The Housewarming of the New Cottage: A One-Act Folk Play

Numers, Gustaf von, 1848-1913Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.2

Word count: 34K words
Chapters: 4

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.Uuden pirtin hyppijäiset: Yksinäytöksinen kansannäytelmä by Gustaf von NumersAuthor: Numers, Gustaf von, 1848-1913,Language: Finnish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Sep 18, 2017

Editor's review

This is a one-act folk play by the Finnish writer Gustaf von Numers, titled The Jumping Dance of the New Cottage, a short form within Finland's folk drama tradition. The one-act structure concentrates the action, bringing characters and conflict forward quickly within a limited space, and makes it well suited to observing how Finnish folk life was brought to the stage at the time. Numers long engaged with Finnish folk and historical subjects; this play is set in rural life and carries the flavor of folk festivals and wedding customs. Written in Finnish and brief, it can be read in a single sitting. As a free Project Gutenberg ebook, it offers accessible material for understanding drama in a minor Nordic language and Finnish folk literature. Read it as a sample of folk drama, noting how a one-act play achieves characterization and scene changes in a short span, and attend to the rural social relations and customs it reflects. For Finnish learners, it is a moderately lengthed original text in dialogue form; for theater lovers, an introductory text to Nordic folk short drama.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers learning Finnish who wish to read a short play in the original
Readers interested in Nordic folk drama and rural subjects
Readers studying one-act structure and folk literary forms
Readers who wish to encounter Finnish folklore through a short original text

Not a good fit for

Readers without Finnish reading ability and no need for a translation
Readers expecting long, complex plots or multi-act structures
Researchers requiring detailed scholarly annotation and background verification

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the overall rhythm of the one-act play, then revisit folk details in the dialogue
Read the lines aloud to appreciate the colloquial, stage-oriented quality of folk drama
Read alongside background on Finnish rural wedding customs and festivals to understand the folk-dance meaning in the title
Try breaking the script into scenes and taking brief notes to observe how a one-act play concentrates and advances conflict

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.

FAQ

What language is this play written in?

The original is in Finnish, a free ebook from Project Gutenberg, classified under Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures. This edition contains no Chinese translation; readers need Finnish reading ability or translation tools.

How long is a one-act play—can it be read in one sitting?

A one-act structure is concentrated and usually short, suitable for reading in one sitting or over two or three sessions. Exact page count depends on the ebook's layout, but as a short play it is not a heavy read and fits easily into a single reading session.

Can I understand it without knowing Finnish folklore?

The plot itself revolves around rural life and festive scenes, so the basic story can be followed, but the folk dance and wedding customs in the title require some background. A brief look at Finnish rural festival customs before reading will make characters' behavior and the settings easier to understand.

Is this book suitable as Finnish learning material?

It suits intermediate and above Finnish learners as supplementary reading. The script is mostly dialogue, fairly colloquial, and short, making it easy to study in segments; folk expressions and period language may need a dictionary, so beginners should use it with notes or a translation.

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

Numers, Gustaf von, 1848-1913 Author

Gustaf von Numers (1848–1913) was a Finnish playwright, though public information about his life is limited. Four of his works are held in the collection, all Finnish-language dramas: Kuopion takana: Kolminäytöksinen huvinäytelmä, Tuukkalan tappelu: Kaksi-osainen näytelmä, Tuukan poika, and Uuden pirtin hyppijäiset: Yksinäytöksinen kansannäytelmä. Judging from these titles, he mainly wrote one-act, two-act, and three-act comedies and folk plays rooted in Finnish rural life and popular tradition, in a style that is accessible and close to everyday experience. His works were written mostly in Finnish for ordinary audiences and carry a distinct local flavor. Given the limited historical sources, his literary standing and influence cannot be fully assessed, but the above plays are the main basis for understanding his creative profile.