“Finland Is Dead, Dead, Dead” Kristian Smeds’S the Unknown Soldier Ethics Andnational Identity in Hana Worthen

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34 Hana Worthen “Finland Is Dead, Dead, Dead” Kristian Smeds’s The Unknown Soldier Ethics andNational Identity in Hana Worthen

[T]he human is but a point of view, a nontranscendent entity beguiled by the transcendent promises that inhere in narrative. — Paul Sheehan (2002:48)

Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) directed by Kristian Smeds opened at the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki in November 2007 and remained in the repertoire for about two years.1 Restaging Finland’s World War II struggle against the Soviet Union (1941–44) from the perspective of ordinary soldiers, Smeds’s production challenges the fashioning of national identity sustained by Finland’s best-known modern epics, Väinö Linna’s 1954 novel of the same name and Edvin Laine’s 1955 film adaptation.2 An enormously successful, vivid, and iconoclastic theatre work, the stage performance generated impassioned discussions in the press, on television, on the internet, and in the Finnish Parliament, dramatizing a tension between the patriotic narrative of war and independence within national memory and the contemporary pressure in Finland to adapt to membership in the world community. For those who hold to a “uniform national narrative” and vigorously opposed the production, Smeds’s Unknown Soldier epitomized “brouhaha art,” “hate culture,” interchangeably Stalinism/communism/socialism, the “misinterpretation of history,” and “a slap in the face of patriotic Finland.” For those who sup- ported it, the production opened a “disclosure of social ills,” provoking a much-needed discussion about a pluralistic Finland (Kyyrö 2009:57–76).3 For Smeds, this Unknown Soldier does not seek peace. This performance does not seek consensus. This performance does not worship icons. This performance does not seek acceptance.

1. My thanks to the “Interweaving Performance Cultures” International Research Center of the Freie Universität, Berlin for its collegial support during my work on this article. I saw The Unknown Soldierin May 2009, and am grateful to the Smeds Ensemble for providing me with a DVD version of the production as it was broadcast by YLE Teema television in 2009. On Kristian Smeds’s early career see Ruuskanen and Smeds (2005). 2. For a rather inadequate English translation, see Linna (1968). Laine’s film, Tuntematon sotilas, is available as a DVD; see Laine ([1955] 2001). Rauni Mollberg directed a remake of Tuntematon sotilas in 1985, but Laine’s remains the classic version. A detailed analysis of the genesis of Linna’s novel and Laine’s film, and of their popular and scholarly reception is found in Varpio (2006:270–356; 374–82). 3. All quotations are taken from Jere Kyyrö, who shows how the reception polarized around discourses of Finnishness: opponents clung to a “uniform national narrative” sustained by nationalistic discourses emphasizing national unity; they also interpreted Finland’s wars as “sacrifice,” while the proponents’ discourses took a pluralistic point of view. However, Kyyrö argues, both sides were interested in discussing how contemporary Finland should organize itself into a nation. Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own.

Figure 1. (facing page) Karelian/Finnish soldiers Corporeal Rokka (Henry Hanikka) and Susi, played by the dog, in The Unknown Soldier (2007) directed by Kristian Smeds at the Finnish National Theatre. (Photo by Antti Ahonen)

Hana Worthen is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Barnard College, Columbia University, and affiliated faculty of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University. She is the author of Playing “Nordic”: The Women of Niskavuori, Agri/Culture, and Imagining Finland on the Third Reich Stage (University of Helsinki, 2007). She has published articles on ideology and performance in Theatre Journal, Modern Drama, Contemporary Theatre Review,and GRAMMA: Journal of Theory and Criticism. Her interdisciplinary work on the performance of national identities in Finnish history and historiography has appeared in East European Jewish Affairs. She is currently editing an anthology examining cultures of silencing in Finnish academia. [email protected]

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36 Hana Worthen a cardboardsigntotheleftof stage, “sulje kännykkä nologically markedinSmeds’s Unknown Soldier Entering theNational Theatre’s mainauditorium, theconjunctionofpastandpresentistech- “Finland isdead, dead, dead” atre tointervenein, andtomediate, theethicsof nationalmemory. The UnknownSoldierisataboo-breakingexampleofthepoliticalpotentialpostdramatic the- “remote control” wars. Interrogating “Finnishness” asan “ordinary,” ethico-politicalinstitution, nary giveswaytothemoredispersedimageryofcontemporary globalizationanditsvirulent tling riftsinthenation’sidentity, astheethicalinsularity oftheFinnish World War IIimagi- the “independence party” oftheyounggeneration (Smeds2007), apartythatcelebratesunset- imaging anditsreconceptualizationinthepresent. According toSmeds, hisUnknownSoldieris of theperformanceandtheatre, framingadialectic betweenthearchiveofnationalself- Delving intotheethicsofnationalmemory, Smeds’smise-en-scèneemphasizesthepresentness 4. stagings, notablyTheUnknownSoldier(FinnishNationalTheatre,2007)andMental the easyequilibriumbetweennationalandlargerEuropeanperspectives,manyofhis 2008, focusedonthepsychologicalandpoliticalstrugglesofayoungartist.Unsettling premiered atTheatreTakomo in2000andrevivedfortheFinnishNationalTheatre and theatreindiverselocationscultures.HisJumalaonkauneus(Godisbeauty), Finland andabroad,hisperformancesstageameditationonthestateofartist Smeds’s workiscloselyassociatedwithartistic,intellectual, andpoliticaldebatesin Festwochen, playinginpartatanimmigrantcolonyontheperipheryofcity. Laberenz’s film;in2011,aremade,site-specificversion wasperformedduringtheWiener Orchard and videoart.Between20082010Smedsdevelopedaprocess-orientedCherry mobile companyproducingtheatrework,radioplays,workshops,andperformance artist Ville HyvönenandproducerEevaBergroth,hefoundedtheSmedsEnsemble,a dialogue betweendifferentgenerationsofEstonianactors.In2007,togetherwithvideo conceptualized asfairytaleforadults,andChekhov’s TheSeagull (2007),whichstageda directed ArtoPaasilinna’s Jäniksenvuosi(Theyearofthehare;2005),anadventurestory work independentlyintheBalticcountries.AtVon KrahlTheatreinTallinn, Estonia,he video totracktheactorsthroughout—andoutside—thetheatre.In2005hebegan Sisters this time,Smedsalsobegantoexploreabroaderuseoftechnologyonstage.HisThree cry inthewilderness;2001)andarockconcertversionofBüchner’s Woyzeck (2003). and foritsinnovativeperformancework,notablySmeds’s Huutavanäänikorvessa(A and internationallyrecognizedforitsdialoguewiththesocialproblemsofprovince artistic leadership,thisregionaltheatresituatedinnorthernFinlandbecamenationally in apumpingstation.From2001to2004SmedsledtheKajaaniCityTheatre;underhis familiar plays,stagingIbsen’s Brand Director. Here,heexperimentedwithapplyinganewspatialityandsitespecificityto Academy, in1996hefoundedTheatreTakomo inthecapital,alsoservingasitsArtistic national andinternationalcareer. AfterstudyingdramaturgyattheHelsinkiTheatre Kristian Smeds(b.1970)isaFinnishtheatredirectorandplaywrightwithdistinguished nying a screening of the TV version of Smeds’s remarks, originally published on the Finnish National Theatre website, are translated in a note accompa- This performancedoesnotseektobeapatrioticvictoryparade. This performancedoesnotseektobepoliticallycorrect. This performancedoesnotseektobeasharedexperience. (2004) setChekhov’s playintheKainuuregionofFinland,andusedlive-feed with actorsinVilnius, Lithuania,documentedbyVille Hyvönen’s andLennar The Unknown Soldier in Latvia (see Latvijas Jaunā Teātra Institūts 2010). in anoldtramdepotandChekhov’s UncleVanya : theaudienceseesahandwritten inscriptionon ” (turnoffyourmobile), andtwored 4 At Finland’s Unknown Soldier 37 (2007), directed by Kristian Kristian by directed (2007), Soldier Unknown The (2011)—complicate the cultural (2011)—complicate the Smeds, the Finnish National Theatre. Unlike in this rehearsal photo, in the the in photo, rehearsal this in Unlike Theatre. National Finnish the Smeds, occasion, on handbag; a carried and apron an wore performanceMuumimamma calm and peaceful the to compared been has Halonen Tarja President Finnish Ahonen) Antti by (Photo character. Muumimamma Figure 2. Muumimamma in Muumimamma 2. Figure considered the relationship between illusion and desire in illusion and desire the relationship between considered Mr Vertigo

The soundtrack con- 6 Suddenly, gunshots ring Suddenly, 5

Muumimamma is one of the main characters of Swedish-speaking Finnish writer Tove Jansson’s ubiquitous series series ubiquitous Jansson’s Tove writer Finnish Swedish-speaking of characters main the of one is Muumimamma are who family, (Muumi) Moomins the on center books The Finland. in published books children’s illustrated of hippos. somewhatresembling anthropomorphized figures white portrayedroundish as The protect. to for died countrybeautiful this of have who men of rights the for stars the and stripes The ours? of legacies of contemporary Europe. His working methods are based on close collaboration Europe. His working methods are based legacies of contemporary process, which also uses his productions are born in the rehearsal with other artists, as to Russian literature; to Smeds traces his influences discovery. improvisation and chance side, to and Brecht; and, on the contemporary as Grotowski, Kantor, theatre makers such and to the Finnish directors Lithuanian director Eimuntas Nekrošius, Frank Castorf, to the and Esa Kirkkopelto. Jouko Turkka (Royal Flemish Theatre, 2009), destabilize notions of national identities while national identities destabilize notions of Theatre, 2009), Finland (Royal Flemish In a vehicle for their dissemination. power of theatre as reflecting on the provocatively the Finnish National opened at Vertigo novel Mr. of Paul Auster’s 2010, his adaptation to of the main auditorium the 700-seat capacity this work, Smeds limited Theatre. In the ghostly letting them gaze into the turntable onstage, the spectators on 200. Seating auditorium, theatrical performance. adaptations of novels—Sad Songs from the productions of classic plays and Smeds’s for the character Sonja drawn from Dostoyevsky’s Heart of Europe (2006), a monologue , and his recent 12Karamazovs Crime and Punishment As the curtain opens, a squad As the curtain opens, 5. ) We love you! [repeated intermittently throughout] How many people are proud to be citizens citizens be to proud are people many How throughout] intermittently [repeated you! love 6. America! We (laughs)

