The Heir to Power: A Historical Tragedy in Five Acts

Martti WuoriProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.7

Word count: 140K words
Chapters: 15

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.Vallanperillinen: Historiallinen 5-näytöksinen murhenäytelmä by Martti WuoriAuthor: Wuori, Martti, 1858-1934,Language: Finnish, Class: PH: Language and Literatures: Finno-Ugrian and Basque languages and literatures, Release Date: Sep 16, 2015

Editor's review

This Finnish historical tragedy unfolds in five acts; its author, Martti Wuori (1858–1934), was a major figure in Finnish theatre. Centred on power and usurpation, the play uses historical settings to explore ambition, guilt and fate, with tight structure and dialogue rich in dramatic tension. As a public-domain ebook, it preserves the language of late nineteenth-century Finnish national theatre and is well suited to close reading by those studying Nordic drama history, Finnish literature or the historical tragedy as a genre. It can be read both as literature and as a historical document: attend to how character conflict drives the tragedy forward, and to how the play selects and reshapes its historical material. The language barrier is high; a foundation in Finnish is advisable, and a translation or annotations will make details easier to grasp.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students of Finnish literature and Nordic theatre history
Readers interested in historical tragedy and late nineteenth-century European drama
Advanced readers with Finnish reading ability who want to engage with the public-domain original
Libraries and archivists collecting drama texts in minority languages

Not a good fit for

General readers with no Finnish who want an easy read
Readers who prefer fast-paced modern fiction and are unfamiliar with script form
Those who want only a general history of Finland and no close literary reading

Reading tips

Begin with a plot summary and character list to clarify the five-act structure and main lines of conflict.
Read alongside background material on Finnish history, noting where the play adapts or invents historical fact.
After each act, note key dialogue and character motives to keep the logic of the tragedy in view.
Use a translation or scholarly annotations for close reading section by section, reducing the comprehension cost of the language barrier.

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

Is this play suitable for readers with no Finnish?

Not really. The original is in Finnish, in the dramatic language of the late nineteenth century, and its syntax and vocabulary are quite difficult for beginners. If the content interests you, look for a translation or supporting scholarship first, then consider reading against the original.

Does the five-act form make any special demands on the reader?

The play consists mainly of dialogue and stage directions, with little narrative exposition. Read act by act, first mapping the characters and the development of conflict, then returning to key scenes; this makes the dramatic tension and structural design easier to appreciate.

Is the electronic edition from a reliable source?

The book is released by Project Gutenberg, a public-domain ebook project, and the text is taken from a work no longer in copyright. Its reliability is fairly high, but the formatting and annotation are minimal; for scholarly citation, check other editions.

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

Martti Wuori Author · Finnish · 1858–1934

Martti Wuori (1858–1934) was a Finnish writer and translator, born Martin Alexius Berg-Wuori. He wrote mainly in Finnish, producing plays and fiction. Six of his works are included here, among them the one-act comedy Naimiskauppa (The Marriage Deal), the five-act play Aura, the historical tragedy Vallanperillinen (Heir to Power), and Savon sydämessä (In the Heart of Savo), a portrayal of folk customs. His plays draw on Finnish rural life, marriage customs, and historical subjects, ranging from comedy to tragedy, and their language stays close to ordinary people. He also translated Russian literature. Public information on the details of his life is limited, but his works reflect Finnish society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and contributed to the development of Finnish drama.