VIOLA PARENTE-ČAPKOVÁ
Gendering seekers and upstarts in early twentieth-century Finnish literature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.98282 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
he search for truth and spirituality, inter- In this article, I concentrate on two fin twined with the search for one’s self, has de siècle writers, who in their early work, been a perennial theme in arts and lit- T engaged intensely with Symbolism and erature. In some works of Finnish literature at the turn of the twentieth century, the figure of Decadence: Eino Leino (Armas Einar a person seeking for spiritual fulfilment tended Leopold Lönnbohm, 1878–1926) and L. to intertwine with that of the upstart (nousu- Onerva (Hilja Onerva Lehtinen, 1882– kas in Finnish). At first sight, it might seem odd 1972).2 They belong to the category of that these two figures should overlap in literary works, but as I show, especially in early twenti- authors in whose work the figure of the eth-century Finnish literature, such cases are not seeker overlaps, in some cases, with that rare, given the wide range of meanings that the of nousukas. Prolific and versatile liter- 1 word nousukas would denote. ary artists who produced work in vari- ous genres, from poetry, prose and drama 1 Forms of modern esotericism in Finland’s to newspaper articles, they have been late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century known for their interest in Theosophy, reli- literature have been mentioned and exam- gion(s) and heterodox spirituality, as well ined in various contexts (see Harmainen 2010; Kortti 2018); however, no deeper as for founding and co-editing the literary research has been done yet on the topic Theosophical journalSunnuntai (1915–18) within the discipline of literary criticism. and contributing to the Theosophical jour- For a partial overview of recent research on nal Tietäjä. They may be considered rep- fin de siècle esoteric trends in Finnish liter- ature see Parente-Čapková 2019: esp. 7. The resentative of authors with a lively interest fin de siècle in Finland’s literature (and cul- in spiritual and esoteric issues who did not ture in general) is characterized, as in many adhere to any specific branch of modern other countries in Europe, by a ‘revival of esotericism. Both were interested in con- interest in mysticism and mystery trad itions of all kinds’, turning to the ‘heterodox temporary politics, societal turmoil and spirituality of occultism, with its animistic social problems; Leino especially had a sense of a living universe and broad range of teachings drawn from sources as diverse as those of mystical Christianity, the Her- Leskelä-Kärki 2017 and Kokkinen 2019 and metic traditions of the West, and the reli- in this issue. gions of the East’ (Owen 2004: 4). For more 2 L. Onerva was H. O. Lehtinen’s pen name, background on the fin de siècleesoteric formed by the first letter of her surname trends in Finland, see e.g. Harmainen and and her middle name.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 28 considerable influence on public opinion ideas of comparing art and religion and (see e.g. Larmola 1990: 323). Both Leino considering the former as a substitute and Onerva identified with European cul- for the latter, as expressed for example in ture (see e.g. Nieminen 1982) which they, the ‘Animation of art’ in Human, All-Too- as liberal cultural intellectuals (cf. Kortti Human (1878): art takes over ‘many feel- 2020), mediated by means of various forms ings and moods engendered by religion’ of cultural agency, from translations to (Nietzsche 1878/1910: 156).3 Nietzsche’s journalistic activities, public lectures and radically new way of understanding the debates; they disliked and criticized any relationship between art, artistic beauty form of narrow-minded nationalism and and truth (e.g. Came 2014) had a pro- parochialism. At the same time, they cared found influence on Leino and Onerva.4 a lot for Finnish culture and greatly con- Nevertheless, apart from their critical tributed to the development of lyric poetry stance towards the institution of the (Luth and modern prose genres in the Finnish eran) Church, the Christian and any other language. Hence the ways in which figur institutionalized religions as such, Chris ations of the seeker and nousukas inter- tianity remained a source of inspiration mingle in their works are especially inter- for both writers, whether intertwined with esting, revealing important aspects of the pre-Christian elements of Finnish folk discourses that surrounded them. What poetry and the ‘Finnish epic’ The Kalevala do the fusion or opposition of seeker and (e.g. Oksala 1986; Parente-Čapková 2019), nousukas tell us about the concept of seek- their search for inspiration in pre-Refor- ership found in the work of Leino and mation medieval Christianity, or a fascin L. Onerva? What does it tell us about the ation with Catholicism.5 ways in which spiritual and social concerns interact in their texts? To answer these questions, I look at both vertical and hori 3 German original: ‘[Die Kunst] übernimmt zontal axes of seekers’ and upstarts’ activ- eine Menge durch die Religion erzeugter ities as portrayed by Leino and L. Onerva Gefühle und Stimmungen’ (Nietzsche in their prose works, mostly from the first 1878–9/1967: 146). 4 For more on Leino’s and L. Onerva’s decade of the twentieth century, paying Nietzschean inspirations see, e.g. Ervasti special attention to the gender dynamic of 1960; Kunnas 1972; Lyytikäinen 1997; the figures. Through concentrating mainly Parente-Čapková 2004, 2014. on ideas in the chosen texts I tackle, at least 5 It was typical of many Western European Symbolist and Decadent writers (J.-K. briefly, the rhetorical strategy of irony. Huysmans, Paul Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, In their poetry, we can see Leino’s and Aubrey Beardsley and many others) to L. Onerva’s concern with the concept of convert to Catholicism or to be, at least, seekership in the very titles of some of strongly attracted to it, its mystic tradition, the poems: for example L. Onerva’s poem aesthetic appeal, and the ‘dialectic of shame and grace’ (Hanson 1997: 12, 27). The ‘Seeker’ (‘Etsijä’, 1908), or Leino’s poem (mostly French and British) Decadents’ and ‘Seeker of Truth’ (‘Totuuden etsijä’, 1912) Symbolists’ (Baudelaire, Huysmans, Yeats, (cf. Parente-Čapková 2019: esp. 4–6). For Symons, Machen) interest in esotericism as both L. Onerva and Leino, the search for spirituality or occultism has been a subject of lively interest and various polemics (see, truth fuses with that for art and spirituality. e.g. Pynsent 1989: esp. 215–25; Goodrick- Like many of their contemporaries, the two Clarke 1989; Burrow 2000; Sherry 2015: 8; authors were infatuated with Nietzsche’s Denisoff2018 ).