Hilti power-tool boxes (Hilti is a company supplying “leading edge technology to global con- “leading edge technology supplying boxes (Hilti is a company Hilti power-tool the audience hears the calling of As the house lights go down, [Hilti 2009–2011]). struction” with a sledge- walks onstage the Finnish Maiden, the personification of Finland, seagulls; then, a familiar hippo-like icon of Finnish children’s literature the Muumimamma, Next, hammer. appears from behind 2), (fig. facing blankly out the curtain, A red laser- into the audience. targeting dot moves across her body. out, and the Muumimamma out, abruptly raises her right arm: an ambiguous gesture that might be simply warding off the bullets, but also evokes the Nazi salute. II sol- War World of Finnish diers enters from the back of taking the the auditorium, “White stage to Eminem’s [laughs] (“America! America” love you! How many peo- We ple are proud to be citizens country of of this beautiful, ours”). tinues with screaming, gun- tinues with screaming, and the threatening first fire, chords of Sibelius’s monumental Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021

38 Hana Worthen the Finnish National Theatre. (Photo by Antti Ahonen) medal over Sweden. scene from the 1995 hockey victory World Championship; Finland won the gold Figure 3. The soldiers celebrate against the “cross” of the Finnish flag and the key scenesfromboththenovelandfilm, well-known toanaudienceconversantinFinnish porary global stage. boxes, sledgehammer)intermsofawiderconcernfornationalistidentificationonthecontem- entwined inthenationalizedexpressionofwar, nationalindependence, sports, andwork(Hilti Boy). ing theContinuation War (1941–44) scream thewarcryofFinnishcavalry Thirty Years’ War (1618–48), alsotakenupdur noting acrucifix, framestheaction. Revvingthemselvesupforcombat, thesoldiersrepetitively discipline, aFinnishflaghungverticallyisprojectedonscreenupstage;itsbluecross, con- tation. A fewminuteslater, whilethesoldierssubjectthemselvestohierarchiesofmilitary “hymn”

7. Smeds’s identity with that of the Third Reich (see 2007:20–21, 99–116). Worthen cultural and ideological isolation rewrites a more desire complex wartime to parallel Finnish national, “racial,” rently, however, it is undergoing a reevaluation. I have shown, for example, that this imagining of Finland’s aration war” has been one of the most influential postwar narratives absorbed into national self-fashioning; cur- values and institutions, and to protect them from contamination by Third Reich ideology. The “separate” or “sep- brotherhood” has been traditionally cast as a “separate war,” to preserve a successful effort Finland’s distinctive Continuation War, Finland in contrast to the Winter War (1939–40) in which Finland fought alone against the Soviet Union, in the The term “Continuation War” proposes the “continuity” of defense duringFinland’s military World War II; (Smeds 2009). marchin’ in back of me [...]. Lyrics of Eminem’s fuckin’ people who feel like me / Who share and the same the exact same beliefs/ views It’s like a fuckin’ army the words of this song.) Or so we’re told: I never would’ve dreamed in a million years I’d see / So many mother- mittently throughout] the United States Government has sworn to uphold. (Yo, to listen to I want everybody women and men who have broke their necks for the freedom of speech [shooting and screaming repeated inter- 7 The Unknown Soldier (2007), directed by Kristian Smeds, The battlecrymodulatesintowildcheering, Ihanaa, Leijonat, (Wonderful, ihanaa Lions, Finlandia, Unknown Soldieris which alsoaccompaniestheopeningandclosingofEdvinLaine’sfilmadap- — abandoned by the Western powers — like memoryitself — Hakkaa päällePohjan poika(CutthemdownNorthern White America transcribed from DVD of — imagistic, episodicallyorganizedaround — allied itself with the Third Reich. This “gun- also repositionsthelocalethics Eminem’s “WhiteAmerica” of thenationalcharacter. But the developinghistoricalethos the wartimesceneto blending presentimageryinto strata oftheiconographicpast, ecstatic staginglayersseveral ing signoftheFinnishflag. The of invasionunderthesanctify- the hockeyvictorywiththrill ously blendingtheenthusiasmof fire, onlytoriseagain, boister denly cutdownbymachine-gun (fig. 3). Thesoldiersaresud- tially obscuredby, theflag ond screenupstageof, andpar the gameisprojectedonasec- from thesoundsystemwhile over Swedenin1995blares World Championship victory hockey team’slong-awaited brating theFinnishnational wonderful), asthesongcele- The Unknown Soldier emphasize - - - Finland’s Unknown Soldier 39 Figure 4. Smeds ironically layers the mise-en-scène. On the the On mise-en-scène. the layers ironically Smeds 4. Figure the of one Helsinki: contemporary in scene street a screen, projection “Russian a manhandles homophobically soldiers” “unknown Finnish The protection. little crucifixwhose provides medallion soldier,” Finnish the Smeds, Kristian by directed (2007), Soldier Unknown Ahonen) Antti by (Photo Theatre. National — - with —

As the conjunction of 1940s warfare and the 1990s hockey victory suggests, the production suggests, 1940s warfare and the 1990s hockey victory As the conjunction of representing rather than merely this filmed scene, Like much else in The Unknown Soldier, history. history. frequently layers modern Finnish attitudes over their presumed antecedents in World War II. War II. World antecedents in Finnish attitudes over their presumed frequently layers modern in later in the production, of this fusion occurs in a drinking scene An illuminating example His story is a Russian tank. recalls destroying Corporal Hietanen, which one of the soldiers, is enacted in the streetscape of but instead of using the 1940s scenery it projected onscreen, Onscreen, today’s Helsinki. Finnish we see the costumed soldiers placed on the plaza between the monumental eques- trian statue of Field Marshal Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim (Finland’s military leader dur ing the war and Finland’s president from 1944 to 1946) and the Kiasma museum of contem- Hietanen (Kristo porary art. Salminen) orders an older Russian Lada out of traffic and from “Russian soldier” pulls a The man’s mustache, the car. cru- bare chest, sexy tight jeans, and jaunty cifix medallion, Russian military cap might be Hietanen 4). read as gay (fig. and gives him a beating, the help of the other soldiers - eventually blow batters the car, Under the brazen gaze ing it up. bystanders whose shadow guards the aluminum façade of the Kiasma building, of Mannerheim, the ironic score for the scene onstage is a In the theatre, look on and tourists take photographs. escaping to the Ivan and Katyusha, about two Russian lovers, “Volga,” pulsing Finnish pop song, The to the Caspian sea and save their love. river in the hope that the river will take them Volga and the projection both divides and multi- scene has homophobic and xenophobic overtones, framing the audience as an ethical witness within the implicitly plies the spectators’ perspective, WWII scene, and as an ethical witness outside the represented in history, contemporary scene, to narrative of the wartime past disrupts the canonized and destruction in the past, war, violence, The audience and troubles its continuity with contemporary attitudes within Finnish society. of national of bystanders and tourists onscreen both records and consumes this re-performance alienating the audience’s performance in the National perhaps, representing and, mythology, simultaneously performing in history the auditorium, Divided between the street and Theatre. history and culture. During the performance, the squad is assembled; it enters into what had it enters into what squad is assembled; the performance, During the culture. history and Finland that stretched between “old border” crossing over the territory, been Finnish-Karelian (1939– War Winter at the end of the seized by the Soviets Union until it was and the Soviet and holds its advances, Petroskoi, takes the city of fights, the enemy, squad encounters The 40). familiar squad consists of the war films, American Much as in heading home. position before and social/ religions, political affiliations, from a range of regions, drawn the 1940s, types from - comic and com heroic and cowardly, They are cynical and idealistic, economic backgrounds. repre- all the while and kill, fight, rape, starve and survive, and celebrate, They suffer mitted. of the state (whether at and violated by the ethico-political framework senting men protected war or not). Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021

