Aleksis Kivi

{{Infobox person

| name = Aleksis Kivi

| image = Aleksis Kivi.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Earliest known image of Kivi, almost certainly by Albert Edelfelt (1873) [https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/870041?page=7 "Ellei: Runoilija Aleksis Kivi"], Suomen Kuvalehti, 15 May 1873

| birth_name = Alexis Stenvall

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1834|10|10}}

| birth_place = Palojoki, Nurmijärvi, Grand Duchy of Finland

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1872|12|31|1834|10|10}}

| death_place = Tuusula, Grand Duchy of Finland

| known_for =

| notable works = Seitsemän veljestä (Seven Brothers)
Nummisuutarit (Heath Cobblers)

}}

Aleksis Kivi ({{IPA|fi|ˈɑleksis ˈkiʋi|-|Fi-Aleksis_Kivi.ogg}}; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872){{Britannica|319741|Aleksis Kivi}} was a Finnish writer who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, Seitsemän veljestä (Seven BrothersTranslated as Seven Brothers by Alex Matson (in 1929) and again by Richard Impola (in 1991). Translated as The Brothers Seven by Douglas Robinson (in 2017).), published in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 play, Nummisuutarit (Heath CobblersTranslated as Heath Cobblers by Douglas Robinson (in 1993).). Although Kivi was among the very earliest writers of prose and lyrics in Finnish, he is still considered one of the greatest.{{Citation |last=Robinson |first=Douglas |title=Majoritizing Kivi: Towards nl Hypercanonization |date=1 January 2017 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004340268/B9789004340268_004.xml |work=Aleksis Kivi and/as World Literature |pages=84–146 |access-date=27 December 2023 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789004340268_004 |isbn=978-90-04-34026-8|url-access=subscription }}

Kivi is regarded as the national writer of Finland and his birthday, 10 October, is celebrated as Finnish Literature Day.{{Cite web |date=2 February 2023 |title=Aleksis Kivi paves the way for Finnish lit – thisisFINLAND |url=https://finland.fi/arts-culture/aleksis-kivi-paves-way-finnish-lit/ |access-date=27 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202010307/https://finland.fi/arts-culture/aleksis-kivi-paves-way-finnish-lit/ |archive-date=2 February 2023 }}

Life

Aleksis Stenvall was born in Palojoki village, Nurmijärvi, Grand Duchy of Finland. His parents were the village tailor Erik Johan Stenvall (1798–1866) and Anna-Kristiina Hamberg (1793–1863). Aleksis had three older brothers – Johannes, Emanuel, and Albert – and a younger sister, Agnes, who died in 1851 at the age of 13.{{cite web | url=http://www.aleksiskivi-kansalliskirjailija.fi/fi/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=37 | title=Kansalliskirjailija | last=Rahikainen | first=Esko | work=Aleksis Kivi | publisher=Nurmijärven kunta | access-date=11 August 2020 | language=fi | archive-date=6 October 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006083212/http://www.aleksiskivi-kansalliskirjailija.fi/fi/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=37 | url-status=dead }}

In 1846, Kivi left for school in Helsinki. In 1859, he was accepted into the University of Helsinki, where he studied literature and developed an interest in the theatre. His first play was Kullervo (1860), based on a tragic tale from the Kalevala, Finland's national epic. He also met{{When|date=December 2023}} the famous journalist and statesman Johan Vilhelm Snellman who became his supporter.{{cite web |url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/english/person/2826 |title=Kivi, Aleksis (1834–1872) |last1= Sihvo |first1= Hannes |date=2014 |website= The National Biography of Finland |access-date=1 May 2016 }}

During his time at school Kivi read world literature from the library of his landlord, and during his university studies, he saw plays by Molière and Schiller at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki.{{cite web |url=http://authorscalendar.info/akivi.htm |title=Kivi, Aleksis (1834–1872) |last1= Liukkonen |first1= Petri |date=2008 |website= Authors' Calendar |access-date=9 May 2016 }} Kivi also became friends with{{When|date=December 2023}} Fredrik Cygnaeus and Elias Lönnrot.