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 29 Seekership and (social) climbing Parente-Čapková 2019). The description The concepts of seeker and seekership of the seeker as somebody critical of the (etsijyys), adopted from the sociology of church and seeking ‘a new perspective on religion, have been introduced into the fin religion’, ‘a metaphysical wanderer … drift- de siècle Finnish context by the art historian ing between religious alternatives, remain- Nina Kokkinen (within the project ‘Uuden ing open to the various views (often con- etsijät – Seekers of the New’) in her 2019 nected with esotericism) but ultimately not study on occulture in the visual arts; that subscribing to any of them’ (Kokkinen in is to say manifestations of the mélange of this issue7) fits Leino and L. Onerva very esoteric, mystic and occult trends in early well. twentieth-century visual art in Finland. Seekership implies searching – verti- Kokkinen (2019: 52) speaks about occul- cally, horizontally and beyond all direc- ture as a milieu formed by various esoteric tions. Apart from the metaphorical mean- discourses, seekers being key agents in this ing, it often implies a literal exploration of field. I use the concept of seekership in a varied landscapes and cityscapes. Many fin very similar way, denoting a type of agency de siècle seeker figures look for the truth, relevant for the context. While my main art and spirituality in various places, trav- focus is on literary representations of the elling feverishly to find them in some seeker, the search for spirituality was clearly remote part of the globe. Others, especially a central personal issue for both Leino and those with Nietzschean Over(wo)man L. Onerva; they reflect on it in a similar way (Übermensch) aspirations, try to rise above in both their fictional works and their let- the surrounding society, literally climbing ters. Writers, like other artists, can be seen mountains and exploring the metaphor of as religious and spiritual seekers who, in elevating oneself, typical of many religions their texts, express their need or urge ‘to and other forms of spirituality, includ- shape independently their religiosity and ing Theosophy. Nietzscheanism tends to the art connected to it, bringing together fuse with Romantic and fin de siècleideas and uniting various elements, weighing about the personality of the artist, as well and pondering their personal experiences’ as with ideas of ‘New Humankind’ (uusi (Kokkinen 2019: 56; see also 51–7). It is ihmisyys), and the ‘New Human Being’ remarkable that the very words ‘seekership’ (uusi ihminen). The writer, the artist, who and ‘seeker’ (namely seeker of truth) were became – especially in Symbolism – a kind used so often at the turn of the twentieth of a priest, prophet or seer, imagines him- century, as Kokkinen and Riikka Stewen self (and, in exceptional cases, herself) as have shown (2019: e.g. 55–7).6 In Finnish elevated above a surrounding crowd which literature, the word occurred frequently in cannot understand his genius, in the spirit the work of Eino Leino and L. Onerva (see of Baudelaire’s ‘The Albatross’; the bird’s ‘wings, those of a giant, hinder him [the albatross] from walking’.8 At the turn of the 6 Kokkinen brings up Riikka Stewen’s obser- vation of how much the verb ‘to seek’ was used among the Finnish and Scandinavian 7 Kokkinen refers to Sutcliffe 2017. artists who were working in Paris during 8 French original: ‘Ses ailes de géant l’em the 1890s, uniting artists, spiritists, scholars pêchent de marcher’; from ‘L’Albatros’, first and scientists (Kokkinen 2019: 55–6, point- published in 1859; translation into English ing to Stewen 2014). by Elli Siegel.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 30 twentieth century, the search for art, truth ‘a person on the rise’). The term has been and spirituality could mean descending to notoriously difficult to translate: none of the depths of one’s soul, in a more general the translations, such as parvenu, arriviste, or specifically psychoanalytic sense (see e.g. nouveau riche, upstart, social climber, Kunnas 1972). This was often symbolized Emporkömmling , uppkomling or выскочка by the figure of Narcissus diving into his seem adequate, given the different ways reflection, explored in both Symbolist and of ‘elevating oneself’ socially in various psychological or psychoanalytical contexts contexts. In view of the difficulties with (Lyytikäinen 1997), and in terms of char- the translation, I use the original Finnish acters from other mythologies descending word nousukas (or occasionally upstart) into the underworld. throughout the article. In the early twen- Meanwhile elevation, decline and des tieth-century Finnish context, nousukas cent also had social connotations, as referred not only to a person who strives to with the fin de siècle artists’ contempt for climb upwards economically, but also to a les bourgeois, the Decadents’ controver- person who seeks to elevate him/herself by sial admiration for aristocracy and their means of education, becoming a member ambivalent view of the ‘lower classes’ of the intelligentsia.10 This concept echoed, and society’s outcasts. The social context at least partly, ideas about the need to bring is directly connected to the ‘social field the intelligentsia and lower strata of society of action that transcends the individual closer together, mainly through education, seeker’ (Kokkinen in this issue). This was, as coined by the thinker, journalist, writer obviously, very different in countries such and politician J. V. Snellman, later called as France and Britain than in Finland, Finland’s ‘national philosopher’ (see e.g. where the process of ‘national awakening’ Lahtinen 2006: esp. 69–80). peaked in the early twentieth century (e.g. The figure ofnousukas was thus directly Hroch 1985). Since the nineteenth century, connected to the nationalist aspiration the essence of Finnishness had been seen of the day, given that the early twentieth in the kansa, that is the native, ordinary century was the culminating phase of the Finnish speakers, the country folk or popu national awakening in Finland. Nousukas lace (e.g. Klinge 1990). Hence Finnish- denoted ‘rise’ and ‘fall’, but also movement speaking Symbolist/Decadent9 authors of persons between ‘the people’ (kansa – had a different relationship to the various considered the fundamental force of the strata of society than their colleagues did in national cause), or so-called ‘lower classes’, European cultural centres. on the one hand, and the so-called ‘upper Given Eino Leino and L. Onerva’s inter- classes’ and intelligentsia on the other (cf. est in politics (in the large sense of the word) and social issues, it is no surprise that some seeker figures in their works intermingle 10 For the history of the word nousukas in and overlap with the figure of nousukas (lit. Finnish see e.g. Rojola 2009: esp. 12. In the nineteenth century, nousukas referred mostly to economic and social climbing; this is still the case in K. A. Järvi’s novel 9 In Finnish literature, it is not always pos Nousukas (1904). In L. Onerva’s collec- sible or meaningful to differentiate between tion of short stories, Nousukkaita (1911), the various ‘isms’ (see e.g. Lyytikäinen the meaning of ‘social climbing’ is much 1997). broader, deeper and also gendered.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 31 e.g. Melkas et al. 2009). Both intelligent- sia and kansa were, of course, heterogene- ous groups with many inner differences, from ethnicity and linguistic identity to gender (Rojola 2009: 6–7). Nousukas fig- ures depicted in Finnish literary works at the turn of the twentieth century were often students coming to the city (mostly Helsinki) from the countryside (‘peasant students’, talonpoikaisylioppilaat), and art- ists. As mentioned above, the artist’s urge to ‘rise’ is sometimes linked in the fin de siècle context to Over(wo)man fantasies; in con- junction with nousukas, it might acquire rather grotesque overtones. As such, nou- sukas is a deeply ambivalent, mostly mel- ancholic figure, a seeker for the impos- sible, obsessed with both the search for a – mostly unattainable – ideal and the eter- nal – mostly abortive – ‘longing to belong’ Eino Leino in Kangasniemi in the summer of (cf. Sasson 2012). This last did not neces- 1903. Wikimedia Commons. sarily mean longing to belong to a higher social rank only, but also desire to identify the nousukas is often ridiculed and appears with a particular idea. in satiric pieces. Sometimes, he calls the whole Finnish nation a nousukas, referring Eino Leino’s male seekers and upstarts to the short history of high culture in the As indicated above, Eino Leino’s and Finnish language (for example, in the novel L. Onerva’s early twentieth-century works Olli Suurpää, 1908). In his poem ‘Civil were strongly influenced by Decadence, Peace’ (‘Kansalaisrauha’, 1919), the ambiva- Symbolism and Nietzscheanism. Both lence of the notion of the nousukas is aptly writers were involved in the search for (a expressed in the way Leino calls on the new) spirituality in which, like many of ‘Finnish kin’ or nation (‘suku Suomen’) to their contemporaries, they explored a wide ‘be an aristocrat, though you are an upstart range of ancient and modern ideas and [nousukas]!’12 The final verse of the poem beliefs.11 In Eino Leino’s work, the figure of both for its potential use in the national project and for its appeal to everybody 11 Leino explored themes and motifs from interested in esotericism (see e.g. Carlson Finnish folk poetry in depth, either directly, 2008). L. Onerva drew more on the Western or from its textualizations as the so-called tradition of classical antiquity and Euro- Finnish national epic, The Kalevala (1st pean literature, though also using Finnish version 1835, 2nd version 1849), based on folk poetry as a source of inspiration (see a mixture of pre-Christian and Christian Parente-Čapková 2014, 2019). Both were material, with various layers manifesting also interested in non-Western thought and common features with nineteenth-century belief systems. mystic and esoteric teachings. The Kalevala 12 Finnish original: ‘Ole ylimys, vaikk’ was a most important source of inspiration olet nousukas!’ (Leino 1919/26). All the
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 32 suggests that ‘elevating oneself’ and ‘being to l’art-pour-l’art, hedonism and a bohe- an aristocrat’ do not depend on belonging mian way of life, and taking responsibil- to the ‘real’ aristocracy, but on great and ity to speak for the nation, his own people, noble inner qualities that make the Finnish becoming their conscience (in this context, kin the ‘European bastion of honour’ this means dedication to both the patriotic (‘Euroopan kunniamuuri’, ibid.). Narrow- mission and to a quest for deeper truths). minded, provincial nationalism is ironized This struggle is permeated with a search for and ridiculed, with an apparent desire to the spiritual; here, the nousukas intermin- ‘elevate’ the Finnish nation and build faith gles with the seeker. The idea of rising above in its future. the surrounding world (or exploring the Leino’s seekers, who are pronouncedly depths of one’s soul) in the name of a search male, move on both vertical and horizon- for the spiritual and/or art is embodied in a tal axes. Especially in Leino’s early poetry, number of Leino’s characters. the seeker appears as an Overman artist, In Leino’s prose of the 1900s and 1910s, embodied often in the figure of a shaman. these themes are connected to seekership His extraordinary abilities allow him to rise involved in a cause, for ideas and ideals, as above the rest of humankind when under- well as with the back-and-forth movement taking the ‘shaman’s journey’; in a kind of between social classes and a search for one’s katabasis, he also descends to the under- place in society, for belonging. Within the world, like the figure of Lemminkäinen in genre of novel of ideas, these are discussed Finnish folk poetry, known mostly from in Leino’s trilogy Tuomas Vitikka (1906), Elias Lönnrot’s The Kalevala. The jour- Jaana Rönty (1907) and Olli Suurpää ney the artist-shaman undertakes can be (1908). In Tuomas Vitikka, Leino (1906: 7) (or, sometimes, explicitly is) interpreted ironizes the idea of a ‘national synthesis’ in as a search for the truth and ultimate the character of the tutor Aavasaksa, intro- knowledge, and