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When Finland's Tolstoy Met his Russian Master*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2019
Extract
Leo Tolstoy did not lack admirers in Finland around the turn of the last century. His literary genius captivated many Finns who likened his words to "windows opening into heaven." Others found solace in his religious teachings. " I do not know what might have happened to me in the end," confessed one of them, "if I had not unexpectedly discovered this powerful friend, who emancipated my spirit, banished from my soul all timidity, all fear, all misgiving." Literary and religious rebels, in particular, never doubted that "only once in a millennium does there emerge a person of such gifts of mind and heart."
- Type
- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1957
Footnotes
*
Acknowledgment is gratefully made of a grant-in-aid from the Joint Committee on Slavic Studies of the Social Science Research Council which permitted the author to do research in Finland during the summer of 1956.
References
1 Eino Leino, “Leo Tolstoi 75-vuotias (Leo Tolstoy 75 Years Old),” Päivälehti, September 10, 1903.
2 Pekka Ervast, “Muistoni Leo Tolstoista (My Recollections of Leo Tolstoy),” Sampo. Joululehti Suomen kansalle 1908, n.p.
3 Ilmari Kianto, “Muistosanoja suuresta vainajasta (Eulogy of a Great Deceased),” Joulu-ilo nuorilleja vanhoille 1911, pp. 13-14. See also Kianto's lively account of his youthful Tolstoyan activities in Moskovan maisteri. Nuoren kielenopiskelijan elämyksiä tsaarinvallan aikuisessa Moskovassa vv. 1901-1903 (Moscow's Master of Arts. A Young Language Student's Experiences in the Tsarist Regime's Moscow, 1901-1903) (Helsinki, 1946), passim. Some of the same ground is covered in Iki-Kianto muistelee (Kianto Remembers) (Helsinki, 1954), pp. 146-62.
4 A new and detailed biography is Pekka Häkli, Arvid Järnefelt ja hänen lähimaailmansa (Arvid Järnfelt and his Nearby World) (Helsinki, 1955). Extremely readable and valuable are Järnefelt's three volume family reminiscences, Vanhempieni romaani (The Story of My Parents) (Helsinki, 1928-1930).
5 Arvid Järnefelt, Heraamiseni (My Awakening) (Helsinki, 1894), pp. 5, 163.
6 Ibid., pp. 103, 122. See also Vanhempieni romaani (1945 ed.), pp. 427,450.
7 Heraamiseni, p . 124.
8 Arvo Inkilä, Nyky-Suomen synty (Birth of Modern Finland) (Helsinki, 1952), p. 60. See also Arvi Korhonen (ed.), Suomen historian kasikirja (Handbook of Finnish History), II (Helsinki, 1949), pp. 289-371.
9 Arvid Järnefelt, Matkaltani Venäjällä ja Leo Tolstoin luona keväällä 1899 (From My Journey to Russia and Leo Tolstoy in the Spring of 1899) (Helsinki, 1899), p. 63. There is another version of this first journey in Vanhempieni romaani, pp. 495-504.
10 Matkaltani Venäjällä, pp. 61-62. This description might be compared to that appearing in Ernest J. Simmons, Leo Tolstoy (Boston, 1946), p. 579.
11 Matkaltani Venäjällä, p. 62.
12 Ibid., p. 79.
13 Ibid., pp. 83-84.
14 Ibid., p. 92.
15 “Christianity and Patriotism,” in The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays (The World's Classics, London, 1936), p. 511; “Patriotism and Government,” ibid., p. 545; “Patriotism or Peace,” in Essays, Letters, Miscellanies (New York, 1899), p. 23.
16 Matkaltani Venäjällä, p 103.
17 Patriotism and Government,” pp. 552, 558; “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” in What Is Religion? (New York, 1902), p. 119.
18 Järnefelt's more important works (excluding those already cited) are: Isänmaa (Fatherland), 1893; Veljekset (Brothers), 1900; Orjan oppi (Slave's Lesson), 1902; Helena, 1902; Elaman meri (Sea of Life), 1904; Maaemon lapsia (Mother Earth's Children), 1905; Maa kuuluu kaikille! (The Land Belongs to All!), 1907; Veneh'ojalaiset, 1909; Valtaset, 1915; Greeta ja hanen herransa (Greeta and her Master), 1925; and Huligaani (The Hooligan), 1927. Jarnefelt translated Birykov's and Chertkov's biographies of Tolstoy as well as a number of Tolstoy's works. His role as a disciple and translator of Henry George is discussed in Mauno Kanninen, Arvid Järnefelt maakysymyksen käsittelijänä (Arvid Järnefelt as a Discussant of the Land Question) (Helsinki, 1940). For an estimate of Järnefelt's literary stature, see Rafael Koskimies, Suomalaisia kirjailijoita xx vuosisadan alussa (Finnish Writers at the Beginning of the 20th Century) (Helsinki, 1927), pp. 7-68, and his Elävä kansalliskirjallisuus (Contemporary National Literature) (Helsinki) I, 406-38; O. A. Kallio, Uudempi suomalainen kirjallisuus (Newer Finnish Literature) (Porvoo, 1929), pp. 117- 32; Yrjö Oinonen, Kaunokirjallisuutemme jayhteiskunta (Our Fiction and Society) (Helsinki, 1948), pp. 67-74. Armo Nokkala, who is completing a doctoral thesis on Tolstoy and Finland, has recently published in the Valvoja (No. 1, 1957, pp. 3-30) a selection of Jarnefelt's letters to Tolstoy.
19 Hakli, Järnefelt, p. 393.
20 Ibid., pp. 393-4.
21 Ibid., p. 394.
22 Ibid., p. 399.
23 Ibid., p. 396.
24 Eero Jarnefelt, “Leo Tolstoin luona (With Leo Tolstoy),” Helsingin Sanomat, April 16, 19, 24, 1910. A short time later another Tolstoy enthusiast, Eino Kalima, visited the master and wrote a lively account, “Muistelmia kaynnista Leo Tolstoin luona (Recollections of a Visit With Leo Tolstoy),” Aika, (1911) V, 693-700.
25 Cited in Häkli, Järnefelt, pp. 397-8.
26 Alexandra Tolstoy, Tolstoy, A Life of My Father (New York, 1953), p. 484.
27 Eero Järnefelt, op. cit.
28 Ibid.
29 Cited in Helmi Krohn, Ystäviäni kirjeittensä valossa (My Friends in the Light of Their Letters) (Helsinki, 1945), pp. 46-47.
30 P. Olberg, cited in Paul Jyrkänkallio, “Leo Tolstoin suhde Suomeen (Leo Tolstoy's Relation Toward Finland),” Uusi Suomi, August 28, 1948.