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Hilde en Ragnar
Rare Book
88 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1923
3 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Frans Emil Sillanpää
51 books40 followersFrans Emil Sillanpää was born on the 16th of September, 1888, at Ylä-Satakunta in the Hämeenkyrö Parish of Finland on a desolate croft of the same name. The cottage had been built by his parents, his father Frans Henrik Henriksson, who had moved there some ten years before from Kauvatsa in the Kumo Valley, and his mother, Loviisa Vilhelmiina Iisaksdotter, whose family had lived in the Hämeenkyrö Parish from times immemorial.
Sillanpää's parents had experienced all the trials and tribulations common to generations of settlers in those parts of Finland. Frosts had killed their seeds, farm animals had perished, and the farmer's children, too, had died, until only Frans Emil, the youngest of the offspring, was left.
There was only a mobile school for the farm children, and it was purely by accident - young Sillanpää's life was to abound in accidents - that the crofter's son, who was regarded as a bright lad, came to attend a regular school where he displayed a real aptitude for learning. Some idealists decided that nothing less than a secondary school at Tampere would do and, after giving the matter some thought, old Sillanpää consented to send his son away. For five years, Sillanpää's parents pinched and scraped to keep their son in school, after which he supported himself for another three years and, in 1908, matriculated with good marks. This was a time in Finland when a promising young man could study almost indefinitely on borrowed money, and young Sillanpää was not slow to avail himself of this miscarriage of educational zeal. He plunged into learning and his studies were as chaotic as they were long drawn-out. He did, however, choose biology as his basic subject and worked hard in the laboratory, cutting up things, studying them under the microscope, and drawing what he saw until, one fine day, he woke up to find that five years had gone by; his examination day was still far off and the kind old gentlemen who had been lending him money were not prepared to do so any longer. He scraped together enough cash to return to his home, where he found his father and mother poorer than ever. He lived in their hut and shared their meals, which could hardly excite a gourmet's palate.
His student days were over, his amorous escapades a thing of the past, but at least it was easy enough for him to start from nothing. Sillanpää acquired at a nearby village shop some stationary of the type favoured by village lads for private correspondence and wrote a short story, which he sent to the editor of a large city paper without much hope of seeing it published. To use an expression popular in those days, the story must have been written with his heart's blood because, after a very short time, it appeared on the front page of the aforesaid paper and its author received a very handsome letter from the editor's secretary, as well as his fee, which was more than welcome. The story had been published under a pen name but the literary world of Helsinki soon discovered the identity of the author and the erstwhile eternal scholar found himself, to his amazement, receiving letters of extravagant praise. After several more of his stories had been published in the same paper, something very unusual happened. He was approached by a wellknown publisher who asked to be borne in mind should Sillanpää's literary output stretch to a whole book. The publisher went so far as to offer him a reasonable advance to enable him to work in peace.
Yet another wonder - one of a series - occurred at that time. At an unimportant village dance, Sillanpää met a shy seventeen-year-old girl who, insisting that she could not dance, sat far at the back of the dance hall. In spite of her resistance, Sillanpää dragged her out onto the dance floor to discover that she could dance after all, which she proceeded to do with the utmost seriousness and concentration. This was the beginning of a twenty-five-year saga, during which Sigrid Maria (for such was the name of the se
Sillanpää's parents had experienced all the trials and tribulations common to generations of settlers in those parts of Finland. Frosts had killed their seeds, farm animals had perished, and the farmer's children, too, had died, until only Frans Emil, the youngest of the offspring, was left.
There was only a mobile school for the farm children, and it was purely by accident - young Sillanpää's life was to abound in accidents - that the crofter's son, who was regarded as a bright lad, came to attend a regular school where he displayed a real aptitude for learning. Some idealists decided that nothing less than a secondary school at Tampere would do and, after giving the matter some thought, old Sillanpää consented to send his son away. For five years, Sillanpää's parents pinched and scraped to keep their son in school, after which he supported himself for another three years and, in 1908, matriculated with good marks. This was a time in Finland when a promising young man could study almost indefinitely on borrowed money, and young Sillanpää was not slow to avail himself of this miscarriage of educational zeal. He plunged into learning and his studies were as chaotic as they were long drawn-out. He did, however, choose biology as his basic subject and worked hard in the laboratory, cutting up things, studying them under the microscope, and drawing what he saw until, one fine day, he woke up to find that five years had gone by; his examination day was still far off and the kind old gentlemen who had been lending him money were not prepared to do so any longer. He scraped together enough cash to return to his home, where he found his father and mother poorer than ever. He lived in their hut and shared their meals, which could hardly excite a gourmet's palate.