as a journey into his own duced as a ‘goat-eyed friend of his country’ soul.13 In Leino’s prose, we often find the (‘vuohensilmäinen isänmaan-ystävä’): figure of the artist or student who comes to the city from the countryside; he faces According to the solid, unbroken and a dilemma between dedicating himself idealistic worldview, which despises everything incomplete, he was, at the translations of Leino’s and L. Onerva’s same time, a thoroughbred socialist quotes are mine. and a thoroughbred language zealot, 13 As Michael Branch (1978: 11) has pointed out, the pantheist Symbolist theory ap a pious Christian, and an extremely peared, in a way, parallel to ‘the ancient Pagan-minded ancient Finn. … He Finnish concepts of an existence in which embraced everything that was between the living and the dead were part of the heaven and earth and digested it in his same whole, interdependent and able to huge, glowing, apostle’s heart. (Leino communicate through the medium of the 14 shaman’. Apart from the heroes from The 1906: 48) Kalevala, the most appealing shaman fig- ures, heroes defying their fate and involved in the search for the truth and the ultimate 14 Finnish original: ‘Eheän ja ihanteellisen knowledge, appear in Leino’s collection of maailmankatsomuksensa mukaan, joka poems Helkavirsiä (Whitsongs, 1903) (cf. halveksi kaikkea puolinaista, hän oli samalla e.g. Peltonen 1975; Oksala 1986; Parente- kertaa sekä täysverinen sosialisti ja yhtä Čapková 2019). täysverinen kielikiihkoinen natsionalisti,
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 33 Another character in this novel, the noted and highlighted in its contemporary German F. G. Meyer, ‘a redundant profes- reception. Some of the contemporary crit- sor of aesthetics and art historian from ics saw Johannes Tamminen as the quintes- Heidelberg university’,15 similarly strives to sence of (social) climbing. For example, the create a broad synthesis of ‘opposite artistic critic E[ero] J[ärvinen] (1912), according currents’, celebrating Finnish folk life, but to whom the concept of nousukas points also striving to capture the ‘eternal strivings to the kind of people who are ‘most typical of humankind’ (‘ihmiskunnan iäisyyden of our country at this moment’,17 observed pyrkimyksiä’, Leino 1906: 53). Leino’s that Johannes comes from the lower- multilayered irony, sometimes blunt, some- middle class and although he hates the times subtle, functions on many levels upper class, he tries his best to rise socially (Ojajärvi 2009: 217–22); here, it is aimed at by all means. In the novels Johannes is con- all kinds of ideological or religious fanat- trasted with other upstart figures, some of icism (cf. Harmainen 2010: 139) and at them describable as nouveau riche, trying alleged syntheses that are not products of to climb socially by means of wealth, that is genuine seekership, but recycle bombastic, without striving intellectually and spiritu- empty words. ally. For Johannes, the search for faith and The most remarkable character in spirituality, truth, ideas he could identify Leino’s novels that fuses the figures of the with, love (profane and sacred) and free- seeker and nousukas is the ‘eternal seeker’ dom are central, juxtaposed with a search Johannes Tamminen in the Slave Tetralogy, for his own self. Religious ideas are juxta- who can partly be viewed (especially vis- posed with capitalism, socialism and pat- à-vis his seekership) as the author’s alter riotism in the novels, which are set mostly ego. The tetralogy is a series of novels pub- in cityscapes of central, western and south- lished in 1911–13, titled Työn orja (‘Slave of ern Europe, where Leino himself travelled Wo r k’, 1911), Rahan orja (‘Slave of Money’, during the first decade of the twentieth 1912), Naisen orja (‘Slave of Woman’, 1913) century. and Onnen orja (‘Slave of Happiness’, 1913). The tetralogy is a third-person narra- Though irony is present even in this novel tive, but the narration is consequentially series, there is less of it than in the previous focalized through Johannes, providing the trilogy. Johannes, a seeker and a nousukas, reader with an unmistakeably male per- searches for fulfilment by various means, spective (Hyttinen 2014: 40). The novels as the titles of the respective novels sug- consist of many, at times rather improb- gest. Johannes’s upstart ambition, evoking able, plot twists and peripeteias. In Rahan the genre of the novel of ambition,16 was orja, we find a most intriguing scene of love and tenderness between women (seen by Johannes in the mirror through the samalla harras kristitty ja tuiki pakanal- linen muinaissuomalainen. … Hän sulki syliinsä kaikki, mitä maan ja taivaan välillä oli, ja sulatti sen oman suureen leimuavaan apostolinsydämeensä.’ with ‘the figure of the parvenue in a paral- 15 Finnish original: ‘Ylimääräinen estetiikan lel psychoanalytical reading’ (Sasson 2012: professori ja taidehistorioitsija Heidelber- 9–10). gin yliopistosta’ (Leino 1906: 8). 17 Finnish original: ‘Se laji ihmisiä, joka ehkä 16 According to some critics, the very genre of on isänmaallemme tällä hetkellä ominaisin, the novel of ambition can be ‘conflated’ nimittäin nousukkaat’.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 34 open door);18 on the whole, however, the atmosphere derange Johannes so badly female characters appear mostly as vari- that he becomes consumed by the ‘duty’ ous aspects of the protagonist’s psyche, or to get rid of ‘sinful woman’ in the figure as elements of the plot. In Onnen orja, at of his beloved Liisa. He tries to murder the end of this ‘epic of development’ (kehi her in the Roman catacombs, which sym- tyseepos, see Oksala 1986: 63), or in other bolize primitive and atavistic instincts, as words, his journey of spiritual search- physical and metaphorical underground ing (cf. Kokkinen in this issue), Johannes places in Leino’s works often do.22 The Tamminen stays in Italy, where he is fascin murder plan fails and Johannes is brought ated with the way ‘Pagan’ strata intermingle to a mental asylum. Only after this last, with later Christianity and contemporary wild and macabre peripeteia, a kind of pur- Catholicism.19 Leino deals with this theme gatory, does he find peace. At the end of in an exoticizing, often also eroticizing way, the tetralogy, Johannes lives the modest life typical of Decadent writing: for example, of a hermit in the mountains. The motif of when Johannes explores the figure of the hermit, so important for many mystical Helena, the Roman empress and saint, en traditions (see Kokkinen 2019) remains on joying the union of ‘Christian piety’ and a rather general level, similarly to various ‘Byzantine cruelty, glamour and greed for others religious, mystical and occult motifs power’20 he finds in her (Leino1913 /2001: and allusions that appear in the tetralogy. 