Olavi Paavolainen
| Olavi Paavolainen | |
|---|---|
1928
|
|
| Born |
September 17, 1903 Kivennapa |
| Died | July 19, 1964 (aged 60) Helsinki |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Occupation | writer, poet, essayist and journalist |
| Known for | literary group Tulenkantajat |
Olavi Paavolainen (1903 - 1964) was a Finnish writer, poet, essayist and journalist. During his early years, he went under the pseudonym of Olavi Lauri. Paavolainen was the central figure of the literary group Tulenkantajat ('The Flame Bearers') and one of the most influential literary opinion leaders between the two World wars in Finland. He represented liberal and European-oriented views of culture and had an eclectic eye for new ideas.
In the late 1920s Paavolainen wrote essays that praised urban life, technology, and roaring cars in his works centering on modernism. He was inspired by authors like the Italian Futurist poet F.T. Marinetti (1876-1944) and the French intellectual André Gide (1869-1951). His first book Nykyaikaa etsimässä (1929, 'In search of Modern Times'), contained a collection of his essays from the 1920s. In the 1930s, he became focused on the rise of authoritarian regimes in Europe and their promises to create a new man and new society. As a result of his visits to Nazi Germany (1936) and South America (1937), he wrote three essayistic books titled Kolmannen Valtakunnan vieraana (1936, ‘As a Guest of the Third Reich’), Lähtö ja loitsu (1937, ‘Departure and Spell’) and Risti ja hakaristi (1938, 'Cross and Swastika’), known together as the Pako pimeyteen (‘Escape into Darkness’) trilogy. The overall theme of the books was the nature of the political and cultural changes that had engulfed his contemporary society. A planned book about his visit to the Soviet Union (1939) was halted by the outbreak of the Second World War. His last book, Synkkä yksinpuhelu (1946, 'A Solemn Monologue') was largely based on his diary notes from 1941-1944 when he served in the Finnish Army.
Olavi Paavolainen was born in Kivennapa, Carelia, in the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1903. Paavolainen descended from a family of civil servants and soldiers. His father, Pietari (Pekka) Paavolainen, was a lawyer and Member of Parliament and his mother was named Alice Laura (Löfgrén). In 1914, he moved to Helsinki where he started to write poems already at the age of twelve. He later studied aesthetics and literature at the University of Helsinki from 1921 to 1925, but without graduating. While studying at the university, Paavolainen already started to publish critics and poems.
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