His student days were over, his amorous escapades a thing of the past, but at least it was easy enough for him to start from nothing. Sillanpää acquired at a nearby village shop some stationary of the type favoured by village lads for private correspondence and wrote a short story, which he sent to the editor of a large city paper without much hope of seeing it published. To use an expression popular in those days, the story must have been written with his heart's blood because, after a very short time, it appeared on the front page of the aforesaid paper and its author received a very handsome letter from the editor's secretary, as well as his fee, which was more than welcome. The story had been published under a pen name but the literary world of Helsinki soon discovered the identity of the author and the erstwhile eternal scholar found himself, to his amazement, receiving letters of extravagant praise. After several more of his stories had been published in the same paper, something very unusual happened. He was approached by a wellknown publisher who asked to be borne in mind should Sillanpää's literary output stretch to a whole book. The publisher went so far as to offer him a reasonable advance to enable him to work in peace.
Yet another wonder - one of a series - occurred at that time. At an unimportant village dance, Sillanpää met a shy seventeen-year-old girl who, insisting that she could not dance, sat far at the back of the dance hall. In spite of her resistance, Sillanpää dragged her out onto the dance floor to discover that she could dance after all, which she proceeded to do with the utmost seriousness and concentration. This was the beginning of a twenty-five-year saga, during which Sigrid Maria (for such was the name of the se
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 4, 2025
Novellsamling av Finlands hittills enda nobelpristagare i litteratur. 'Hiltu och Ragnar' (1923) är en långnovell, ca 100 sidor, men åtminstone i den svenska upplagan från 1939, innehåller ytterligare sju betydligt kortare noveller, tidigare utgivna vid olika tillfällen 1919-1930. Antar att det var nobelpriset som gjorde att man ville samla en bukett kända noveller. Förutom ett flertal romaner, verkar han ha skrivit många noveller, och Sillanpää finns representerad i flera novell-antologier. Jag har naturligtvis bara läst dessa i svensk översättning, som jag hoppas är representativa, som en blandning av vardagsspråkligt, med naturlyriska inslag.
De noveller jag läst är livsfragment, där känslor brottas med drömmar och realiteter. Ofta kommer det sårbara barnet i förgrunden. Den starkaste av alla är "Salig mors spinnrock" (1928), den spinnrock som försnillats efter moderns död, den spinnrock han minns sin mor genom, det dagliga arbetet, hantverksskickligheten, som gav hela familjen, och särskilt sonen mjuka varma kläder. Ett livsverk. Mycket gripande.
De noveller jag läst är livsfragment, där känslor brottas med drömmar och realiteter. Ofta kommer det sårbara barnet i förgrunden. Den starkaste av alla är "Salig mors spinnrock" (1928), den spinnrock som försnillats efter moderns död, den spinnrock han minns sin mor genom, det dagliga arbetet, hantverksskickligheten, som gav hela familjen, och särskilt sonen mjuka varma kläder. Ett livsverk. Mycket gripande.
December 5, 2019
Tää oli taas yksi kirja, joka mun piti lukea koulua varten ja jota vihasin.
August 1, 2025
Tihke, pingul, meisterlik.
August 29, 2017
For an elaborate review in Dutch, see my message in the Netherlands & Flanders group.
Hilde en Ragnar is a truly great novella. Sillanpää doesn’t describe everything in detail, as a lot is left to the reader, which makes the novella such a beautiful work of art...
Hilde en Ragnar is a truly great novella. Sillanpää doesn’t describe everything in detail, as a lot is left to the reader, which makes the novella such a beautiful work of art...