40 Hana Worthen “death ofFinland” itself, throughitsencounterwithenemy-othersandotherness assuch. ical notionofFinnishness humanity” (Margalit2002:7, 8). InTheUnknownSoldier, thesenseofnationalidentity countryman,” whilemoralityrelies “on someaspectsofbeinghuman,” andso “encompasses all tial attributesofmorality:ethics is “grounded inattributessuchasparent, friend, lover, fellow- describes asthetensionbetweenrelationalstructureofethics andtheabstractoressen- of Finnishness. 2006:33), sis ontherational” associatedwithamorethematically determineddramaturgy(Lehmann thetic leavesbehindthe “political style, thetendency towardsdogmatization, andtheempha- Finland; forhim, “the fairytalestateisgone” (Smeds2009). Butwhilethepostdramaticaes- tique ofthenetworkmyth, imagery, and ideologysustainingthepoliticalorderofmodern says thathismise-en-scèneembodiesthe “end ofthefairy sound-spaces” thatdemandsavarietyofinterpretive, dis/identifyingpractices(2006:32). Smeds dramatic theatre, Smeds’srhapsodicmise-en-scèneisa “disposition ofspacesmeaningand ethics ofmemoryandnationalidentification. To applyHans-ThiesLehmann’stheoryofpost- the spectatorwithinaestheticeventasanagentofperformance’sexploration the actionwithSibelius, Eminem, andanonstagerockband a varietyofstillandfilmprojectionsdrawnfromhistoricalcontemporarymaterials;scoring and present, fictiveandreal, virtualandmaterialFinland;deployingliveactors, live-feedvideo, sledgehammer characters return, lineupattheedgeofstage silhouetting afallencrucifixandthewartimedestructionlitteringstage(fig. 5). Theactors/ icent soundsofFinlandia. removes hisservicerevolverandcastsitonthepileofweapons, exitingupstagetothemagnif- JaakkoKytömaa). From the smoke-filledstage, hegazesoutintotheaudience, slowly Sarastie ( one byone, andleavethestage, allunderthesilentgazeoftheircommandingofficer, Major end oftheContinuation War, thesoldierslineupacrossproscenium, disarmthemselves flag (noworientedhorizontally), animageshatteredlikeglassbygunfireaswell. Markingthe and thesoldiersleavetheirinstruments;portraitsarereplacedbyaprojectionofFinnish which the stage, chairs, theMuumimammacostume, andotherpropsintoapiletoformbonfire, band sings “Finland isdead, dead, dead,” someofthesoldiersthrowdrytreetrunks alities. After itappears, eachimageisriddledwithbulletholesandthenexplodes. While the Tarja Halonen;andothericonssignifyingarangeofgenerational, social, andpoliticalposi them Maria-LiisaNevala, thedirectorofFinnishNational Theatre; FinnishPresident Finnish politicalandculturalfiguresaresequentiallyprojectedontheupstagescreen soldiers enter, takeupmusicalinstrumentsandtransformintoaband, asimagesofprominent subjects areobserved, caughtinthecrosshairs, andincineratedbydronemissiles. Onstage, the upstage screen, agrainyimagefromthecontemporaryIraqwarappearsinwhichseveralhuman that thegizmoonhishelmetisasatellitecamerausedfortargetingpeopletokill. Onthe He iswearingasafetyhelmetandredchildren’ssleddanglesfromhistoolbelt. Heexplains day warfare. Onstage, asurrealisticcharacterdressedastelephonerepairmanclimbshispole. moment asthenationaltrauma, thedeathofFinland, isdramatizedinalandscapeofpresent- of contemporaryidentificationintheidentitieswartimepast. contest the “promises thatinhereinnarrative” (Sheehan2002:48), andconfronttheimplication history,and standinginasspectatorsof thetwoaudiencesencounteringFinnishsoldiers Like othermodesofnationalidentification, Finnishness illustrateswhat Avishai Margalit Playing beforeandbehindtheproscenium;movingaroundauditorium;occupyingpast After athree-and-a-half-hourperformance, thetheatreaudiencesharesanapocalyptic — through artfullighting The UnknownSoldierevocativelyfocusesontheethicalvs. moralbinarystructure — and gazeintotheaudience. — Finland isdead:thewoundedFinnishflaggazesoutataudience, is hauntedbythereiterationof aspecifictrauma, thethreatof — appears toigniteinflames. Suddenly, thebandstopsplaying, — in thecenter, theFinnishMaidenwithher tale state,” presentinganimpliedcri- — Smeds’s UnknownSoldierplaces — — lining among the eth- tion Finland’s Unknown Soldier 41 expa- The Unknown Soldier Unknown The in a globalizing globalizing a in and the nation-state of of the nation-state and Finnish , newcomer Finns and Finns newcomer minorities, Finland’s alliance with the Third Reich Finland’s alliance with the ) is a concept which discusses what makes makes what discusses which concept a is suomalaisuus) — threatening to dissever Finland as an idea and as threatening to dissever Finland as an idea — . Original Finns, historical Finns, Original . Other photographs of Finnish personalities and and personalities Finnish of photographs Other Soldier. Unknown The (2007), directed by Kristian Smeds, the Finnish National Theatre. (Photo by by (Photo Theatre. National Finnish the Smeds, Kristian by directed (2007), Antti Ahonen) Figure 5. The wounded Finnish flag and Muumimamma costume at the finale finale the at costume Muumimamma and flag Finnish wounded The 5. Figure of performance.in treatment similar a receive icons cultural examines the discourses of Finnish identity, Unknown Soldier examines the discourses of Finnish identity, nationality - Under 8 or identity ethnic arguably a useful source for the most commonplace, widely distributed, popular understanding understanding popular distributed, widely commonplace, most the for source useful a arguably — : “(Finnish follows: as defined is “Finnishness” —

colonization by Sweden and then by Russia (1809–1917); the brutal struggle between colonization by Sweden and then by Russia The Unknown Soldier par — the past” and “knowledge and the past”

a Finn. Ethnic Finnishness can be defined as the identifying focus on focus identifying the as defined be can Finnishness Ethnic Finn. a Finn The Unknown Soldier stages The Unknown Wikipedia On of a term a of a By taking on the most unsettling of such crises By taking on the most unsettling of such Historically, the formation of Finnishness can be understood as a response to a set of the formation of Finnishness Historically, all refer to the full spectrum of Finnishness” (“Finnishness”). Here, Finnishness assumes its typical coor- typical its assumes Finnishness Here, (“Finnishness”). spectrumfull the to Finnishness” of refer all triates “STRAIGHTFORWARD 2010 the Recently, identification. of forms cultural and ethnic, national, of dination Finnishness of rhetoric the positioned illustratively York New in show Design” Finnish New Finnishness in strains ethnic/nationalist/nativist the between tension ongoing the dramatize that ways in world, unbound: is Finnishness hand, one the On cosmopolitanism. and multiculturalism toward pressure the and that evident is it now design, Finnish of main driver a was identity national a for search the days earlier in “If the connects it other hand, the On 2010). (Straightforward territory by bound not is nationality” or Finnishness to is ‘straightforward’ be “To people: the of qualities ethnicized, implicitly innate, the with design of materiality 2010). (Straightforward life” of way a and mind of state a is it Finns the For open. and frank honest, be based on based Finland 8. a critique of Finnishness that a critique of and ironizes a util- interrogates humanism and itarian ethical it pro- the humanitarianism daily across all Invoked poses. “Finnishness” areas of social life, strands of gathers contradictory and cultural, ethnic, affective, a richly national affiliation into of attitudes, ideological network and practices. beliefs, a sovereign nation-state from the imagined West/Europe while simultaneously threatening to while simultaneously threatening West/Europe a sovereign nation-state from the imagined West/Europe. dissolve it into the imagined the Reds and Whites over the ideological fashioning of the modern nation in the 1918 Civil Whites over the ideological fashioning of the modern nation in the the Reds and Lapland 1944–45) of Finland’s Continuation 1941–44, 1939–40, the three wars (Winter War; War II experience; and the Cold War World the pressure and opportunity the pressure and opportunity - posed by economic globaliza of tion and evolving conceptions the nation- EU-driven diversity, is state rhetoric of Finnishness undergoing uneven reassess- ment. crises about the past” as the instru- about the past” ment and the substance of its “to remember is to know lays bare the fact that Smeds’s Unknown Soldier In this sense, critique. “the ethics of belief are “the ethics of memory” (Margalit 2002:14), and to know is to believe”; ” ‘the real’ only insofar as it can be shown ‘the true’ is identified with “a notion of reality in which (White 1981:6). to possess the character of narrativity” ticipates in this reevaluation, ticipates in this reevaluation, “knowledge using a repository of from

both its pasts and its futures, and evokes the tension that now exists between two conflicting yet and evokes the tension that now exists between two both its pasts and its futures, during World War II — Smeds’s Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021

42 Hana Worthen the problematicrelationshipbetweennationalandtheatricalidentification. national othering;andlast, asitusesaspecificvenue, theFinnishNational Theatre, toaddress women, anactorofcolorandadogasFinnishsoldiers second, asituses “casting” memory, andimagerytoreflectoncontemporaryFinnishattitudestowardnationalidentity; focus onthreeelementsoftheproduction:first, asitentwinesthe “unknownsoldier” narrative, interacting imagesofthenation: “Fortress Finland” and “Cosmopolitan Finland.” 10. absorbed intothesacramentsofnational, nationalist, andnativistself-determination. ing itsdecisiveseparationfromtheRussianEmpirein1917), EdvinLaine’sfilmhasbeen its legacytodayaswell. standing ofthehumanconsequenceswarattendednovel’sinitialreception, andinforms prowess. This tensionbetweenthepromotionofnationalidentificationandapacifistunder soldiers’ survivalratherthancelebratingthemasuncompromisediconsofpatrioticmilitary soldiers, Linnarevealstheviolenceofwar, exposingthephysicalandmentalchallengesto fication ofastratifiednationagainstanexternalthreat. Yet, incontrasttotheheroismof dialects, classdifferentiation, andpoliticalideologicalaffiliation, buildingtowardstheuni- Union from1941to1944. The novelistrichlyportraysmasculinediversityintermsofregional part intheContinuation War whenFinlandfoughtalongsideNaziGermanyagainsttheSoviet Smeds’s tous narrativesofpostwarFinland, Linna’snovelandLaine’smassivelypopularfilmadaptation, stitute theproduction’sfoundationalhorizonofexpectation. Remediatingthetwomostubiqui- with thespecificUnknownSoldiernarrativesfamiliarthroughoutFinland;theseaccountscon- ure ofthe “unknown soldier,” butalsoamongcomplexprocesses ofidentificationinterwoven Smeds’s “The Unknown Soldiers” tion particularizeFinnishness, rootingitinaspecific natural andmentallandscape, inamoment types, Ford’s HanSolomayprovidegenerationsofmale Americans witharangeofbehavioralstereo- bravery, cowardice, impulsiveness, andsoon. ButwhileGaryCooper’s Will KaneorHarrison tion, andself-performance, framingaconvenientbehavioralindexforFinns, readyiconsof their individuallinesofdialoguehavelongsincebecomepartnationalmemory, identifica- names ofthemajorcharacters(CorporalRokka, SergeantKoskela, Riitaoja, andothers) 9. Broadcast ontelevisionnearlyannually6December, Finland’sIndependence Day (mark- In hisnovel, Väinö LinnaportraysthefateofaFinnishmachine guncorpsmobilizedtotake sponsored (National within the nation’sTheatre) spectatorship forming the memory self-performance. young generation, underlining a conceptual difference between the state (Presidential Palace) and individually the public. As mentioned above, Smeds characterized his president of Finland holds a gala Independence Day Reception in the Presidential Palace, which is broadcast to Following in the Helsinki ecumenical religious services Cathedral and official visits to WWII war memorials, the of the Association of Finnishtory Culture and Identity may be found at www.suomalaisuudenliitto.fi/inenglish/.) Hill in Helsinki,Observatory accompanied by patriotic speeches and songs. (The underlying principles and his- ture” and “to cultivate the Finnish language,” Independence Day activities are marked by raising the flag on is still today to awaken and to strengthen the sense of national identity, to promote Finnish education and cul- Organized by the Association of Finnish Culture and Identity (Suomalaisuuden Liitto), whose “purpose was and its ethics of memory. among “Europeans” as well. Smeds’s mise-en-scène evokes these discourses within the context of Finnishness term “Europe” is itself an unstable, historically conditioned entity, one that includes racial and ethnic hostilities European Union asa criticaltrope pointingtotheharshattitudestoward theimmigrationofnon-Europeans. The While “Fortress Europe” is a term coined to refer to Europe under Hitler’s dominance, it has spread in today’s The UnknownSoldierisdistinctiveinthewaysitsnarrative, language, andcharacteriza- Unknown Soldierdramatizeswhatisalreadyacontestedterrainofnationalperformance. Unknown Soldiertakesplacenotonlyamonganetworkofvaluesattachedtothefig-

