This
well-respected and faultlessly presented Finnish journal is completed
devoted to crime fiction, though it does sometimes also
feature the crime genre in film and video. Published quarterly and
now in its 21st year, it is the organ of the Finnish association
dedicated to crime writing: SUOMEN DEKKARISEURA (which is translated
on the website as The Finnish Whodunnit Society).
The title of
the journal, RUUMIN KULTTUURI, contains a play on words with “body” which is both a corpse and mortal coil in
Finnish and French … but is difficult to translate simply (though
again Borgers suggests that the English Body Culture would make a
better translation than the French Le corps du délit).
Detective or crime fiction of every origin is analysed and discussed
in this journal as well as that published by local authors. As, for
a population whose total numbers are pretty small (approximately
5.2m inhabitants) and which is relatively isolated culturally due
to a language that is not widespread, the crime novel fares very
well. This is due to the large numbers of translations into Finnish
of novels that were originally published in the US, Britain, France
and Germany or in the rest of Scandinavia. And that is without taking
into account the work of indigenous writers which is far from being
small in number.
On the other hand, a large proportion of the population understand
English and this gives them direct access to crime fiction written
in English. If you add to this the fact that Finland benefits from
the highest level of books read (by individuals annually) in the
world, you can see why crime fiction may have retained such an interested
public.
Have we not just
seen, in April 2005, a doctoral thesis at the University of Joensuu
(by Voitto Ruohonen) that was devoted to
Finnish crime
fiction and which dealt in detail with the description of Finnish
society that features in the novels of Matti Yrjänä Joensuu
?
Knowing all of
the above, the eclecticism of review’s coverage
is still quite surprising. Take for example the latest edition (vol
2 – 2005). The cover, which features a photo of Jean Gabin
in Touchez pas au grisbi, announces: “France’s hard-boiled
writers – Giovanni, Simonin, Le Breton”, refers to the
first part of a well-documented study of the life and works of José Giovanni
(“José Giovanni: the man with multiple pasts”)
by Tapani Bagge. A presentation of the work of Karin Slaughter is
accompanied by an interview with the author, an article about the
crime novels of Vicky Hendricks, numerous detailed critiques of novels
and essays (within this section you can find a commentary on the
Fred Vargas novel, Pars vite et reviens tard , which has been translated
into Finnish), presentations of films, alongside reports of the Finnish
association’s activities. There is a page in English that gives
a brief résumé of the articles and news in the issue.
All this in just 72 packed pages abundantly illustrated with good
quality photos. This beautiful piece of work from Finland is enough
to make many green with envy, including producers of commercial specialist
journals.
August 2005
General Information
RUUMIN KULTTUURI ry
Pl6, 00551 Helsinki
Finland
Website: http://www.dekkariseura.fi
(The main page of the site is available in English giving details
and about the Association Suomen Dekkariseura and the journal.
Price for each edition: 8 Euros + postage
Annual subscription (4 copies): 38 Euros (for Europe). For more information
contact the journal.
