Aho, Juhani

(1861-1921)

   A Finnish novelist, and short story writer, Aho was the son of a Lutheran minister and worked as a news-paperman much of his life. He started out as an adherent of realism, but turned toward impressionism in the 1890s. One of Aho's major themes is the contrast between the traditional rural lifestyle and the urban life of artists and intellectuals. His first novel, Rautatie (1884; The Railroad), describes the fascination of an elderly rural couple for this newfangled mode of transportation. The railroad also figures prominently in his narrative Helsinkiin (1889; To Helsinki) and the novella Yksin (1890; Alone).

   Like many other Scandinavian realists, Aho was concerned about the situation of women in the home and in society. Two novels, Papin tytar (1885; The Parson's Daughter) and Papin rouva (1893; The Parson's Wife) tell about a minister's daughter named Elli who is married off to a man she does not love and who is also a minister. Her father's wishes are the deciding factor. Her mother, who suffered the same fate in her youth, aids and abets her parson husband. Later this kind of behavior would be referred to as identification with the oppressor.

   In Scandinavian literature as a whole, the early 1890s marked a turn away from social themes to an interest in the interior lives of human beings. Aho's oeuvre is also marked by this change, and in addition he is subject to a turn toward nationalism that in Finnish literature manifested itself as an interest in Karelia. His novel Panu (1897) is set there and takes place in the 17th century. Panu is a shaman who is in conflict with the local clergyman, who wins the battle because Panu is not completely true to the old ways. The novel Kevat ja takatalvi (1906; Spring and the Cold Spell) features the conflict between religiously awakened country dwellers and representatives of the intelligentsia in the 1840s. Juha (1911) is also a novel set in the Karelian forests; it is a penetrating psychological study of the love of an older and ugly man for his young and beautiful wife.

   The novel Rauhan erakko (1916; Hermit of Peace), which is set in central Europe during World War I, has a pacifist message. Childhood memories are at the core of Muistatko—? (1920; Do You Remember—?), a novel about how to deal with loss and its resulting depression. Throughout his long career as a writer Aho also published eight volumes of shorter prose pieces that he called Lastuja (1891-1921; Wood Shavings).