File:Seven-Brothers-1970.jpg

From 1863 onwards, Kivi devoted his time to writing. He wrote twelve plays and a collection of poetry. The novel Seitsemän veljestä (Seven Brothers) took him ten years to write. Literary critics, especially the prominent August Ahlqvist, disapproved of the book, at least nominally because of its "rudeness" (Romanticism was at its height at the time). Ahlqvist also wrote "It is a ridiculous work and a blot on the name of Finnish literature". In a review published in Finlands Allmänna Tidning, Ahlqvist wrote that "the brothers' characters were nothing like calm, serious and laborious folk who toiled the Finnish lands."{{cite web |last=Korhonen |first=Anna |title=Seitsemän veljestä |url=http://yle.fi/vintti/yle.fi/sininenlaulu/yle.fi/teema/sininenlaulu/artikkeli.php-id=386.htm |access-date=November 16, 2024 |work=YLE |language=fi}}{{cite magazine |date=May 21, 1870 |title=Finsk litteratur VII |magazine=Finlands Allmänna Tidning |pages=2–3 |language=sv |number=116}} It is known that no other critic hated Kivi's writings as much as Ahlqvist, in which case the situation could almost be called "persecution",[https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2014/09/23/aristoteleen-kantapaa-aleksis-ja-august Aristoteleen kantapää: Aleksis ja August] (in Finnish) but the Fennomans{{who|date=December 2023}} also disapproved of Kivi's not-so-virtuous depictions of rural life, which were far from their idealized point of view, and Kivi's excessive drinking may have alienated some.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}

In 1865, Kivi won the State Prize for his still often performed comedy Nummisuutarit (Heath Cobblers). However, the less-than-enthusiastic reception of his books was taking its toll and he was already drinking heavily. His main benefactor Charlotta Lönnqvist, with whom Kivi lived in Siuntio at the time of his creative writing, could not help him after the 1860s.

By 1870, while he was living at Franzén's cottage in Tapanila, Helsinki,[https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/6c2d8be6-3437-4d0b-9f90-c690dc51529d IL: Helsinki aikoo myydä Aleksis Kiven entisen kodin – tältä se näyttää] (in Finnish) Kivi's health collapsed. Assailed by typhoid and attacks of delirium, he was hospitalised. His doctor diagnosed melancholia due to his "injured dignity as a writer". The psychiatrist Kalle Achté concludes, based on a documentary survey, that Kivi was suffering from schizophrenia, although advanced borreliosis has also been suggested.{{cite web|url=http://teema.yle.fi/ohjelmat/juttuarkisto/kuoliko-aleksis-kivi-borrelioosiin|title=Yle Teema|website=teema.yle.fi|access-date=11 September 2017}}

Kivi died in poverty in 1872 (aged 38) in Tuusula, at the home of his brother Albert.{{Cite web |url=https://www.visittuusulanjarvi.fi/en/artist-community/author-aleksis-kivi |title=Aleksis Kivi (1834–1872) – VisitTuusulanjärvi |access-date=11 August 2020 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924182543/https://www.visittuusulanjarvi.fi/en/artist-community/author-aleksis-kivi |url-status=dead }} According to legend, his last words were, "I live" ({{langx|fi|"Minä elän"}}).{{cite web|url=https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/mita-aleksis-kivi-sanoi-kuollessaan/2019060#gs.rs6f49|title=Mitä Kivi sanoi kuolleessaan?|date=13 April 2010 |access-date=14 January 2020|language=fi}}

Tribute

In the early 20th century, young writers Volter Kilpi and Eino Leino raised Kivi to the status of national icon. Eino Leino – and later Väinö Linna and Veijo Meri – also identified with Kivi's fate as an author.{{Explain|date=December 2023}}

In 1936, the Aleksis Kivi Prize, awarded for contributions to Finnish literature, was established.{{cite web|url=https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000003832785.html|title=Kulttuuri: Miksi Suomessa jaetaan kaksi Kivi-palkintoa?|last=Pääkkönen|first=Sirpa|work=Helsingin Sanomat|date=7 October 1999|access-date=23 September 2022|language=fi}}

In 1939, the Aleksis Kivi Memorial, a bronze statue of Kivi by Wäinö Aaltonen, was erected in front of the Finnish National Theatre.{{cite web|url=https://www.hamhelsinki.fi/sv/sculpture/aleksis-kiven-muistopatsas-waino-aaltonen/|title=Aleksis Kiven muistopatsas : Wäinö Aaltonen – HAM|publisher=.hamhelsinki.fi|access-date=11 September 2017|language=fi}} Many streets in Finnish cities and towns have also been named after Kivi, such as Aleksis Kiven katu in Tampere.{{cite magazine | last = Niemelä |first=Jari | title = Kansalliskirjailija sai nimensä yhteen tärkeimmistä kaduista | magazine = Tammerkoski | date = 2013 | number = 2 | pages = 6–7 | language=fi}}

In 1941 the {{ill|Aleksis Kivi Society|fi|Aleksis Kiven Seura}} was founded.

