Sketches of the Famine Year 1867 and Its Consequences

Pietari PäivärintaProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5
Word count
117K words
Chapters
12

Tags

Foreign Language Books Foreign Literature Historical ReappraisalSocial ObservationPortrait GalleryHumanistic CareDaily ReflectionsSocial CritiqueDocumentary NarrativePopular NarrativeTurbulent EraFolk Customs

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Pikakuvia 1867 katovuodesta ja sen seurauksista by Pietari PäivärintaAuthor: Päivärinta, Pietari, 1827-1913,Language: Finnish, Class: PH: Language and Literatures: Finno-Ugrian and Basque languages and literatures, Release Date: Jan 2, 2006

Editor's review

Pietari Päivärinta was an important early writer of Finnish realist literature. This work records the Finnish famine of 1867 and its aftermath in a "sketch" style. Though brief, it traces how the disaster spread from climatic anomaly to farming, grain prices, migration, and family livelihoods. The author himself came from the countryside and focused on the circumstances of the lower classes; this book continues that close-to-the-land observational perspective, with restrained narration and little embellishment, closer to documentary scene assembly. For Chinese readers, its value lies in offering a Nordic sample of famine writing that can be compared with famine narratives from Ireland, India, and elsewhere, observing how famine is presented under different social structures. The language is Finnish, so the reading threshold is relatively high; it is better suited as research material or language-learning material than as popular reading.

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Reading tips

  1. Before reading, learn the basic background of the 1867 Finnish famine; this significantly lowers the threshold for understanding the scenes.
  2. Read in sketch units, and after each section retell the core events and characters' circumstances of that scene.
  3. Record vocabulary related to farming, grain, and relief in the book, combining language learning with historical source organization.
  4. Read alongside famine records from other countries of the same period, comparing narrative perspectives and selection of details

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12

FAQ

Is there a Chinese translation of this book? The information shows that this is a Finnish-language work released as an e-book by Project Gutenberg, with no mention of a Chinese translation. Readers without Finnish reading ability can currently only rely on dictionaries or translation tools, or refer to Chinese discussions in related research works.
What was the Finnish famine of 1867? In 1867 Finland suffered a severe crop failure. Combined with cold climate, insufficient grain reserves, and a weak relief system, this triggered a large-scale famine that caused many deaths and migrations. This book records this disaster and its subsequent effects in sketch form; specific data and details should be based on the book's narrative and relevant historical sources.
What does "Pikakuvia" mean in the title? The Finnish word "pikakuvia" means "sketches, snapshots" and the like, referring to a style that outlines scenes with concise strokes. The title can be understood as "Sketches of the 1867 Famine and Its Consequences," indicating to readers that the book consists of several short scenes rather than a continuous long narrative.
Who was the author Päivärinta? The information only records his birth and death years as 1827 to 1913; he is the author of this book, and the work is classified under Finno-Ugrian literature. He was one of the representative writers of early Finnish realist writing, often drawing on rural and lower-class life; more detailed biography is not provided in this material, and speculation should not be added.

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About the author

Pietari Päivärinta Author · Finnish · 1827–1913

Pietari Päivärinta (1827–1913) was a Finnish writer and member of parliament, born into a crofter's family in Ilmajoki and later employed as a parish clerk. Familiar with rural society in northern Finland, he drew much of his work from the daily lives of peasants and ordinary people, writing in a plain and markedly realistic style. The library holds 22 of his works, including the autobiography Elämäni (My Life), the Elämän havainnoita series, and such novels and sketches as Naimisen juoruja and Isäin pahat teot lasten päällä. Centred on marriage, family, labour and moral dilemmas among common people, these works record folk customs and local experience and are regarded as representatives of early modern Finnish literature.