— washing machinesasSovietsoldiers, amatryoshka dollasRussian Unknown Soldier — to interrogatethefunctionofethico- as the “independence party” of the 9 Here, Iwill 10 The - and Finland’s Unknown Soldier 43 - - - - bodies, bodies, bodies literally icono- — while also producing while also ” is much more than Linna’s novel or ” the friction they enact in inhabiting both past and the friction they enact in inhabiting both — marks the generational tension distinguishing the wartime and immediate post- marks the generational tension distinguishing —

“clobbering of Finnishness” (Nurvala 2007). In the Finnish media reception, a local, a local, In the Finnish media reception, (Nurvala 2007). “clobbering of Finnishness” As Laatio implies, the “entire Unknown Soldier the As Laatio implies, — 11 In this sense, the Finnish un/known soldiers are, in Smeds’s mise-en-scène, both resur in Smeds’s mise-en-scène, the Finnish un/known soldiers are, In this sense,

Gunnar Laatio continues, “But despite that I will try at some point to go to see the play. Anyway, I am going to to going am I Anyway, trywill I that despite play. the see to go to point some “But at continues, Laatio Gunnar Palace.” Presidential the at gala Day] [Independence the The press reception and national debate focused on Smeds’s imaged “shooting the icons of The press reception and national debate focused on Smeds’s imaged The doubleness of the actors’ bodies Smeds’s mise-en-scène alienates Linna’s and Laine’s ritualized object of identification, identification, ritualized object of Linna’s and Laine’s alienates Smeds’s mise-en-scène mined ethics of memory. mined ethics of memory. the virtualized violence displaced the parallel staging of Finnishness”; in the public discussion, the projected images of actual indi- screened moments before, Terror” on “War scenes from the killing made graphic contemporary In this sense, and incinerated. killed, viduals being targeted, weaker ethical claims on the production’s opponents than Smeds’s imagistic clastic Laine’s film; it provides a way to position oneself, taking in an “entire” structure of value, his- of value, structure “entire” taking in an oneself, Laine’s film; it provides a way to position prevents a “the sake of independence and Finnishness” a structure in which and nation, tory, “truth,” single locking present and future perspectives into a further interpretation of history, on a predeter (Margalit 2002:14), “knowledge from the past” dependent on a given “truth” a rected through a performance ritual and anchored in the contemporaneity of the actors’ rected through a performance ritual and and to mortal world, belonging both to our contemporary, “in-between,” reconditioned as sites framed by the real violence of the contemporary Nonetheless, of memory. the world of the past, in their present materiality these “unknowns,” creating present/future virtualized war, “truths” the “promises that inhere in [ethical] narrative,” also signify as screens that resist the 2002:48). known without knowing projected on them by the audience (Sheehan 11. an ethics of desire for the enemy-other. an ethics of in foster and its function Finland’s future destiny, in the landscape of “unknown soldier,” the soldiers are commonly known - as “natu fallen, “Unknown,” identity. ing the ethics of national heroes shaped into cult objects of civic mythic communities of memory,” ral candidates for [...] the cult of the fallen soldier blends during wartime, For Margalit, and ethical identification. dead continue to participate actively “the so that of life and death,” “two opposing categories figure of the After the war, for the purposes of motivating the nation. in the redemptive war” and revivification.” “the two categories of commemoration and confuses the fallen soldier fuses revivifica- the form of memory, works to shape and restore the past in While commemoration For Margalit, heroes by the living. of the departed “essence” of the tion implies the reanimation only on actual thick relations to the of memory is a community based not “a community then, is one focal “fallen soldier” 69): the (2002:69–70, relations to the dead” living but also on thick The cult of the fallen a community’s ethical identity. animating “thick relations” point for the those who survived) tropes a specific myth of immor or unknown soldiers (both the fallen and “unknown” the survival and return of ordinary, as in The Unknown Soldier, emphasizing, tality, men. of history, and in rituals of community contrived after the traumatic experience of war. The film The experience of war. after the traumatic community contrived and in rituals of of history, of “character within the a sense of identity and reinforce repeat, broadcast create, and its annual to collapse which attempts (White 1981:6), masculine] narrativity” national, ethical, [historical, values, and gender cultural, ethnic, society, between state, the distinctions present Finnishness epitomized in Smeds’s distanciated evocation of the imagery of national present Finnishness epitomized in Smeds’s identification generation’s more cosmopolitan sense of national war generation’s Finnishness from a younger Federation Veterans War the Honorary Chairperson of the Finnish Gunnar Laatio, identity. of the images of prominent figures, “shooting” responded to the ), (Suomen Sotaveteraaniliitto “I do not understand this at all. revisionist violence: which he took to exemplify an unpatriotic, It is irritating and the entire Unknown Soldier. This is a complete exaggeration and it confuses (Vuorinen we did our best there for the sake of independence and Finnishness” After all, foul. 2007). Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021

44 Hana Worthen of theUnknownSoldierportfolioonline(SmedsEnsemble2008aand2008b). formances oftheUnknownSoldieratNational Theatre, andtheycontinuetoperformaspart and Pori. Partoftheproductionresearch, theseinterviewswereshowninthelobbybeforeper gate thepracticeofnationalidentification, Smeds’steamvideoedstreetinterviewsinHelsinki national andmulticulturalaffiliation. IndevelopinghowTheUnknownSoldiermightinterro- identification isforsomecomplicatedbythemoralclaimsofcurrentglobalparadigmsinter killing andahumaneidentificationwithintherepresentationofglobalwar. promises thatinhereinnarrative” (Sheehan2002:48), displacedamoralinvolvementwithactual primarily ethicalresponsetothevirtualsacrificeofFinnishicons, “beguiledbythetranscendent 13. 12. rhetorical circularity the notionofFinnishuniqueness, theyalsoperformananxiety location a senseofthreat, ofhistoricalinjury, theunderstandingthatFinland a feelingofsecurity” (SmedsEnsemble2008b). Finnishpatriotismcontinuestobemarkedby answered byvaguebutnonethelessvalue-ladenresponses: “a lot[,...]freedom”; “everything [,...] specific questions outline theideologicalcharacterofnationalidentification, mostclearlyrevealedinthewaythat the restofEuropetoday. responds tothequestion, “What doyouthinkaboutimmigration?”: center ofsocialempowermentatoddswith, here, adesirednondiscriminatorystate. Shethen of coursealreadyproblematic, sinceitimpliesanunequalgaze, anaffiliationwiththeinvisible comes about. Sothattheyaretoleranttowardstheforeignersandsoon.” To be “tolerant” is that Finnishnessinvolvesappreciating “nature andalsootherpeople, sothatnoconfrontation Noting that “I appreciatebeingFinnish;thisisjustso,” shesayswouldteachherchildren Although ayoungergenerationsharestheethicsof “independence andFinnishness,” this Finland, produced in Brussels in 2009. Smeds has taken up the issue of Finnish national identity in the E.U. in his subsequent production, often conclude by asking Finnishwhether there is anything irritating in contemporary society. ognizing that this line of questioning might likely reproduce a positiveof Finnishness, construct the interviewers other Finns of a Helsinki or the people be of part Helsinki stage production. should the interview Perhaps rec- overtly designed to draw the subjects out about Finland’s neighbor, Russia); and what they would like to tell the greatest threat to Finland and the Finnish people and what makes it so threatening (the questions here seem person and for in Finlandwhat situation; whether it is crucial defense system; who or what is to have a military subjects were asked what patriotism and Finnishnessinterview mean to them; whether they would shoot another ized image of national identity (Smeds Ensemble 2008a). Underlining the project of men two drunken (but not war veterans) subjects The wide range of interview them here, aswehaveofFinnsnow. immigrant things. Well, Idoacceptthem, yes, buttheredoesnotneedtobe5millionof would beeliminatedhere. Itisalittlebitdifficult;Iamcontradictingmyselfinthese INTERVIEWEE: Well yes, itisalittlebitso;iftheywouldlivehere, then Finnishness accept havingimmigrantshere. INTERVIEWER: So, youwanttoleranceforyourchildren, butyoudonotcompletely having saidthat, itisstillquiteniceifdifferentimmigrantscomehere. [...] the Finns, butanywaywedonotneedtomakeFinlandintoamulticulturalstate, but INTERVIEWEE: Well, ofcourseitisnotreallythecasethatFinlandbelongsonlyto One interviewwithawomanwhoappearstobeinherearly20sisparticularlyevocative. — has beenandcontinuestobevulnerable. While nearlyalloftheinterviewsembrace — — “what doespatriotismand/orwhatFinnishness meantoyou” a widely recognized negative stereotype of Finns — — about thediscriminatoryovertonesthatsuchassertionsmighthavefor are choreographed in a narrative climaxing in a rather ironicof Finnishness: portrayal 13