October 30, 2023
Uskomaton kolmivuorokautinen. On rehvakkaan kultalusikkaperseisen kukonpojan fantasiointia piikatyttösistä, ryyppäämistä, ujoa erotiikkaa ja surua ja kuolemaa. Ja ihanaa, rikasta ja vivahteikasta suomen kieltä!
Hiltu on melankoliassaan sielunsiskoni ja hänen äitinsä perinnöstä itää tietynlainen tunnistettavan koomisia sävyjä ottava suomalaisuus: tänne sitä tahtomattaan valitettavasti vaan synnytään ja työn orjana samaa tympeyttä kohden sitten jokainen on kulkeva, kunnes viimeinkin lopulta pääsee maan matosten sekaan mullan alle lepäämään.
Hiltu on melankoliassaan sielunsiskoni ja hänen äitinsä perinnöstä itää tietynlainen tunnistettavan koomisia sävyjä ottava suomalaisuus: tänne sitä tahtomattaan valitettavasti vaan synnytään ja työn orjana samaa tympeyttä kohden sitten jokainen on kulkeva, kunnes viimeinkin lopulta pääsee maan matosten sekaan mullan alle lepäämään.
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October 18, 2023Nobelistin kirja vuodelta 1923! Kielestä huomaa. Myös piika/herrasväki -suhteesta. Mutta nuorten "tunteet"? Siinä hapuilussa ja tytön (!?) tuntemassa häpeässä varmaan ikiaikaista.
Helmet: 15 (kirjan nimessä on ja-sana)
Helmet: 15 (kirjan nimessä on ja-sana)
September 2, 2012
Tampere, Finland, 1906. Het rijkeluiszoontje Ragnar heeft zijn moeder met een smoes de stad uitgestuurd om een weekend alleen te zijn met zijn zeventienjarige dienstmeisje Hilde, maar door hun naïef gestuntel en heftige tieneremoties komt de geplande romance niet van de grond.
Deze dramatische novelle staat vol typisch begin-twintigste-eeuwse emotionaliteit van ontluikende jongeren. Sillanpää schetst fraai de onrijpe emoties van de twee hoofdpersonen en de onmooglijkheid van het werkelijke samenzijn tussen de twee verschillende klassen. Maar de schrijver is soms irritant aanwezig met zijn betweterigheid, zijn novelle eindigt nogal abrupt . Erg nobelprijswaardig is het allemaal sowieso niet. De stijve vijftigerjarenvertaling helpt ook niet mee.
Deze dramatische novelle staat vol typisch begin-twintigste-eeuwse emotionaliteit van ontluikende jongeren. Sillanpää schetst fraai de onrijpe emoties van de twee hoofdpersonen en de onmooglijkheid van het werkelijke samenzijn tussen de twee verschillende klassen. Maar de schrijver is soms irritant aanwezig met zijn betweterigheid, zijn novelle eindigt nogal abrupt . Erg nobelprijswaardig is het allemaal sowieso niet. De stijve vijftigerjarenvertaling helpt ook niet mee.
March 3, 2014
Lieköhän rienausta tai ainakin anakronistista sanoa, että tässä Sillanpään lyhyessä romaanissa tai pitkässä novellissa pyrkimykset juhaniahomaiseen ilmaisuun olemuksellistuvat riikkapulkkismaisuuksiksi. Siitä huolimatta - tai ehkä osittain siksi - teoksen kieli uppoaa minuun kuin häkä.
Juoni lyhyesti: Rehtorska hankkii mitäänsanomattoman oloisen piian. Poika ihastuu silti. Yksi edellä mainituista hukuttautuu.
Tarinan opetus: älköön unohdettako sukupuolivalistusta.
Juoni lyhyesti: Rehtorska hankkii mitäänsanomattoman oloisen piian. Poika ihastuu silti. Yksi edellä mainituista hukuttautuu.
Tarinan opetus: älköön unohdettako sukupuolivalistusta.
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October 12, 2017Olipa vastenmielinen tarina toisen rajoja kunnioittamattomasta juipista ja tietämättömyytensä vuoksi tragediaan päätyvästä piikatytöstä.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews