Monday, August 22, 2011

Book Review- New Finnish Grammar


Diego Marani (2000); translated from Italian by Judith Landry (2011)

PQ4873.A691545 N49 2011

One of the great novels of the new century - arriving in 2000 - is now available in English in what must be a beautifully realized translation from Italian by Judith Landry. New Finnish Grammar has been called “deep and rich” as well as a subtle work of “breathtaking genius.” 

The story is simple: during the Second World War, in Trieste, an unconscious, badly beaten man with obvious head wounds, wearing a Finnish sailor’s jacket, is brought on-board a German hospital ship. A tag in his jacket has the Finnish name, Sampo Karjalainen, and when he finally regains consciousness the wounded man has no memory and no language. The German doctor treating him, originally from Finland, believes that by teaching his patient Finnish it will eventually trigger the patient’s memory so he can finally rediscover who he is. Finnish is a difficult language unrelated to most languages of the world, except for Hungarian and Estonian: once the sailor is physically well enough to travel – and with a very rudimentary Finnish vocabulary - he is repatriated in hopes that seeing Finland will jog his memories.

The story is part mystery, part reflection on language and memory and most certainly about the madness and losses of war. Told beautifully and intricately from the sailor’s language study books, letters from a woman who falls in love with him, the doctor’s continuing story of his attempt to help identify the sailor – as well as discovering the doctor’s underlying motivations - the novel sweeps from the Adriatic to Finland to northern Germany to the battles between Finland and the Soviet Union. The memory of New Finnish Grammar lasts long after its having been read.