Mysterious Minds
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Marja-Liisa Vartio (1924‒1966) is considered one of the foremost innovators of consciousness representation in Finnish post-war elise nykänen modernism. Mysterious Minds, the first study to examine this subject Mysterious Minds Mysterious in depth, explores the portrayal of fictional minds in her novels. The volume suggests alternative methods for reading Vartio’s fictional minds not only as private, solipsistic, and self-reflective Mysterious Minds consciousnesses, but also as social, collective, and interconnected The Making of Private and Collective Consciousness entities. These intermental minds sometimes remain unreadable and mysterious even to the characters of her novels themselves. in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Novels The volume is an enjoyable and beneficial read both for students and scholars sharing an interest in recent cognitive and affective narrative studies, and for anyone interested in Vartio’s work. studia fennica litteraria 10 isbn 978-952-222-864-2 86 9789522228642 www.finlit.fi/kirjat Studia Fennica studia fennica anthropologica ethnologica folkloristica historica linguistica litteraria Litteraria The Finnish Literature Society (SKS) was founded in 1831 and has, from the very beginning, engaged in publishing operations. It nowadays publishes literature in the fields of ethnology and folkloristics, linguistics, literary research and cultural history. The first volume of the Studia Fennica series appeared in 1933. Since 1992, the series has been divided into three thematic subseries: Ethnologica, Folkloristica and Linguistica. Two additional subseries were formed in 2002, Historica and Litteraria. The subseries Anthropologica was formed in 2007. In addition to its publishing activities, the Finnish Literature Society maintains research activities and infrastructures, an archive containing folklore and literary collections, a research library and promotes Finnish literature abroad. Studia Fennica Editorial Board Editors-in-chief Pasi Ihalainen, Professor, University of Jyväskylä, Finland Timo Kallinen, University Lecturer, University of Helsinki, Finland Taru Nordlund, Professor, University of Helsinki, Finland Riikka Rossi, Title of Docent, University Researcher, University of Helsinki, Finland Katriina Siivonen, Title of Docent, University Teacher, University of Turku, Finland Lotte Tarkka, Professor, University of Helsinki, Finland Deputy editors-in-chief Anne Heimo, Title of Docent, University of Turku, Finland Saija Isomaa, Professor, University of Tampere, Finland Sari Katajala-Peltomaa, Title of Docent, Researcher, University of Tampere, Finland Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, Postdoctoral Researcher, Dr. Phil., University of Helsinki, Finland Laura Visapää, Title of Docent, University Lecturer, University of Helsinki, Finland Tuomas M. S. Lehtonen, Secretary General, Dr. Phil., Finnish Literature Society, Finland Tero Norkola, Publishing Director, Finnish Literature Society, Finland Virve Mertanen, Secretary of the Board, Finnish Literature Society, Finland oa.finlit.fi Editorial Office SKS P.O. Box 259 FI-00171 Helsinki www.finlit.fi Elise Nykänen Mysterious Minds The Making of Private and Collective Consciousness in Marja-Liisa Vartio's Novels Finnish Literature Society • SKS • Helsinki • 2017 studia fennica litteraria 10 The publication has undergone a peer review. The open access publication of this volume has received part funding via Helsinki University Library. Publication of the work was supported by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation. © 2017 Elise Nykänen and SKS License CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International A digital edition of a printed book first published in 2017 by the Finnish Literature Society. Cover Design: Timo Numminen EPUB: eLibris Media Oy ISBN 978-952-222-864-2 (Print) ISBN 978-952-222-952-6 (PDF) ISBN 978-952-222-951-9 (EPUB) ISSN 0085-6835 (Studia Fennica) ISSN 1458-5278 (Studia Fennica Litteraria) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21435/sflit.10 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ A free open access version of the book is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21435/sflit.10 or by scanning this QR code with your mobile device. Contents Foreword 8 1. Introduction. Worlds Within and Without 9 The Worlds of Modernism(s). The Mind as a Limit 13 Reading Fictional Minds. Objectives and Aims, Theoretical Approaches and Previous Studies 20 Modeling Fictional Minds in Interaction 21 Plotting Minds, Plotting Worlds. Four Epistemic Paths 25 Key Concepts 28 Outline 32 2. Entering the World. The Emergence of the Embodied Mind in Se on sitten kevät 35 The Observing Mind. A Woman and a Landscape 39 Mental Landscaping 45 From “Sleepwalking” to Dreams 52 Reading Silence, Reading Minds. Narrative Landscapes of Romance 59 Chance and Coincidence. Breaking the Sequence of Everyday Life 72 3. Emotions of the Body. A Lingering Awakening in Mies kuin mies, tyttö kuin tyttö 81 A Cold Fog Rising. Veiled Minds in Interaction 83 The Split Mind and the Emotions of the Body 89 The Cycles of the Moon and the Embodied Maturation 94 Expanding Eyes. From Sleep to Arousal 99 Patterns of Lingering Awakening 106 4. Cycles of Arousal and Fall. Mirroring the Self in Kaikki naiset näkevät unia 113 The Deceiving Mind. Looking at the Self in the Mirror of Others 115 The Dark Window. Images of the Embodied Self 123 The Landscape of Dreams 129 Building the House of Dreams. From Artek to van Gogh 135 Mrs. Pyy and Delphica 139 Getting Lost. Digression and the Lingering Paths of Awakening 145 5 5. From Emotions to Feelings. Self-Conscious Minds in Tunteet 155 Reining in Emotions. Sense and Sensibility 156 Make-Believe, Logic, and Affective Immersion. A Maiden and a Weeping Willow 162 Let’s Imagine! 