582–3). ‘This kind of Christian he could Disappointed by the political and phil- have been. Belonging to St Helena’s court, osophical ideas he has encountered, by he could have become a mystic, at least for carnal love, traditional religion, and by the a while’ (Leino 1913/2001: 583).21 ready-made spiritual alternatives, Johannes Thoughts provoked by the mixture of finally finds happiness as a hermit, observ- St Helena’s ‘Asian paganism’ (‘aasialainen ing the world around him from a new per- pakanuus’, Leino 1913/2001: 584), the spective, after having – literally –risen and thin layer of Christianity and the sensual climbed a mountain. He lives on Monte Cavo, the highest mountain of the Colli Albani (Alban Hills) near Rome, seeking 18 For a queer reading of this section of the novel see Hyttinen 2014: 39–41. Trad solitude in his village. Every day, he climbs itionally, the erotic scene between the two on the peak of Monte Cavo, enjoying the cousins, Signe and Johannes’s wife Irene, happiness of his solitude far from the world: used to be interpreted as a manifestation of high society vices, indulgence in an ‘artifi- cial’, ‘unnatural’ kind of love (see e.g. Oksala Is he a Christian? Is he a Pagan? He 1986: 64). does not know himself. He knows only 19 An important topic for intertextual re that the Truth is the highest religion search would be Dante’s Divine Comedy, of all and that the Sun is the same for which Leino was translating into Finnish in everyone, though its light falls on the the same period (published as Jumalainen näytelmä in 1912). 20 Finnish original: ‘Kristillinen hurskaus yhtynyt hänessä byzantiniseen julmuuteen, loistoon ja vallan himoon.’ 22 For example, in the earlier novels such as 21 Finnish original: ‘Tuollainen kristitty hän- Olli Suurpää (see Molarius 1998: xvii), or kin olisi voinut olla. Pyhän Helenan hoviin Jaana Rönty, where the dangerous and ata- kuuluvana hänkin olisi voinut ehkä hetkel- vistic primitivism is symbolized by the bog. lisesti tulla mystikoksi.’ See also Kunnas 1972.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 35 earth in the form of different beams. figures of the seeker andnousukas is the- (Leino 1913/2001: 611)23 matized and problematized. The Symbolist and Decadent aesthetic and strong influ- Elevating himself above the rest of the ence of Nietzscheanism make L. Onerva’s world (albeit without the Nietzschean ego- early texts resound with an ecstatic and tism he had overcome earlier), living in blissful tone, intermingled with a pessi- harmony with majestic nature under the mistic and melancholic mood. Her seek- ‘Sun’, Johannes proclaims the peace and ers and nousukas characters are marked harmony typical of Leino’s pantheist and by a search for spirituality, truth, love, Theosophical inspirations (cf. Sallamaa and art, though in a different way from 2008) that Maria-Liisa Kunnas (1972: 252– Leino’s. In L. Onerva’s early work, all gods 71) called ‘religious pantheism’. The route are broken and fragmented, as suggested to truth and happiness, the positive way of by the title of the collection Särjetyt juma ascendance, should be the same for every- lat (‘Broken Gods’, 1910); nevertheless, in one: ‘The same path, the same truth, the a typically Decadent paradox, God is often same life’ (Leino 1913/2001: 611).24 This invoked (Parente-Čapková 2019: 17–18). conclusion expresses both Leino’s concern L. Onerva’s early works are also marked by for social justice and a synthesis of reli- an oscillation between ironic distance and gions, belief systems, ideologies and world- pathos, another paradox to be found in views (cf. e.g. Oksala 1986: 50), a synthe- poetry and prose by the French authors she sis that he does not ironize, but develops in read and translated at the turn of the twen- his other works. Johannes’s ‘Truth’ appears tieth century.26 in tune with Leino’s striving towards trans- In her work, L. Onerva constructs, cendent individualism, typical also of explores and questions various figurations Theosophy (cf. Harmainen2010 : 139). of gender fluidity. However, L. Onerva’s nousukas and seeker figures are often femi- L. Onerva’s feminine and androgynous nine women, as in the novel Mirdja (1908), seekers and upstarts called the most Decadent and a strongly As pointed out above, in the Slave Nietzschean of Finnish novels, which has Tetralogy, Leino’s hero is unmistakeably been included in the Finnish feminist lit- male. 25 In L. Onerva’s work, gendering the erary canon since the 1990s. Mirdja is a special kind of nousukas, the daughter of
23 Finnish original: ‘Onko hän kristitty? Onko to be rather one-dimensional, especially hän pakana? Ei hän tiedä sitä itsekään. Hän compared to the complexity of Leino’s male tietää vain, että totuus on korkein uskonto seekers and upstart characters (see also kaikista ja että aurinko on kaikille sama, Molarius 1998: xxii). vaikka sen valkeus eri säteinä maahan 26 L. Onerva was one of the most prolific lankeaa.’ translators and mediators of French cul- 24 Finnish original: ‘Sama tie, sama totuus, ture in early twentieth-century Finland; not sama elämä.’ least of works by Charles Baudelaire, Alfred 25 There are female protagonists in Leino’s de Musset, Paul Bourget, Camille Mauclair, novels (e.g. the eponymous heroine of Joseph Bédier and most importantly here, Jaana Rönty, 1907), but as characters they Anatole France’s Thaïs (1890, L. Onerva’s tend to be less rich and rounded than the translation into Finnish published in 1911) male ones. Hence their seekership and with its ‘gnostic Decadence’ (cf. Forshaw various ways of rising and climbing tend 2018).
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 36 a ‘gypsy singer’ and a bohemian Decadent dilettante. Like every nousukas, she is obsessed with the question of origin (cf. Sasson 2012: esp. 20–4), though, paradox- ically, in the company of Decadent artists and dilettantes, her ‘bohemian’ origin is seen in a positive light. She is a Decadent version of the picara27 on an eternal quest, brought up by her uncle, a ‘philosopher and a hermit’.28 Throughout her life, she seeks her roots and identity, art and artistry, love in the sense of ‘mystical marriage’ and the fusion with the beloved, the existence of an Over(wo)man and a Universal Being (fan- tasized about by Mirdja’s father), mother- hood (that of both her own mother, who died giving birth to her, and her own), spir- ituality and, eventually, (the female) deity. L. Onerva’s spiritual search was man- ifested by her aforementioned interest in Catholicism; she felt that Protestant L. Onerva, 1907. Wikimedia Commons. Christianity lacked a female deity and she was captivated by the Catholic cult of sacred womanhood. In Mirdja, she makes Protestant religion and the (Lutheran) her protagonist search for her mother and Church are fiercely rejected; church mar- the secrets of mystic motherhood, both at riage is derided. Mirdja’s mentor, a deca- the very earthly level, and through art and dent dilettante named Rolf Tanne (inspired spirituality.29 In the novel, institutionalized by the figure of Eino Leino), teaches her to hate the ‘pillars of society’, the ‘great twin idiot idols’ (‘epäjumalainen suurkaksois 27 As Anne Kaler (1991: 45) points out, many idiootti’, L. Onerva 1908/56: 248): state and elements of the picara narrative dovetail church. The nationalist zeal of middle-class with picara’s origin in stories of the lives of parochial patriots is also ridiculed. saints. 28 The figure of the hermit appears in L. Yet the ‘nation’ is by no means irrele- Onerva’s other texts, namely the short story vant to Mirdja’s search. Her way of elevat- ‘Naisen arvoitus’ (‘The Enigma of Woman’), ing herself socially is characterized by the in Jerusalemin suutari ynnä muita taru back-and-forth movement mentioned ear- kuvia (‘The Cobbler of Jerusalem and Other lier, as for example when she tries to ‘merge Mythical Tales’, 1921); see Parente-Čapková 2019: 21–2. with the kansa’ at a folk festival she visits by 29 See also Parente-Čapková 2014; 2019: chance. The folk, in the image of a crowd, 19–20. L. Onerva’s interest in the figure of approaches Mirdja – who was brought up Virgin Mary was further expressed in the as an Over(wo)man and has been used to collection of stories Neitsyt Maarian lahja ynnä muita legendoja (‘The Virgin Mary’s taking a bird’s-eye perspective – at her own Gift and Other Legends’, 1918); see Parente- level (L. Onerva 1908/56: 134). She experi Čapková 2019: 20–2. ences contradictory emotions, from the
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 37 blissful feeling of participating in ‘God’s In this short story, the seeker and the nou- feast’ and an ecstatic urge to merge with sukas are juxtaposed – or rather, opposed. ‘the ocean’ of people, the ‘overwhelming, An unconventional person called Tuulos, liberating force’, expressing ideas of a ‘unity who lives in his own world, as if above or of all human beings’, common across many beyond the surrounding reality, sees only fin de sièclecurrents of thought, and typical things relevant to him. He finds the ideal for the Decadents. This contradiction res- of absolute beauty and perfection in a crea- onates with ‘one of the basic conflicts of ture he fantasizes for himself and worships modern people, the conflict between desire like a deity. for symbiosis’, the ‘belief in the spiritual Since the word was the only one used origin of humankind and shared solidarity’, in Finnish in similar contexts in the early typical of Theosophy, and the fin de siècle twentieth century (see Parente-Čapková individualism and ‘need for self-reflexivity’, 2001), Tuulos calls the creature a hermaph- fusing with various pantheist tendencies rodite (hermafrodiitti, L. Onerva 1909: 58): (Parente-Čapková 2014: 59–60); moreover, ‘Hermaphrodite! The perfection of beauty! it also evokes a complex ‘longing to belong’. The perfection of humankind … which Mirdja’s urge and subsequent disappoint- holds eternity in the curve of his/her eye!’31 ment are strongly gendered, since, after Tuulos elevates himself into a secret realm the ecstatic phase – in the form of fear and that he himself constructs, which the sur- emotion – she experiences a kind of a col- rounding society cannot see or compre- lective rape (not physical). The episode ends hend. There – and only there – can his in feelings of alienation from the kansa and ideal being exist. He is completely misun- despair. Mirdja’s whole search ends up in a derstood by the first-person narrator, an bog, where ironically, she, a female seeker ironized petit bourgeois and a conventional and nousukas, sinks into the depths, look- kind of nousukas, alien to aesthetics, phil ing for the child she