Seven Brothers

By Aleksis Kivi

Book Overview

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 188047400X
• ISBN13: 9781880474006
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Aspasia Books
• Length: 345 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

This is the Aspasia Book's blurb on Seven Brothers...

Along with The Kalevala, Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers is Finland's most celebrated literary treasure. The crowning accomplishment of Finland's first literary genius, Seven Brothers remains "the greatest Finnish novel of all time", the classic among the classics in Finnish literature. Published in 1870, in the author's 36th year and two years before his untimely death, Seven Brothers laid the foundation for what Kai Laitinen later called "The Great Tradition in Finnish Prose". This tradition is characterized by realism, humor, respect for the common people, and depiction of nature as both friend and foe. Received at the time of publication by uncomprehending arbiters of literary taste, who still delighted in romantic approaches to literature, Seven Brothers fared poorly in early reviews. Posterity, however, has resurrected the reputation of Aleksis Kivi, and critics, scholars, and readers at large continue to praise the virtues of this trail-blazing, exceedingly rich novel. Richard Impola's superb English translation captures the brothers' rustic milieu and the exceptional dynamics of Kivi's creative style and artistic conception.

A Fine Translation

This rollicking translation of Kivi's "Seven Brothers" by Richard Impola finally makes this masterpiece of Finnish literature accessible to English readers. Impola manages to capture both the epic grandeur and humor of the Finnish text, and faithfully preserves the character of each vignette or escapade in which the brothers find themselves. This reviewer feels that Impola does a better job than the previous translator, Alex Mason, whose stilted prose is something of a barrier to the modern reader.

Genius

I haven't come across many books I felt were pure genius, but this is one.It compares favorably in many ways to The Lord of the Rings; although Seven Brothers is not pure fantasy, much else about it is similar. Instead of four hobbits who grow to maturity and achieve sanctification, there are seven brothers. Instead of being menaced by the ringwraiths and orcs, the brothers must contend with the mad bulls, and the fearsome Toukola boys. Nothing so flamboyant as a magic ring is involved, and yet, if anything, Kivi's work has more humor and variability of tone, and it doesn't give anything away to any other writer (even Shakespeare and Tolkien)in terms of the quality of the writing and the soaring eloquence of many of the passages -- especially some near the end of the book. And the Christian heart of the story is identical.The English translation I read was done by Alex Matson; there is at least one other, more recently done, which I have not read all the way through, but from the passages I have looked at does not seem nearly as good.

This book defines Finnish character

I read this classic in the original Finnish. I love the stories told by Aapo. Kivi uses great description throughout the novel to help the reader feel as if he is there.