In 1995 to 1996, Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara wrote an opera about Kivi's life and works.{{cite web|url=http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&CC547D3BD3F1C1E0C22566A900442177|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010060224/http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&CC547D3BD3F1C1E0C22566A900442177|archive-date=10 October 2007|title=Aleksis Kivi|publisher=Finnish Music Information Centre}} Two films have also been made: {{ill|I Live (film)|fi|Minä elän|lt=I Live}} (Finnish title: Minä elän) from 1946, directed by Ilmari Unho;{{Cite web |title='Minä elän' |work=Elonet |access-date=17 July 2020 |url= https://elonet.finna.fi/Record/kavi.elonet_elokuva_121719?lng=en-gb }} and The Life of Aleksis Kivi (Finnish title: Aleksis Kiven elämä) from 2002, written and directed by Jari Halonen.{{Cite web |title=Aleksis Kiven elämä |work=Elonet |access-date=17 July 2020 |url= https://elonet.finna.fi/Record/kavi.elonet_elokuva_1037541?lng=en-gb }}

Gallery

{{Gallery

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| File: A_Kivi_was_born_here_H6919_A_Kiven_synnyinkoti_C.JPG

| alt1=

| Home where Aleksis Kivi was born

| File:20180919124159 IMG 0422.jpg

| alt2=

| House where Aleksis Kivi died

| File:Aleksis Kivi Nurmijärvi.jpg

| alt3=

| Aleksis Kivi's statue in Nurmijärvi

| File: Seitsemän_veljestä.png

| alt4=

| Cover from an early version of "Seitsemän veljestä"

| File: Aleksis-Kivi-1934.jpg

| alt5=

| 1934 postage stamp commemorating Kivi, by {{Interlanguage link|Germund Paaer|fi}}, after a sculpture by Wäinö Aaltonen

}}

Kivi in English

Impola, Richard A., trans. Aleksis Kivi, Seven Brothers (English translation of Seitsemän veljestä). New Paltz, NY: Finnish-American Translators Association, 1991.
Matson, Alex, trans. Aleksis Kivi, Seven Brothers (English translation of Seitsemän veljestä). 1st edition, New York: Coward-McCann, 1929. 2nd edition, Helsinki: Tammi, 1952. 3rd edition, edited by Irma Rantavaara, Helsinki: Tammi, 1973.
Robinson, Douglas, trans. Aleksis Kivi's Heath Cobblers and Kullervo. St. Cloud, MN: North Star Press of St. Cloud, 1993.
Robinson, Douglas, trans. The Brothers Seven. Bucharest, Romania: Zeta Books, 2017

References

Secondary sources

Robinson, Douglas, Aleksis Kivi and/as World Literature. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2017. {{ISBN?}}
Tarkiainen, Viljo, Aleksis Kivi: elämä ja teokset. WSOY, 1950.

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20070211023814/http://www.aleksiskivi-kansalliskirjailija.fi/lang/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26 Aleksis Kivi page maintained by Nurmijärvi municipality]
{{gutenberg author| id=3865| name=Aleksis Kivi}}
{{Internet Archive author |sname=Aleksis Kivi}}
{{Librivox author |id=4501}}
[http://www.polyglotproject.com/books/Finnish/seitseman_veljesta Text of Seven Brothers in Finnish] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320135221/http://www.polyglotproject.com/books/Finnish/seitseman_veljesta |date=20 March 2012 }}
[http://elias.finlit.fi/nummisuutarit Nummisuutarit – digital critical edition (in Finnish)]. Eds. Jyrki Nummi (editor-in-chief), Sakari Katajamäki, Ossi Kokko and Petri Lauerma. Finnish Literature Society, 2011.
[https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/translate/ The Aleksis Kivi Brothers Seven Translation Assessment Project], publicly accessible, provided by [https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/digital/project.php Hong Kong Baptist University Library]