never had. This tragic osophy and the committed spiritual search. ending is in tune with the opportunities a ‘The Fantasist’ shows L. Onerva’s familiar- woman seeker like Mirdja had at the very ity with the fin de siècle interest in – almost beginning of the twentieth century.30 obsession with – the figure of the andro- Mirdja is a beautiful woman with many gyne as ‘the absolute goal of human spir- feminine qualities, and, as such, she seeks to itual evolution’; by creating this figure, art- appropriate the role of the artist and genius. ists created ‘a form of mystical art’ that, for Indeed, Mirdja’s father dreams of a ‘new some, served ‘to re-establish the role of reli- human being’ as a ‘universal creature in the gious art in intellectual society’ (Davisson figure of woman’ (‘kaikkeusolento naisen 2005: 34).32 At the same time, the fantasy hahmossa’, L. Onerva 1908/56: 124). In L. Onerva’s early short story ‘The Fantasist’ (‘Kuvittelija’ from Murtoviivoja, ‘Broken 31 Finnish original: ‘Hermafrodiitti! Kauneu- Lines’, 1909), the gender of the perfect fan- den täydellisyys! Ihmisen täydellisyys … tasy creature is pronouncedly ambivalent. joka silmänkaarroksessaan kantaa kaik- keutta!’ 32 Davisson discusses especially Joséphine Péladan’s concept of androgyny. About 30 For the many stages, peripeteias and as the figure of the androgyne in Decadent pects of Mirdja’s search, see esp. Parente- and Symbolist art, see e.g. West 1993; in Čapková 2014. the Finnish context, see e.g. Sarajas-Korte
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 38 of androgyny served the author in her in her soul. She begins to see ‘abysses and concern with gender issues (see Parente- heights’ she could never have dreamed of Čapková 2001). (‘ennen-aavistamattomia kuiluja ja kuk- kuloita’). ‘Accusation gained a foothold L. Onerva’s Nousukkaita – in her humble, Christian heart, and the frustrated and happy seekers socialist world spirit swept through her Finally, I discuss some examples of the fig- musty brain for the first time’ (L. Onerva ures of the nousukas and seeker merging 1911: 79–80).33 This kind of bliss, result- in L. Onerva’s collection of short stories, ing from attempts at a synthesis of social- entitled with nousukas in a plural form, ism and various esoteric trends – namely Nousukkaita (‘Upstarts’, 1911). The stor Theosophy – is known from fin de siècle lit- ies in the collection are mostly tragic ones erature both in Finland and abroad (Owen about different seekers who try to elevate 2004; Beaumont 2010; Kemppainen 2017). themselves in various ways, but almost However, when Marja wants to get hold always fail. There are some typical nousu- of the public space, wandering the streets kas figures; students or artists who move at night in an ecstasy of fantasy during from the country to the city, Helsinki or her search for a liberating revolution, in a even Paris. Each of these characters is cruelly ironical plot twist, she is shamed unique, with psychological depth, and each and ‘put in her place’, being labelled an ‘old case has its own distinctive features. The slut’ (‘vanha lutka’,) by a passer-by. She falls eponymous protagonist of ‘Marja Havu’ is back into her usual Christian humbleness, one of the most tragic in the collection. She knowing she is, ‘by her roots, attached to comes from amongst the lowest strata of her old God’: her ‘attempt at defiance had fin de siècle urban society, ‘between pariah been suppressed’ (L. Onerva 1911: 83;34 see and parvenu’ (Sasson 2012: 32–51): a laun- also Parente-Čapková 2013). drymaid’s daughter, a simple and naïve A similar ending can be found in the admirer of the bourgeoisie. She seeks for short story ‘Kaija’, though the protagonist higher forms of existence by economic appears to be the opposite of Marja: Kaija advancement through hard work and per- is a second-generation upstart, the only sonal sacrifice, accompanied by ardent faith daughter of the director of a paper mill, in the Christian God: indeed, she interprets a nouveau riche who spoils his offspring, important events of her life as manifesta- allowing her to believe she can do what- tions of the ‘finger of God’ (‘Jumalan sormi’, ever she wants. Upbringing by a nouveau L. Onerva 1911: 75). riche nousukas also seems to yield different Marja was not always a seeker; she results than for the aforementioned prot used to humbly accept her fate and believe agonist of the novel Mirdja. While Mirdja in God in the most traditional way, never questioning anything. However, one night she begins to dream about elevating her- 33 Finnish original: ‘Syytös oli saanut jalan self through a kind of mystical, revolu- sijan tässä nöyrässä, kristillisessä sydämessä tionary eschatology, and defiance grows ja sosialistinen maailmanhenki puhalsi ensimäisen kerran läpi hänen ummehtu- neiden aivojensa…’ 1966; Lahelma 2014; Kokkinen 2019. For 34 Finnish original: ‘Hän oli juuristaan kät- more on L. Onerva’s treatment of the theme ketty kiinni vanhaan Jumalaan.’ – ‘Marjan of androgyny, see Parente-Čapková 2001. uhma oli kukistettu’ (L. Onerva 1911: 83).
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 39 also grows up a narcissist, she is neverthe- marriage, ‘the ultimate step of social climb- less concentrated on art, while Kaija from ing’ (Sasson 2012: 83). A Finnish-speaking Nousukkaita becomes a selfish, power- daughter of a self-made man who has en hungry woman who seeks more and more abled her to study, she marries a Swedish- power, indulges in self-adoring ecstasy of speaking aristocrat, but feels uneasy and an Over(wo)man and elevates herself above unhappy in the new environment. She other people both literally, climbing up begins to hate her new family and, gradually, high mountains, and metaphorically. When begins to listen to the ‘voice of [her] blood’, she stands on a high mountain, she ‘im- which tells her to abandon the Decadent agines standing on the peak of a giant king- and decaying world of aristocracy and dom’ (L. Onerva 1911: 165).35 Her hubris, return to her own origins, her own ‘race’. lack of conscience and pity come to an end Though she had never perceived herself as when she causes an injury to a small child: a seeker, she begins to search for truth and suddenly she feels an agony of conscience, experiences a ‘mystical stream of strength’ sinks into madness and silence and begins (‘mystillinen voimavirta’, L. Onerva 1911: to practise traditional, that is, Christian 216) entering her at her father’s deathbed, Lutheran, religion. Though Kaija fell from when he stares at her with his ‘cosmic, dis- her ‘highest castles in the air to the depths tant gaze’ (ibid.). Kaarina feels mystically of reality’, the ‘feeling of sin could not kill united with her father, family and kin, her imagination’: it just changed ‘from a being just ‘a small living drop in the eter- Pagan to a Christian’, as the ironic narrator nal stream’ (‘pieni elävä pisara sen ikuisessa of the short story informs the reader. The virrassa’) – she feels how her father’s spirit reader is left to wonder whether the narra- transfers into her, and, with it, the ‘sorrow tor is still being ironic when she goes on to and responsibility of life’ (‘elämän murhe ja state that Kaija’s imagination has been ‘led edesvastuu’; L. Onerva 1911: 217, 219). She to understand people’s misery and search finds the sense of belonging and the mean- for the eternal peace of the Kingdom of ing of her life in serving Finnish speak- God’ (L. Onerva 1911: 174).36 ers, perceived as the essence of the Finnish In the whole collection, the only story nation. The mystical bliss she experiences with any kind of a happy ending appears fulfils her more than any social climbing or to be the final one, ‘The Voice of Blood’ traditional religion. Metaphors of drops in (‘Veren ääni’). The protagonist Kaarina is, the sea, ocean or stream, well known from once again, a nouveau riche upstart’s daugh- Theosophy, are fused with the metaphor of ter, who wants to climb even higher by the ‘voice of blood’ and the national cause – this time, it appears, without irony.37
35 Finnish original: ‘Kun hän seisoi korkealla vuorella, kuvitteli hän seisovansa jättiläis- valtakunnan huipulla.’ 36 Finnish original: ‘Langennut korkeista pilvi- linnoistaan todellisuuden kuiluihin’; ‘syn- 37 For more on the metaphor of the ‘voice of nintunto ei voinut tappaa hänen mieli blood’ in Finland’s fin de siècle literature see kuvitustaan, se oli vain muuttunut pakanal- Rojola 1999. For more on the metaphor of lisesta kristilliseksi’; ‘johdettu ymmärtä- a drop fusing with the sea or ocean (in L. mään ihmisten kurjuutta ja etsimään Juma- Onerva’s work and in fin de siècle literature), lan valtakunnan iankaikkista rauhaa.’ see Parente-Čapková 2014: esp. 58–63.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 40 Conclusions institutionalized Lutheranism, is portrayed Analyses of how the gendered figures of as negative (as a ‘fall’) and ironized. In this the seeker and nousukas are juxtaposed, at respect, Leino and Onerva differ consider- times also opposed, how they intermingle ably from some other Nordic writers who and fuse, reveal new aspects of both figures employed a Decadent mode in their works, in Finnish literature of the turn of the twen- such as Arne Garborg (see Barstad 2020). tieth century. This gives us new insights into Neither Onerva nor Leino followed in Eino Leino and L. Onerva’s reflections on the footsteps of authors who converted to the spiritual search. Both authors, especi Catholicism. ally Leino, were mostly critical of institu- In Leino’s work, most seeker and nou- tionalized religion, but neither adopted any sukas figures are male. The protagonist of specific form of esoteric teaching, though the Slave Tetralogy, Johannes, achieves Theosophy was certainly an important peace and finds happiness through explor- source of inspiration for both Leino and ing the world both horizontally and verti Onerva. Horizontal and vertical dimen- cally, eventually elevating himself in both sions of seekership intersect with the vari a concrete and symbolic way. In the given ous ways of exploring distant places and context, it does not seem possible that a their cultures, typical of truth seekers (see female protagonist could achieve the same. Kokkinen in this issue), as well as with ele- This is obvious from the tragic stories vating oneself, rising, climbing, falling and of Onerva’s female seekers and upstarts sinking, typical of the nousukas. The meta (whose attempts to expand their horizons phor of rising, while per se positive, can both horizontally and vertically typically acquire negative overtones when it implies fail), and from the fantasies of non-binary an egotistical revolt unconnected to any figurations of gender, evoking mystic deeper quest. The metaphor of descend- and esoteric teachings. The only excep- ing, sinking and diving also appears to be tion is Kaarina from ‘The Voice of Blood’, ambivalent, associated both with diving whose social ascent (marrying a Swedish- (e.g. into one’s soul) in search for truth speaking aristocrat) proves to be a fall. The and with dangerous atavism and dark true ascendance happens only by means of forces. The aristocracy and upper classes a mystical union with Kaarina’s own ‘race’, are often shown in a negative light, not as that is, her family and her nation. Though ideal beings worth following and identify- parochial nationalism is ridiculed in Leino’s ing with; only an ‘aristocracy of the spirit’ is and Onerva’s works, the idea of the nation presented as something to pursue. The idea is not. of social justice is strongly present, some- The irony used by both Leino’s and times as an allusion to syntheses of social- Onerva’s narrators make the tone of their ism and various esoteric trends. texts highly ambivalent and destabilize any The attempt to synthesize various ideas unequivocal interpretations. Further analy- and spiritual paths is ironized (especially in ses are needed to explore the various spir- Leino’s work), when it consists of a super- itual stimuli channelled into the concept ficial patchwork without a more genuine of seekership in the context of the rest of and committed search. When pursued with their work; their other sources of inspir ‘truthfulness’, however, such a synthesis ation, be it social, aesthetic, philosophical can become the highest goal. Return to, or or political; and their intertextual affinities refuge in the ‘old’ ways of believing, that is, in a broader comparative framework.
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