166 The Smothered Flames of Love. Introspection and Self-Analysis 168 Figurative Masks, Self-Performances. From Lingering to Digression 181 A Parody of Sentiments 192 6. In the Mazes of the Wounded Mind. Narrating the Self in Hänen olivat linnut 195 From Intimacy to Fear. Ambivalences of Mind-Reading 197 Spirits of the Haunted House. Going Back to the Past 203 Figures of the Divided Self. A Man-Woman and Two Women 210 Being in Fiction. The Story of the Swan 222 On the Paths of Ritualistic Storytelling 229 Breaking the Cycle. The Finale 235 7. Conclusion 240 Notes 244 References 310 Primary Sources 310 Secondary Sources 312 Abstract 322 Index 324 6 To my sisters Foreword ysterious Minds is the outcome of my decade-long work with one of M the most enchanting figures in Finnish literary modernism, Marja- Liisa Vartio. Vartio’s status as an innovator in the portrayal of human consciousness has long been acknowledged. This book is the first study that focuses on the presentation of fictional minds in her novels. By exploring the private and collective dimensions of fictional mind presentation in Vartio’s narrative prose, I also attempt to pave the way for a richer account of modernism in literature. This book reassesses the idea of modernism as an “inward turn” by paying attention to the social and intermental aspects of consciousness presentation. Fictional minds are not only introspective, solipsistic, individual, and detached. They are also public, enactive, embodied, and engaged. I wish to express my gratitude to the Finnish Literature Society for accepting my book to this international publication series. I am especially thankful to the editor, Virve Mertanen, for her cooperation and profession- alism. I also wish to thank the two anonymous peer reviewers for their invaluable comments and suggestions. Special thanks are due to the Alfred Kordelin Foundation for funding the proofreading. I feel particularly indebted to translator Jill G. Timbers, who revised the translations of Vartio’s texts. I thank Jill for the stimulating conversations we had during my trip to her hometown in Illinois, USA. I owe a great debt also to Glenda Gloss, who revised the English language of the manuscript at different stages of the project. The final choices relating to all translations and revisions remain my own, as do any possible infelicities. This book is based on my doctoral dissertation, Worlds Within and Without: Presenting Fictional Minds in Marja-Liisa Vartio’s Narrative Prose (2014). Readers interested in a more theoretically and methodologically oriented approach are welcome to inspect this doctoral dissertation. Earlier versions of parts of this book have also been published in the volumes Dialogi kaunokirjallisuudessa (Dialogue in Fiction, 2013) and Reframing Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies: Theorizing and Analyzing Conceptual Transfer (2014). I hope that readers will find Vartio’s fictional minds as captivating and this journey into her narrative worlds as rewarding as I have. Helsinki, Finland October 2017 8 1. Introduction. Worlds Within and Without he purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive account of T the narrative tools, techniques, and structures that Marja-Liisa Vartio (1924–1966), the eccentric classic author of Finnish post-war modernism, used to construct fictional minds in her novels. By examining the theoretical challenges of Vartio’s modernist narratives, this study makes a contribution to the academic discussion of the formal and thematic features of modernist fiction. I focus on the ways in which fictional minds in Vartio’s novels work in interaction and in relation to the imaginary world in which they are embedded. In Vartio’s hands, fictional minds are often layered in a challenging manner. Her characters often claim to “know” the contents of other minds, even if they do not know their own. The gradual multiplication of imaginary worlds generates mazes of fictional minds as a result of the characters’ increasing fabulation. This complexity of interacting fictional minds is illustrated in Vartio’s last novel, Hänen olivat linnut (Hers/His Were the Birds).1 The neurotic widow of a country parson, Adele Broms, opens up to her maid, Alma Luostarinen: You have it good, Alma, since you don’t grasp everything that’s going on in another person’s mind. You go through your life with your good sense under control, you suffer less than I do.