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Väinö Linna

File:Vaino_Linna_color.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Väinö Linna

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Also known as Väinö Valtteri Linna, Vaino Linna

Finnish writer

OverviewAI-generated

Väinö Linna (1920–1992) was a Finnish writer and prose writer who worked in the Finnish language. Born in Urjala, he began his professional work period in 1954. His notable works include *The Unknown Soldier* and *Under the North Star*. Linna was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and received several honors, including the Kalevi Jäntti Award, the Nordic Council Literature Prize, Jussi Awards, and the Aleksis Kivi Award.

Linna died of lung cancer in 1992 after suffering from cerebral infarction. He is buried in Kalevankangas cemetery. During his life, he held the military rank of Corporal.

Synthesized by Vinony from 42 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1920
Died
1992
Works
34

Top works

  • 普通士兵
  • 北极星下
  • Les gardes rouges de Tampere
  • The unknown soldier
  • Neizvestnyĭ soldat

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Writing · Urjala, Finland

Known for

  • The Dinosaur — Self (archive footage)2021
  • Memories of the President — Self1982
  • Kolmen kaupungin kasvot1962
  • Author of "Unknown Soldier", Väinö Linna — Self1955

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
Finland
Active from
1920
Active to
1992

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
123
Total plays
7,412

Tags

Audiobook

Väinö Linna was one of the most influential Finnish authors of the 20th century. He shot to immediate literary fame with his third novel, Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier, published in 1954), and consolidated his position with the trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla (Under the North Star, published in 1959 – 1963 and translated into English by Richard Impola). <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/V%C3%A4in%C3%B6+Linna">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Väinö Linna

Quotes

  • In the beginning there were the swamp, the hoe – and Jussi.
  • As we all know, the Lord is almighty – he knows all and sees far. And so, one day, he let forest fire burn a good swath of state land, laying waste to acres of the dry, pine forest around the town of Joensuu. The people did everything in their power to put a stop to his work, as they always did, but he burned the forest undeterred, just as far as it suited him. He had his own plans.
  • The younger troops assumed their ranks. There they stood, bumbling into lines with a bit of difficulty: Mother Finland's chosen sacrifice to world history.
  • Once Koskela saw that the guns were ready to go, he called out, 'Shoot for their nuts!'
  • They made it to the swamp and Kaarna pounced immediately. 'What's going on here? What's this? Look here, you boys have made a mess of this whole thing. Ay-ay-ay! Boys, boys, this isn't how you fight a war. Noo-oo-ooo. Fighting like this isn't going to get you anywhere. Now, we're going to pull ourselves together and cross this little swamp. The others are already at the enemy positions.'
  • 'Are you motherfuckers deaf? Shoot here ... down here ... follow my voice ... my gun ... aaahh ...'

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born
( 1920-12-20 ) 20 December 1920, Urjala , Finland
Died
21 April 1992 (1992-04-21) (aged 71), Tampere , Finland
Occupation
Author
Nationality
Finnish
Notable works
The Unknown Soldier , Under the North Star trilogy

via Wikipedia infobox

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Väinö Valtteri Linna ( pronounced [ˈʋæi̯nø ˈlinːɑ] ; 20 December 1920 – 21 April 1992) was a Finnish author and a former soldier who fought in the Continuation War (1941–44). Linna gained literary fame with his third novel, Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier, published in 1954), and consolidated his position with the trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla (Under the North Star, published in 1959–1963 and translated into English by Richard Impola). Both have been adapted to a film format on several occasions; The Unknown Soldier was first adapted into a film in 1955 and Under the North Star in 1968 as Here, Beneath the North Star, both directed by Edvin Laine.

Biography

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Väinö Linna” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (2)