— selected to embody a variety of age, gender, and relationship distinctions — who loudly refuse to inhabit the ideal- — revealed throughakindof — due toitsgeopolitical The Unknown Soldier, the 12 The interviews The Mental

— are - - Finland’s Unknown Soldier 45 - - the blue and — they come to Finland they come 14 Smeds’s The Unknown Soldier and patriotism, are uncomfortably inconsistent with what the speaker herself sees as a are uncomfortably inconsistent with what The ethically loaded symbols and the values they stand for The ethically loaded symbols and the values — 2008b) delineates identification as a site of contested value, where the strains between delineates identification as a site of contested value,

identity. framework, those more abstract questions of how to act toward a newly desir framework, moral forth.

view. view. Sustaining his mise-en-scène with the novel’s multifaceted legacy and interrogating the dis- Sustaining his mise-en-scène with the novel’s multifaceted legacy and interrogating Like other modes of identification, Finnishness is not linear, but more akin to a network of but Finnishness is not linear, Like other modes of identification, a lot now? And the Russians are the biggest group of immigrants in Finland right now. right now. of immigrants in Finland are the biggest group And the Russians a lot now? than the people Are they more OK of the Ingrians? think about the return What do you example? for Africa, from coming here OK. this is of course quite roots in Finland When they have family INTERVIEWEE: if they want to come to Of course, better than those others. But I do not keep them not move here? [...] why could they is a wonderful country, Finland because this to you? What does patriotism mean INTERVIEWER: and important: the blue-and-white flag very of course, this is, Well, INTERVIEWEE: so represent? But what kind of values does patriotism INTERVIEWER: I do not know how to Finnishness. I cannot say more, Well, INTERVIEWEE: (Smeds country. this is a beautiful really nice to live in Finland, It is illustrate this. Ensemble and economic) civic, cultural, (ethnic, “banal” This interview underlines how maxims of “Certain people coming from areas of the former Soviet Union (so-called returnees or Ingrian Finns) are consid- are Finns) Ingrian or returnees (so-called Union Soviet former the of areas “Certainfrom coming people residence a granted be can and Finland with connections close such other have to or origin Finnish of be to ered fact the on or background ethnic on either based be can Finland with connections Close basis. this on permit emigrants” Ingrian the to belongs or War World Second the during army servedperson the that Finnish the in original). the in Service English 2010; Immigration (Finnish INTERVIEWER: Well what then about Russians and Ingrians, what then about Well INTERVIEWER: courses entangled with values of Finnishness white flag, nature white flag, larger, the interview here, Perhaps more importantly state. cosmopolitan explicitly multicultural, able, the learned value of human dignity into the ethics of points to the difficulties of incorporating national Finnishness also includes perfor views and relations. and sometimes contradictory, ideological, as a limitation on Finnishness here appears subjects. Smeds’s interview “irritates” mance that “Finnish at the heart of the “basic envy” a dose of the kind of life they want to lead: it contains it takes something away from “if someone else is doing well, that the sense basic character,” an oppres- toward others, “intolerance” as This sustaining clannishness is also experienced me.” “if this interview is used in the Helsinki production, Asked “different.” sion of those who are the theatre audi- one subject replied that she hoped what would you want to say to people,” (Smeds Ensemble 2008a and 2008b). “let others live and be themselves” ence would learn to ethics and the recognition of wider moral claims, Epitomizing the tension between an insular Finnishness vividly an enforced national ethics and the sometimes-vexed desire for moral inclusion come into nationalism perform national identity according to the scripts of memory, fusing a roman- to the scripts of memory, nationalism perform national identity according As Margalit of citizenship (see Billig 1995). tic cultural nationalism into the civic structures local- Finnishness is ethical because it operates between and among a relatively might suggest, of ethos of character, principle of relatedness, ized community based on a rather mystifying an ethics that also contains the recognition of its own raised to the plane of national identity, limitations. moral 14. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021

46 Hana Worthen (Waldenfels 2002:66). this “totality, whichforceseverybodyintocertainroles,” atotalitythat “is basedonviolence” to theminethicalrelations;atthesametime, Smeds’smise-en-scèneresiststhecoercionof as the “unknown soldier.” The Finnishsoldierstandsforallthoseunknownandknown, bound whole” thathomogenizesthetensionsandcontradictionsofhistoryintoasingleimage, such tity performance, the “reign ofthesamewhereineverythingandeverybodyexistsasparta and contradictorydiscoursecompetingwiththeartificiallytotalizingimageryofnationaliden- within andwithoutFinnishness, andwritingFinlandintoaglobal, ratherthannational, history. ulation ofskilledlaborersandintellectualsworkingbothwithinbeyondthestate’sborders, is beingdefinedinmorecomplexwaysrelationtoanincreasinglydiverse, multiculturalpop- Finland, bothanimperativeforandconsequenceofjoiningtheEuropeanUnion, Finnishness and academicdiscourseduetotheirnon-Finnishorigins. With theriseofglobalcapitalismin legal righttomoveFinlandtoday);intellectualsstudyinginmarginalizedpublic Finns residinginthelong-disputedborderregionswithRussia, whohavebeengivenanethnic/ Finnish relatedpeoples” belongingtotheFinno-Ugriclanguagegroup(returneesandIngrian ing cohortofcontemporaryrefugeesseekingpoliticalasylum;Russianimmigrants;and “the the indigenousSámipeople;FinnishJews; Tatars; theFinnishRoma;chang- sion aswellthroughinclusion, particularlyvisibleatthemargins:Swedish-speakingFinns; Finnishness hasevolvedinresponsetoanongoingprocessofethnicdefinitionthroughexclu- ily, andpoliticaldiscourseinFinlandresonatesSmeds’smise-en-scèneaswell. That is, during theCivil War of1918(Raento2008:1), aconflictthatcontinuestoaffectpersonal, fam- an intenseandbloodyperiodofinternalstruggle:thecontestbetweenReds Whites tion tooutsideaggressors, colonizers, orcultures, italsoemergedinthemodernerathrough Finnishness war imagination, whiledevelopingacritiqueoftheperceptionitsongoingutility. While locates astructureofnationalidentificationasnecessaryproductthewartimeandpost- audience isreluctanttojoinin familiar intoday’sFinland, itremainsadeeplyfeltanddifficultsubject. TheNational Theatre the historyofbrutalityonbothsidesandlong-lastinghumiliation oftheReds’defeatis not speakaboutthingsastheyreallyareandworse, one cannotfeelthewayonefeels.” Though eyes: “what isrottenhere[thatis, here inthetheatreauditorium], whatthefuck, onecan - is that ant family;hisfathercamebackfroma White prisoncamp, buthisuncleswereshotbefore (assisted byGermany)defeatedtheReds. As Koskela tellstheaudience, heisfromaRedpeas- perhaps thebest-knownworking-classmarchofFinnishCivil War, inwhichthe Whites addresses theaudienceandcommandsthemtosing “his” song, “The RedGuard’sMarch,” heim’s birthday;theytaketurnssingingsongs. Second LieutenantKoskela(Timo Tuominen) tity andmemory. asameansofinspectingandpossiblyreframingitsownparadigms ofiden- audience toperform protect anddiscipline, undertherhetoricofahomogenousnation. Itdoessobyinvitingthe tity politicsandpoliciesofthenation-statehaveinflictedonbodiesmindsthosethey cal manner. Liketheedgeofascalpel, Smeds’smise-en-scèneopensthewoundsthatiden- by rehearsingtheethicalviolencewithinandofnationalidentityinaself-consciouscriti- Smeds’s Playing Others sing oratleastmumblepartsof thelyrics. Smeds, foramoment, reopens aspaceof(war)vio- tion.” This unificationissymbolic, butitsutopianpresentnessisperformedhere, as spectators uniting throughthisironicsong of “love” inwhatKoskelaalsocalls “a reconciliation celebra- In animplicitdialoguewithEmmanuelLevinas, Smed’smise-en-scènedevelopsacritical For example, atonepointintheproduction, the soldiersareatleisure, celebratingMan Unknown SoldieratonceobjectifiesandinterrogatesthewilltoFinnishness,inpart is oftenpopularlyunderstoodasamodeofself-identificationframedinopposi- — “Now, fuckingfuck youwillsing”

— but manyeventuallydo, ner Finland’s Unknown Soldier 47 - - contemporary Finland in are the operative agents, locating the supremacy of the locating the supremacy are the operative agents, —

constructs of their Finnishness emphasizes the performance and reconceptualization of memory some- and reconceptualization of memory Unknown Soldier emphasizes the performance —

The in performance calls into question the spe- The Unknown Soldier As these two scenes show, a long-disputed stretch of land connecting Russia Much of the action is located in Karelia, face, calling for the audience not only to hear the familiar-yet-unspoken humiliation and trauma humiliation and familiar-yet-unspoken not only to hear the for the audience calling face, to perform in the suppressed voices but also to sing Finland, descendants, of the Reds and their lost vision of the nation. of that other, the no-man’s land celebrating Hearing Soviet soldiers across later scene. what differently in a join the party atmosphere, of truce, the Finnish soldiers in effect declare a kind Stalin’s birthday, Again partially effac- onstage. from the audience to dance with them and bring several women party- house lights go up; the performance of the spectator and actor, ing the division between with the present rather than with the audience) stresses the continuities ing (the actor-soldiers Putin, Stalin, images of Lenin, Beneath revival of the wartime past. a rupture with or a simple female spectators and animated skeletons, girls in miniskirts, Pioneer-like eroticized Kasparov, having a ball with the actors, to dance to contemporary Russian techno, come onto the stage paradox- In this somewhat throughout the auditorium. and extending the disco-like atmosphere draws the reserved Smeds somewhere beyond the reconquered Finnish territory, ical moment, cele- in a complex performance, virtually at least, including them, spectators onto the stage, within the ritualized framework of the Finnish brating the Soviet past and the Russian present and the Finnish characters all join in the actors, audience, while the Yet epic of postwar survival. the present audience might also be said to be danc- Stalin’s birthday festivities during the war, in the National celebrating the endurance of Finland and Finnishness here ing on Stalin’s grave, the cosmopolitan ethics evolving in so to speak, betraying, Theatre, appears to cele- the audience In this sense, anti-Russian nationalism. favor of an old-fashioned, now too, of a Europe to which they, “unification” the brate the fall of Communist regimes and an perception,” “politics of calls the theatre’s Smeds employs what Lehmann Here, belong. “deceptively comforting duality of in which the “aesthetic of responsibility (or response-ability)” But The Unknown Soldier also shows that while suspended. is inside and outside” here and there, its politics “not only aesthetic but therein at the same time ethico-political,” such experience is as experience affectively and intellectually complex internally contradictory, are as multileveled, and performance themselves (Lehmann 2006:185–86). unresolvable dialecticization of ethical and moral cific practice of national identification: its it also inter as performer, the production not only figures the audience However, experience. The production disrupts an implic- enterprise. “human” rogates national identification as a human/ fixes the world in dualistic terms: man/animal, which Aristotelian order of nature, itly and Singer and civilization/barbarism (see Regan reason/emotion, and by extension, nature, The mise-en-scène denaturalizes Finnishness at the liminal interface between the 1989:4–5). and the the racially marked human, the nonhuman Russian, Finnish soldiers, “unknown” to rep- humanized animal companion through a lucid theatrical tactic: using washing machines and a dog to an actor of color to play Karelian Corporal Rokka, resent the Russian enemy, the Finnish sol- Onstage, “wolf.” whose name literally means Susi, perform Rokka’s comrade, diers provocatively refuses a straightforward identification of the staging “human”; at the same time, nationalism. underlining the potentially dehumanizing force of national and human identity, the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga and extending including the territory between to Finland, War, Winter Seized by the Soviet Union after the northward along the contemporary border. lence for a collective performance that foregrounds the constructed surface of Finnishness by of Finnishness by the constructed surface that foregrounds collective performance lence for a the finally erased through eased but not within the nation, confronting othering simultaneously of Finnishness is sustained The patina of national unification. postwar discourses wartime and the ide- and therefore War who lost the Civil memories of those of silencing the by the violence sur Smeds shatters that In this scene, modern Finnish nation. to fashion the ological struggle Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021

48 Hana Worthen 16. 15. Unknown Soldier), andthenlargelycededbacktotheSovietUnion. it wasregainedbyFinnishandGermanforcesduringtheContinuation War (theperiodofThe Antti Ahonen) The Unknown Soldier (2007), directed by Kristian Smeds, the Finnish National Theatre. (Photo by Figure 6. Fallen and eviscerated Russian soldiers are embodied by frontloading washing machines. even ifyoufryhiminbutter.” between FinlandandRussiaepitomizedbythefamiliarproverb, “A RusskiewillstayaRusskie, soldier-archetypes aredifferentfromtheRussianenemy, framingthelongstandingantipathy neighbors, anddrawingadistinctionaswell. Onstage, theFinnishunknownyetembodied an importantsymbolicrolehere, markingthepotentiallikenessofFinnswiththeirRussian these inorganic “actors” portray “Russians” withoutagency, literallypartoftheethicalmise- front-loading washingmachines(fig. 6). Thrown onstagebystagehandsthroughouttheplay, neighbor” (Margalit 2002:76–77). solidarity in many nations depends to a considerable extent on hatred, whether active or platonic, of the nation’s choose my words advisedly: not the truth a common hatred for its neighbors”; in this sense, “hatred, is disturbing, since we recognize in it. I the truth “A and shares nation has famously been defined as a society that nourishes a commondelusion about its ancestry its purest form. national romanticism, understood as wherea primordial the essence of Finnishness sanctuary can still be found in authentic essence of Finnishness in the natural and mental landscape of Karelia. Karelia for became the fulcrum Karelian heritage, Karelian folklore, became the inspiration for “Karelianism,” a movement locating the in arts Kalevala, Ingrians” who gain Finnish citizenship if they immigrate to Finland. Karelia is also closely associated with the faced harsh conditions as non-Russians in the Soviet Republic of Karelia. These are the “returnees” or “Finnish “Karelians” displaced by the Winter War returned home; after the war, however, these “Finnish-related peoples” Karelia is a Smeds’s productionusesspecificperformingobjectstoobjectifytheRussianenemy:generic, the national epic poem of Finland, compiled and adapted by Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884). The preserved human as well as geographical border: during the Continuation War, a considerable number of the 16

of it, but the truth it, but the truth in it. Namely, it is a historical fact that the bond of 15 The Karelianborderplays Finland’s Unknown Soldier 49 fi croons soldier claims — identification. identification. at the begin- Smeds merely Smeds merely as human beings. —

To say that To dressed in the uniform of a Finnish dressed in the uniform the “Russians” the — — of the ideological apparatus, the ethics, of Finnishness. of Finnishness. the ethics, of the ideological apparatus, — depends on the conflict between agents, The Unknown Soldier depends on the conflict between agents, praxis women’s bodies, marked by their matryoshka Russianness women’s bodies, the machines —

by machines. The Russian soldiers are not staged merely as objects: they are performed by machines. While an Aristotelian Smeds’s mise-en-scène critiques the objectifying principle at the heart of national identi Smeds’s mise-en-scène critiques the objectifying Immediately following the opening “hockey” scene, the soldiers engage in a battle onstage, soldiers engage in a battle onstage, the scene, “hockey” the opening Immediately following tion. Accepting and creating this “Russian” object-other as human, the Finnish the object-other as human, “Russian” Accepting and creating this tion. Smeds amputates the will of the inanimate Russians, at the same time materializing the vio- Smeds amputates the will of the inanimate Russians, This staging lent force of the will of the Finnish soldiers on the Russians’ machine-like bodies. and pro- at once channels the audience’s traditional expectations of the ethics of Finnishness an opportunity to reframe its performance as a national vides the means of its defamiliarization, As such, the Russians are constructed as mere fact, without the ability to assert any value in mere fact, the Russians are constructed as As such, While the audience’s ethical relation to the Finns onstage response to the claims of Finnishness. the production chal- and sustained by the human actors, immediate, is apparently transparent, lenges the audience to imagine and engage these objects stages a conflict that arises not from mutual communication between antagonists, but instead stages a conflict that arises not from mutual communication between antagonists, willful invention of a recipro- shows the consequences of the protagonist’s self-reinforcing, duplicitous structure of national articulating a sophisticated, cally defining other, ca “Dignity, him in Margalit’s moral terms: an ethical identity that nonetheless dehumanizes even to everybody, It is supposed to be accorded positional good. is not a unlike social honor, the most universal common denominator of being by virtue of to the one who is nobody, but has neither will nor dig- can be objectified and raped, “Russian” The human” (2002:114). and so cannot earn our grief, “us,” distinct from remains ontologically “it” nity; in the end Or the opposite: because the Finnish soldier is or provoke a catharsis. sympathy, mourning, be limitlessly executed on the imagined bodies of the the generative agent of violence that can ) takes on rep- enemy in its particularity (a Russian person catharsis is summoned and the enemy, victimization. symbolizing the consequences of any (in)human act of resentative significance, soldiers are also dehumanized by their performance, the Finnish Smeds suggests, In either case, identification with and action on because they will themselves into personhood through their the Finnish soldiers are themselves shown to be Encarnalizing the machines as Russians, others. the instruments “Bang Bang (He Shot Me Down),” following the 1966 Nancy Sinatra cover of Cher’s hit song following the 1966 Me Down),” “Bang Bang (He Shot in war are dramatized as The human consequences of objectifying women from the same year. women strewn across the frozen landscape are pro- wartime photographs of dead half-naked The jected onscreen. Finnishness, are now the sites where the consequences of the ethics of ning of the group rape, for are materialized national identification, and more broadly the ethics of masculinized the audience. en-scène of Finnishness, animated by the force and imagination of the “unknown soldiers.” But “unknown soldiers.” imagination of the by the force and animated Finnishness, en-scène of are also the instrument they things, thoroughly dehumanized stage Russians are while Smeds’s limitations. humanity and their the Finnish soldiers’ for defining Lotta (the women’s voluntary military auxiliary), but singing in phonetic Russian but singing military auxiliary), Lotta (the women’s voluntary labels the Russians as machines or automata oversimplifies and distorts the actual work of The and distorts or automata oversimplifies as machines labels the Russians creation of are the “Russians” suggests that the ironic mise-en-scène Smeds’s . Unknown Soldier the Finnish soldiers, objects through which necessarily nonhuman They are the Finnishness. assert an ethical identity. and their Finnishness, they hesitantly approach the At first, “soldier.” a dead Russian after which they encounter “insides”: a pack- axe and take out its they chop it open with an it dead, finding machine; then, — a a matryoshka and strikingly, wooden a photograph of Lenin, wallet, a age of cigarettes, gingerly unwrapped; the fascinated the matryoshka is in a woolen sock, Nestled nesting doll. each opening his doll to find another excited as they pass the doll around, soldiers become more tak- licking them salaciously, the dolls, The soldiers cradle along. “her” one within and passing a chanteuse Meanwhile, (fig. 7). ing them in their mouths Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021 50 by Kristian Smeds, the Finnish National Theatre. (Photo by Antti Ahonen) view is projected on the screen upstage. Hana Worthen Figure 7. While the band of Finnish soldiers “rape” the Karelian CorporalRokka(Alftan2007;Kytölä2007)(fig. 1). 18. 17. human, therefore, istodenarrativiseit, and toenvisageitasfactratherthanvalue” (2002:27). notes,on acentralpartinthestagingofTheUnknownSoldier.Sheehan“To As the ‘animalise’ washing machines, thefunctionofanimalasactor, asmodeofaction, asmetaphor premiere. in Finland’s paper of record, the tors! War stories are problematic, says Rokka played by Henry Hanikka” (Kytölä appeared 2007). Both articles fuckin’, weird. In The Unknown Soldier at the National Theatre Rokka is black and the Russkies are refrigera- Antti Rokka.new The Karelian Corporal is played by the durable Tampere mulatto” (Alftan 2007); “Somehow, Even given their possible irony, the English-language translation of these titles is striking: “Henry Hanikka is the relates the interaction of man and machine to the “psychological landscape” of imperialism. I am adapting Sheehan’s political analysis of Joseph Conrad’s The Unknown Soldier (2007), directed Helsingin Sanomat , a close-up matryoshka — Kytölä’s in the paper’s weekly magazine Nostromo (1904) here, in which Sheehan deftly 18 Likethenestingdolland 2002:79). of thenationalwill(Sheehan that “propels thenarrative” “self-perpetuating enslavement” “mechanism ofobsession,” the subject existinginrelationtothe to anend. others asthings, asameremeans motivated bytheimaginationof fashioning ofnationalidentity Margalit 1996), apractice for the practice of “humiliation” (see “humanity” ofFinnishnessasa ing theaudiencetoquestion of Finnishness itself, challeng- ization enactedbythepractice consequences andthedehuman- onstrates bothitsdehumanizing identification, estrangesit, dem- same time, italsodisruptsthat familiar Finnishsoldiers. At the audience withtheexploitsof national memorythatalignsthe Finnishness, thewillofshared structure forthewilltoinhabit in somereviews identified as “mulatto” (mulatti actor complexion —an darker Susi, andaFinnishactorwith the Finnish/Kareliansoldier national memory:adogplays the ethicsofFinnishness place thatenrichtheanalysisof tradictory performancestake Russians, twocomplexandcon- the washingmachinesplaying white menplayingFinnsand Moreover, betweenthe 17 The stageprovidesa — — plays Finnish/ prior to the — and takes ) Finland’s Unknown Soldier 51

19 and Smeds eagerly cast Henry Hanikka in the and Smeds eagerly cast Henry Hanikka in — (14 January 2012). 2012). January (14 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAwtcWXF_58 the down-to-earth, slyly insubordinate, patriotic Karelian slyly insubordinate, the down-to-earth, — and stands for an individual Karelian/Finn. Onstage, the dog is the Onstage, Karelian/Finn. and stands for an individual a white, flaxen-haired fellow from Ruokalahti field... (Hanikka 2007) field... flaxen-haired fellow from Ruokalahti a white, — — a thoroughly white Finn... —

the role of “Susi” was performed by two dogs during the production, listed as Enska production, was performed by two dogs during the “Susi” the role of —

This interview can be found on YouTube at YouTube interviewThis on found be can : Well have you received any kind of comments (he sighs) about yourself Well : Interviewer you are somehow not quite... as Rokka; well if I dare say, Hanikka: : Interviewer Nonetheless, the canine actor also dramatizes the ways in which national identification ways in which national also dramatizes the the canine actor Nonetheless, it drama- as raises more complex issues, The reception of Corporal Rokka’s performance Although the interviewer does not overtly side with those making an evidently racist critique Although the interviewer does not overtly side with those making an evidently racist leading Hanikka to define the issue of works rhetorically, “tact” his of the production’s casting, the interviewer evidently positions him: outside the cat- and indeed to place himself where race, Finnishness. “white” egory of 19. and Sissi in the program tends to debase its others even below the level of companion animals. The canine actor has a The canine actor animals. below the level of companion its others even tends to debase name - Enska and Sissi could not escape the fac though “Susi,” as the soldier addressed as a person, with treats for being good and continually rewarded they were leashed, ulties of their species: - with the social positioning of pets in contem is cognate then, The actor-dog, onstage. “actors” are often afforded human family, where dogs become members of a society, Western porary and generally to human wellbeing, contribute are given healthcare, “personhood,” narratives of - and redeem substituting, compensating, agents capable of extending, are valued as independent perform important service work in Not only do dogs and deficiencies. ing human shortcomings emphasizes the necessity of but contemporary dog training settings, both civilian and military obey, ready to is compliant, reacts, The actor-dog dogs on their own level. communicating with is not “He” in the same capacity as the Finnish soldier. to serve and most important, to please, Assigning the role but a humanized animal subject. “Russian,” an inanimate stage object like the even the more limited qualities of motivation ascribed of a Finnish soldier to a dog implies that Russians; in The Unknown Soldier the actor- to animals are withheld from the washing-machine while the or at least signifying ethical behavior, dog is imaginable as a vehicle for enacting provides a point of “Susi” In this way, national narrative. are denied agency in the actor-objects dramatiz- claims of national identification, “humanist” focus for the production’s critique of the force. ing its dehumanizing dimension with particular (Latour 1986:7–9) as an unspoken but nonethe- “optical consistency” tizes the assumption of of the novel’s and Rokka is one Finnishness. “white” less constitutive element of an implicitly the film’s most beloved characters effective killer who is the unit’s most farmer, play this role received nota- but his assignment to Hanikka is a prominent Finnish actor, part. as histori- where the casting choice was occasionally highlighted ble comment in the media, exist in Finland did not it was implied, Finns of this particular complexion, cally inaccurate. and so could not have formed part of the heroic force defending War, during the Continuation and of national self-identifi- the ethics of memory, Finland’s independence: they stand outside Finland’s national broadcasting com- TV1, YLE In an interview on cation and self-legitimation. to confront Finnish representational norms: Hanikka’s racialized alterity appeared pany, As a “fact,” neither the object nor the animal is an agent in the ethical community. In the novel, the novel, In ethical community. is an agent in the object nor the animal neither the “fact,” As a Susi (Wolf In this him. even speaks for Karelian sidekick; Rokka Rokka’s silent ) is Corporal with a subordinate in arms,” “brother faithful suited to playing the canine Susi is well the sense, of equality. the prerogatives Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021

52 Hana Worthen cies difference. difference ismoredisturbingtothepatrioticimaginaryofwartimeservicethandog’sspe- date thantheFinnishnessevokedbyadark-complectedFinnishactor, whoseapparent “racial” “Finnishness” evokedbythedog’sperformanceappearstobesignificantlyeasieraccommo- cally enough, becauseitscompanionabilitytestifiestothehumanecharacterofFinnishness. The because itsbiologicalagencyliesoutsidethediscourseofnationalizedhumanism, and, ironi- threatening totheethicalclaimsofnational/isticnarrative. The soldier-dog canbeabsorbed ing machinesdramatizesthefactthatitispreciselyhumanqualityofothermost national identitiessustainingTheUnknownSoldier. Paradoxically, stagingtheRussiansaswash- memory thantheFinnishactorofcoloralsobearsongeopoliticalcritiqueethical/ethnic/ “white” Finnishness. clearly belongstothe “human” narrative, butproblematizestheperformanceofwartime, andof tizes themobileandcontradictorystructuresofethicalidentification: “mulatto” actor ), ahumorousliteralization.dier namedSusi(Wolf The receptionofHanikka’scastingdrama play aContinuation War soldierisconsiderablylessproblematic;afterall, thedogplayssol- “white” actors’biographies. To judgebythereceptionofproduction, assigningadogto mother isportrayedasuniqueinthereviews, which “naturally” donottreatthisaspectofthe 2007), halvesit. The tangofmiscegenationispalpablehere, too;thesexualhistoryofHanikka’s than redoublingtheculturalauthorityofa “multicultural” Finland(seeforexamplePantzar “multicultural” ethicinto “white” history. Inthissense, Hannika’s “biracial” appearance, rather tory accusationsunderstoodtheactor’sskincolortomakeanillegitimateclaimbyinsertinga 20. aesthetic efficacy. CommissionedbytheFinnish National Theatre, TheUnknownSoldierwas social ideologythat “give ordertothesocial, its organization andperception” (37). ment breakingdownandrestructuringthefamiliar, conventional, even “dramatic” patternsof ity (2006:21), framinganeventinwhichthefictive “drama” ispartofawiderstructureenact- Soldier reactsagainst “the representationalproblems” of theatredisconnectedfromstreetreal- representations inTheUnknownSoldiers. InHans-ThiesLehmann’sterms, Smeds’s Unknown National Theatre venue, themediareception, andtheculturalinheritanceofwarits and towardaconceptionoftheevent, whichinthiscase constellatedthestageperformance, the though, isaredirectionofcriticalattentionawayfrom the narrativerepresentationonstage, cal ratherthanlinear” initsrepresentationofsocialchange (1982:74). What Turner doesinvite, an Aristotelian modelof “drama” tobewidelyapplicable, andisboth “equilibrist” and “cycli- known formulation. As Turner himselfrecognized, his “social drama” isperhapstoorelianton dramatizing theinterplaybetween “social drama” and “aesthetic drama” in Victor Turner’s well- “the drama” onstage, buttheaudience’sengagementwithtermsofitsownperformance, Smeds’s PerformingNational Theatricality National (Nevala2008). Theatre’” which is ‘a sacredinstitution,’ andreaderswereasked ‘to protestandtosendfeedbackthe Hanikka. “The Internetheadlinewas: ‘The National Theatre israping The UnknownSoldier,’ ments flew,” whenitwasrevealedthatRokkawouldbeplayedbythedark-skinnedHenry The factthattheactor-dog assumesalesstroubledabilitytosignifywithintheethicsof The “site specific” characterofTheUnknownSoldier forcefullyintertwinesitssocialand The directoroftheFinishNational Theatre, Maria-LiisaNevala, notedthat, “Racist state - -like competition. Survivor-like competition. of Finnish to Lapland (the Koli contestants is transported region Karelia), in of anorthern to participate racist comments” against those “marked” reality of a contemporary participants TV show in which a cast (2007:56, 65). The authorsshow how skin color and Asian origin fueled hatred and “generated plenty of For a more recent example of how racist strains sustain the concept of Finnishness, see Aslama and Pantti Unknown Soldiercreatesapostdramaticevent, whosesubstanceisnotthereceptionof 20 Although Hanikka’smotherisFinnish, thediscrimina- Finland’s Unknown Soldier 53 - of xvii). continued contemporary contemporary globalization. globalization. “soil,” “blood,” “lan- “blood,” “soil,” — The dialecticizing of the ethical and by the Russians, or into the dream of a or into the dream of a by the Russians, — And yet, insofar as the category of Finnishness is at once above critique insofar as the category of Finnishness And yet, 21 (Living Space), a “Greater-Finland” to the east, taking in only the Finnish-related peoples (see (see peoples Finnish-related the only in taking east, the to “Greater-Finland” a Space), (Living which, in Finland as elsewhere, predicated the value of the national theatre in part predicated the value of the as elsewhere, in Finland which,

—

Finnishness also played a part when, as an ally of the Third Reich, Finland was to expand into its “own” “own” its into expand to was Finland Reich, parta Third the of ally an as when, played also Finnishness Lebensraum 2007:104–5). Worthen Like Finland itself, Finnishness and its ethics of memory may seem a marginal issue, on one Finnishness and its ethics of memory may seem a marginal issue, Like Finland itself, Finnishness has provided a necessary placeholder for the imagination of (the possibility of) Finnishness has provided a necessary placeholder dialecticizes Finnishness as an ethical principle, one that produces and The Unknown Soldier dialecticizes Finnishness as an ethical principle, 21. theatrical representation in the nation’s leading institutional theatre. The Finnish National The Finnish National theatre. nation’s leading institutional in the theatrical representation motivated by theatre construction European part of the wave of late-19th-century Theatre is Founded institution. it is an ethical awareness movements: nationalism and national Romantic Theatre has the National a Russian Grand Duchy, when Finland was still in 1872, the including of crises, identity through a series represent national to form and and economic membership in the European Union intersection of Finland’s responsive to its original mission: to Theatre has remained deeply the National Nonetheless, particularly through good, through the aesthetics of the common strengthen social integration Both Finnishness and the the idea of national uniqueness and genius. the reinforcement of the discourses of their origins, are inseparable from the terms of Theatre Finnish National terms and their privileged nationalisms, late-19th-century nativisms, guage” principle “global” so located a and the European dramatic repertoire, on its ability to present Theatre and the Finnish National In this important sense, of the nation. within the definition trajec between the problematic historical/ethical- stand at the intersection The Unknown Soldier performance of those identities in of European national identities and the tory of the formation national and international culture. the ethical/moral dialectic of contemporary centered on the economically dominant EU mem- of the edges of a geopolitical consciousness the issues ani- much as the peripheral may be symbolically central, And yet, bers and the US. . mated by The Unknown Soldier are not unique to Finland designed, conceptually and materially, for Finland’s national house, and speaks to the state and speaks to the national house, for Finland’s conceptually and materially, designed, reframes the human relations required by the reframes the human relations required by the moral sustaining Smeds’s Unknown Soldier National postcolonial culture. international, global, ethical and moral demands of contemporary in “very particular intellectual and historical traditions” identity categories emerge as part of encom- however, This notion, (Chakrabarty 2000:xiii). “related to place” is “thought” which itself in the “nation” but also locates the notion of passes not only specific national identities, terms of the (transnational) European Enlightenment. War, the Continuation War, Winter the War, both during periods of crisis (the Civil Finland, human- progressive, such as the expansive influence, and in periods of apparently War) the Cold in and technological role Finland plays in the European Union and more significantly itarian, the United Nations. cosmopolitan Europe. In this sense, Finnishness and Finland (like the “American dream”) are “American Finnishness and Finland (like the In this sense, cosmopolitan Europe. marginalizes a politicized alterity as the price of politicized belonging. The signal work of the marginalizes a politicized alterity as the price of politicized belonging. performance is to dislocate this Finnishness as a means to foregrounding the constructed char acter of national identity, what Loren Kruger calls the “theatrical character of nationhood” “theatrical character of nationhood” what Loren Kruger calls the acter of national identity, and contestation that constitute the effec- legitimation, “the processes of representation, itself: dead,” dead, “Finland is dead, Singing (2008:37). tive and affective affinities of citizenship” nation by the the uncanny haunting of the the actors plumb the trauma of national identity, or absorption contamination, fear of its annihilation, and below recognition, “a sign that we think out of particular accretion of histories that are not “a sign that we and below recognition, discourse while it inflects the representation of history and historical always transparent to us,” it by assigning this fundamental structure of value at the same time ostensibly vanishing from 2000:xiv, (Chakrabarty more determining level” “to what is assumed to be a deeper and a Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00166 by guest on 28September 2021

54 Hana Worthen critical engagementwithitscomplexactsofethicalidentification. Unknown Soldier, finally, enforcesamoralperformanceinandofhistoricalchange, througha meaning ofwhatisincluded” inthesocial, cultural, andpoliticalframe(Vernon 2010:88). The inhere” ates theseductionsofnationalidentification, andthebeguiling “transcendentpromisesthat Smeds’s mise-en-scèneproposesanalternative, hybridformoftheatricalinterplay:itmoder formed withinanorganizedbutunplottedeventthatseemstorendertheseactsprovisional. complex andsometimescontradictoryethicalmoralaffiliationsjudgments, actsper sive ratherthannarrative;itinvolvesthevisionandrevisionofmemory, andthepracticeof As thestructureofTheUnknownSoldiereventsuggests, thisprocessofidentificationisimmer rocally politicizingourselvesbyidentifyingothersthroughactsofunreflectiveidentification. of meaning” (39), inwhich, likethesoldiersonstage, wefashionournationalidentities, recip - only inacertaindiscourseuncriticallyembodied “a processoftranslationandtransference homogenous” ethics, arenot “primordial” or “naturalistic” (Bhabha1994:38). They makesense tic Finnishness, awarethatnational/isticpriorities, thoughseeminglyreflecting “aunitaryor performed. performance, troublingboththefictiveimageryofnationalidentificationandwaysitis ents remainsomewhatindeterminate” (Chakrabarty2000:27). “hyperreal termsinthattheyrefertocertainfiguresofimaginationwhosegeographical Latour, Bruno. 1986. “Visualization andCognition: Thinking withEyesandHands.” Knowledge andSociety: Laine, Edvin. (1955)2001. Tuntematon sotilas.DVD. FinnKino. Kyyrö, Jere. 2009. onkuollut.’ KristianSmedsinTuntematon“‘Suomi sotilas–näytelmänjasitäkäsittelevän Kytölä, Laura. 2007. “Jotenkin, prrkele, outoa. Kansallisteatterin Tuntemattomassa sotilaassaRokkaon Kruger, Loren. 2008. “The NationalStageandtheNaturalizedHouse:(Trans)National Legitimation Hilti. 2009-2011. “Hilti inbrief.” www.hilti.com/holcom/page/module/home/browse_main.jsf?lang Hanikka, Henry. 2007. Interview forK-rappu,November. YLETV1,28 “Finnishness.” 2009. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnishness(6June2010). Finnish ImmigrationService. n.d. “Persons ComingfromtheFormerSovietUnion.” www.migri.fi Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2000. ProvincializingEurope. Postcolonial Thought andHistoricalDifference. Princeton, Billig, Michael. 1995. BanalNationalism. London: Sage. Bhabha, HomiK. 1994. TheLocationofCulture. London: Routledge. Aslama, Minna, andMerviPantti. 2007. “Flagging Finnishness:ReproducingNationalIdentityinReality Alftan, Maija. 2007. “Henry HanikkaonuusiRokan Antti. Karjalaistaalikersanttiaesittäänytpesunkestävä References The criticallayeringofSmeds’sUnknownSoldierthickensthematerialsandprocesses Studies intheSociologyofCulture Past andPresent 6:1–40. Comparative Religion, Universityof Turku. lehtikirjoittelun kansakuntapuheen jakansalaisuskonnonanalyysi.” MAthesis, Department of Helsingin Sanomat, musta jaryssätovatjääkaappeja!Sotajututongelmallisia, toteaaRokkaanäytteleväHenryHanikka.” Palgrave. in ModernEurope.” In National Theatres, inaChangingEurope ed. S.E. Wilmer, 34-48.Basingstoke: =en&nodeId=-8555 (6June2010). /netcomm/content.asp?path=8,2475,2525&language=EN (25May2010). NJ: PrincetonUniversityPress. Television.” Sanomat, 17November. tamperelainen mulatti. KristianSmedsinohjausonhänestä ‘isolla kädellätehtyääijäenergiaa.’” Helsingin in itsnarrative(Sheehan2002:48). Itpromptsarecognitionthatexclusions “change the The UnknownSoldiermakes “us,” thespectatorsinsideandoutsidethisagonis- Television &NewMedia8, 1:49-67. Nyt-viikkoliite, 23 November. - - - - Finland’s Unknown Soldier 55 Agri/Culture and Imagining Finland on the Finland and Imagining Agri/Culture (14 December 2011). www.straightforward-design.net , 29 November. Ilta-Sanomat, Trans. Naomi Goldblum. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Cambridge, Naomi Goldblum. Trans. The Decent Society. MA: Harvard University Press. Cambridge, The Ethics of Memory. New York: Performing Arts New York: The Human Seriousness of Play. Theatre: Ritual to From . Helsinki: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. Söderström Werner Helsinki: sotilas. Tuntematon Osakeyhtiö. Söderström Werner Helsinki: unknown. Trans. Soldier. The Unknown . Linnan elämä. Helsinki: WSOY. Väinö www.theatre.lv/en/index.php the Unknown Soldier.” “Screening of n.d. \tra Instituts. www.teatterilehti.fi/17-paajohtaja-maria-liisa-nevala-%E2%80%9 3. Teatterilehti

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