Richard Impola
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{{Short description|Finnish–American professor and translator (1923–2015)}}
Richard Aarre Impola (1923[http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n89656917.html Library of Congress] – March 18, 2015[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyfreeman/obituary.aspx?pid=174528497 Richard Impola Obituary]) was a Finnish–American professor and translator. A retired professor of English language and literature at the State University of New York, college at New Paltz, he translated Finnish poetry and prose into the English language, including Väinö Linna's Under the North Star trilogy, of which the third part was published on the same day he was presented with the medal of Knight First Class of the Order of the Lion of Finland in 2003.{{Cite web| url = http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20030610IE5 | author = Jyri Raivio | title =Finland decorates veteran translator Richard Impola |work = Helsingin Sanomat |date =June 10, 2003 | accessdate = March 20, 2015 }}
Biography
Impola was born in Ahmeek, Michigan. Impola's father moved to Michigan from Siikajoki, Ostrobothnia, Finland, and his mother was born in the US to parents who had emigrated from Pudasjärvi, Northern Ostrobothnia. Richard Impola was the ninth of the ten children in the family. In his childhood he did not speak Finnish, despite living in a community where Finnish was widely spoken.
Impola studied English language and literature at Columbia University, New York. He met his future wife Helvi at a Finnish community hall in New York. Impola taught at SUNY until 1983, when he retired. After that, he started translating Finnish works into English. Among his translations are Linna's North Star trilogy,{{cite news |title=Famous Finnish Novel Translated into English |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111791997/richard-impola-1923-2015/ |work=The Palm Beach Post |date=November 14, 2001 |location=West Palm Beach, FL |page=200 |access-date=October 22, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} Antti Tuuri's war novel The Winter War,{{cite web|url=http://neba.finlit.fi/booksfromfinland/bff/104/newtrans104.html|title=New translations|publisher=Books from Finland|website=Neba.finlit.fi|access-date=2025-03-03}} several works by Kalle Päätalo, and Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers.
After his retirement, he founded the Finnish American Translators Association (FATA).[http://www.finnala.com/Impola_Richard.html Richard Impola.] Finnish North American Literature Association
Impola died at the age of 91 in Poughkeepsie.[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyfreeman/obituary.aspx?pid=174528497 Daily Freeman] Obituaries in Legacy.com
References
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Category:American people of Finnish descent
Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni
Category:New York University faculty
Category:20th-century American translators
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