tobacco, bread, what they have. "Why should we hate each other," concludes Eemeli. Three of Karhumäki's books have been adapted to screen: Avoveteen in 1939, directed by Orvo Saarikivi, Yli rajan (1942, Over the border), directed by Wilho Ilmari, and Rantasuon raatajat (1942, The toilers of Rantasuo), directed by Orvo Saarikivi. Yli rajan was a romantic movie about a Finnish girl, Eliisa Raaska (played by Irma Seikkula), who escapes from the Soviet Union to marry his beloved Mikko Vanhala (Joel Rinne),who lives in Finland. Yli rajan received the fourth prize at Venice's film festival, but some critics considered it sentimental and slow. Although the events of the film were set in the prewar period, its perspective on Russia did not differ from that of war propaganda. After the end of the Continuation War, it was not publicly shown for 50 years. Noteworthy, Karhumäki's juvenile novel Päivärannan kesä (1944), which called for voluntary work, did this with less propagandist overtones. Rantasuon raatajat,
starring Eino Kaipainen and Ansa Ikonen, was released on December 25,
1942, "a beautiful Christmas gift for the Finnish people," as Ilta-Sanomat wrote. Reviews were good in general. Being
perhaps too self-critical, Karhumäki said that the movie version was
better than his novel.
Both the film and the book have not stood well the test of time. The
legendary producer Toivo Särkä made the screenplay, which
emphasized – as in the films of the Soviet director Alexander Dovzhenko
– the bond between man and the earth. From 1923 Karhumäki had in Vihti a farm called Sahapelto, which
became an important place for him. The family spent summers there. In an interview Karhumäki once stated that "the
living soil gives a man continuously refreshing resources." His books
reflected the same deep sense of land, work and strenght, and longing
for unrestricted way of life in the rural regions of Finland. Urho Karhumäki died of heart attack on February
26, 1947, in Helsinki. A few months before he had said that lack of
concentration and an inability to focus on a single task has been a
major drawback in his life. Karhumäki was buried in private cemetery in
Sahapelto. For further reading: 'Muutamia väläymiä Avovedestä ja sen Yrjö Juoksijasta' by Urho Karhumäki, Suomi-Filmin Uutisaitta 5 (1939); 'Urho Karhumäki,' in Uuno Kailaasta Aila Meriluotoon, edited by Toivo Pekkanen and Reino Rauanheimo (1947, pp. 46-52); 'Laulu suosta: Urho Karhumäen kirjailijakuvan piirteitä' by Sampo Haahtela, in Nuoren Voiman Joulu (1953); 'Kultamitalikirjailija' by Leo Kalervo, in Suomalaisia kirjailijoita, edited by Mirjam Polkunen and Auli Viikari (1982); 'Avoeteen,' in Suomen kansallisfilmografia 2, edited by Kari Uusitalo (1995); 'Kirkastettu sota' by Ari Honka-Halila, in Suomen kansallisfilmografia 3: vuosien 1942–1947 suomalaiset kokoillan elokuvat, edited by Kari Uusitalo (2002); 'Karhumäki, Yrjö' by Lasse Koskela, in Suomen kansallisbiografia 4, edited by Matti Klinge, et al. (2004); Urheilun tunteita ja tarinoita: kiveen hakatut by Arto Teronen & Jouko Vuolle (2013); Unohdetut olympiavoittajat: taidekilpailut olympiakisoissa 1912-1948 by Lasse Erola (2014) Selected works:
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