Putkinotko: A Description of a Lazy Moonshiner and a Naughty Master

Joel LehtonenProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.2
Word count
800K words
Chapters
80

Tags

Foreign Language Books Foreign Literature Nature WritingWealth GapAlcoholismClass ConflictSocial CritiqueRealismSatirical StyleNordic SettingPlantation LifeFinnish Countryside

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.Putkinotko: Kuvaus laiskasta viinarokarista ja tuhmasta herrasta by Joel LehtonenAuthor: Lehtonen, Joel, 1881-1934,Language: Finnish, Class: PH: Language and Literatures: Finno-Ugrian and Basque languages and literatures, Release Date: Mar 25, 2012

Editor's review

This is a representative novel by the Finnish writer Joel Lehtonen, set in the Finnish countryside and centered on the entanglement between a lazy, drunken tenant farmer and a mean-spirited landlord. The title itself points to this contrasting structure of characters; the narrative has a strong rural flavor and a satirical tone, with a detailed yet humorous portrayal of class relations, poverty, and human weakness. As a public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg, its value lies first in the availability of the text: readers can read this classic of Finnish literature in its original form at no cost. Note that the book is in the original Finnish, with no Chinese translation or notes; the barrier to reading lies mainly in the language rather than the length. It is suitable as source reading for researchers of Nordic literature and modern Finnish literature, and for readers with Finnish who wish to understand the rural Finnish social landscape of the early twentieth century. Reading it alongside background material on Finnish history and literary history is recommended in order to better grasp its social satire.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First learn about the tenant-farming system and rural society in early twentieth-century Finland, then begin the text
  2. Read the tenant farmer and landlord character lines in parallel, noting the class tension beneath the satirical tone
  3. Skip dialect or colloquial expressions at first, and return to them after grasping the overall plot and character relations
  4. Use chapters on Lehtonen in a history of Finnish literature to help situate the work's style

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
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80

FAQ

Is this book a Chinese edition? Can I read it without knowing Finnish? No, it is not a Chinese edition. This ebook is in the original Finnish, with no Chinese translation or notes. Without Finnish, reading will be very difficult; it is better to look for a Chinese or English translation first, or to use this book alongside the original.
Why is this book available for free on Project Gutenberg? Project Gutenberg specializes in ebooks whose copyright has entered the public domain. The author, Lehtonen, died in 1934, and his works have entered the public domain in most regions, so the platform can publish them free of charge for readers to download and read.
What does Putkinotko in the title refer to? Putkinotko is a rural place name in the novel and the central setting where the story unfolds. The subtitle indicates that the work centers on a lazy, drunken tenant farmer and a mean-spirited landlord; readers can take it as an ironic hint that juxtaposes the characters and the place.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Joel Lehtonen Author · Finnish · 1881–1934

Joel Lehtonen (1881–1934) was a Finnish writer, translator and critic, born in Säminge. His career spanned a period of profound social change in Finland: his early works bore the mark of Neo-Romanticism, while after the Finnish Civil War he turned toward Naturalism and pessimism, his tone growing increasingly somber. His major works include the novels Putkinotko and The Lovesick Cripple, as well as the short-story collection The Dead Apple Trees. These works are largely drawn from rural life and the daily existence of ordinary and poor people, observing poverty, absurdity and human weakness with a cool yet delicate eye, in a language that combines realism with poetic quality. Six of his works are held in the collection, along with the essay and prose selection Spring and Summer. In November 1934 he took his own life in Helsinki.