Only the impossible happens around here

kw: book reviews, fiction, fantasy, horror, anthologies, world literature

The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy edited by Johanna Sinisalo, translated by David Hackston: 23 stories from the past 14 decades (the entire range) of Finnish fantastic fiction.

The literature of the Finns reflects the geography of a society not far from the Arctic Circle, a sparsely populated land where nature is still very close; a nation often conquered but a countryside barely subjugated; of nearly sunless winters and nightless summers.

Many of the stories seem to go nowhere, to have been written for literary effect only. I think in part it reflects the timeless and often purposelessness of a land at the crossroads of history, that took little part in that history.

Themes of the 23 stories:

1. Obsession
   
2. Redemption through Suffering
   
3. Obsession
   
4. Mysterious Dream
   
5. A Talking, Flying Dog; metaphor for coming of age
   
6. Post-apocalyptic Vignette
   
7. Death as a minor transition
   
8. Obsession; consumed by it
   
9. A new take on "To Serve Man"; leading the parade
   
10. Possession of an empty shell
    
11. An aging dragon re-vivified
    
12. Health for sale
    
13. Pre-emption of Virtue in the service of Oppression; prelude to "1984"
    
14. Animal metaphors for Human suffering
    
15. Mystery machinery
    
16. Peri-apocalyptic Vignette
    
17. Prose-poem Vignettes
    
18. Wish Fulfillment: death of a perpetrator by a wooden bear
    
19. Hidden life of a furniture piece
    
20. Self-discovery
    
21. "Fantastic Voyage" redux
    
22. On the trail of dashed hopes
    
23. Wish Fulfillment: the world shifts to what it ought to be