Frans Eemil Sillanpää was a Finnish writer. Drawing greatly from scientific laws regarding the physical harmony with of world, his works deal deeply with nature, and the common farmers ties with his land. His writing style is extremely terse and simplistic, but at the same time highly artistic and with a deeply personal feel to it. It was this artistic style, and his deep understanding of Finland, that won him the 1939 Nobel Prize In Literature.
Early Writing Career
After Sillanpää left the University in 1913 he moved back to his families farm, where he devoted most of his time to his writing. Finding it difficult to start a lucrative career in Finland he traveled to Sweden and Denmark, where he took up writing articles for local newspapers.
In 1916 Frans wrote his first novel, Emämä Ja Aurinko, which became a major success, possibly due to his fellow co-workers at the newspapers he worked for giving the novel outstanding reviews. It was just after the success of this novel that Frans decided to marry his two-year girlfriend, Sigrid Maria Salomäki.
Frans Sillanpää’s first real important piece of literature came with the outbreak of Finland’s civil war. That novel was Hurskas Kurjuus, which follows a protagonist who is eventually executed for a murder he didn’t commit. The novel is full of social commentary dealing with the Finnish Civil War, even though it takes a very unbiased approach with the story.
Frans Eemil Sillanpää died on June 3, 1964, in Helsinki. But his works would later be translated into over 30 different languages, and also adapted for various film works.
Selected Works
Sources:
http://www.nobel-winners.com/Literature/eemil_sillanpaa.html
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1939/index.html
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fesillan.htm