Thursday, October 12, 2006

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

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