Teuvo Pakkala (originally Teodor Oskar Frosterus, 9 April 186217 May 1925) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, reporter, linguist and teacher. Pakkala is considered to be one of the realists of the 1880s and 1890s, and he is also often called a naturalist. Pakkala's works are especially noted for their portrayal of children.

Life

Teuvo Pakkala was born in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, where he also went to school. He studied medicine, languages and history in the university. His writing career started as a journalist. He also translated works of Norwegian writers

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

, Jonas Lie,

Alexander Kielland Alexander Lange Kielland (; 18 February 1849 – 6 April 1906) was a Norwegian realistic writer of the 19th century. He is one of the so-called "The Four Greats" of Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and ...

and

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

. As a journalist he followed closely the industrialisation and urbanisation of Oulu in the 1870s and 1880s. Pakkala was skilful in describing people, especially women and children. He worked as a teacher 1907–1920, and shows in his books about children an unprecedented understanding of child psychology. His works were not much appreciated in his own time. One of the reasons may be, that he also wrote "folk drama", including a very popular musical play "Tukkijoella". Tukkijoella is a comedy about lumberjacks, and it is still the most-performed play in Finland. Pakkala worked also in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

and died in

Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cult ...

. He is buried in the

Oulu Cemetery The Oulu Cemetery ( fi, Oulun hautausmaa) is a cemetery located in the Intiö district close to the city centre of Oulu, Finland. The cemetery was inaugurated in 1781 by vicar Carl Henrik Ståhle. After the vicar the cemetery was first known as '' ...

Filmmaking career

Late in his life, Teuvo Pakkala became interested in filmmaking. In 1921 he co-founded the original Finn Film in

, with Toivo T. Kaila and G.H. Michelson. Finn Film produced its only movie, ''Sotapolulla'' (On the Warpath), in 1921. Pakkala wrote the screenplay and directed the film.Sotapolulla
Elonet

Written works

Novels and collections of short stories

* ''Oulua soutamassa'' (1885) * ''Vaaralla'' (1891) * ''Elsa'' (1894) * ''Lapsia'' (1895) * ''Pieni elämäntarina'' (1902) * ''Pikku ihmisiä'' (1913) * ''Kertomuksia'' (1928) * ''Väliaita ja muita kadonneita kertomuksia'' (1986)

Plays

* ''Kauppaneuvoksen härkä'' (1901) * ''Meripoikia'' (1915) * ''Tukkijoella'' (1899)

Non-fiction works

* ''Aapinen'' (1908) * ''Kirjeet 1882–1925'' (1982) * ''Lapsuuteni muistoja'' (1885)

Translations into Finnish language

* Aina (= Forssman, Edith): ''Uusia kertomuksia Iltalampun ääressä'' (1895) * Hamsun, Knut: ''Victoria'' (1899) * Hellwald, Friedrich Anton Heller von: ''Maa ja sen kansat'' (1900) * Ibsen, Henrik: ''Pikku Eyolf'' (1895) * Kielland, Alexander Lange: ''Työmiehiä'' (1884) * Lie, Jonas: ''Luotsi ja hänen vaimonsa'' (1895) * Malot, Hector: ''Koditon'' 1–2 (1898–1899) * Meyer, Leopold: ''Pienten lasten hoito'' (1904) * Nansen, Fridtjof: ''Pohjan pimeillä perillä'' 1–2 (1896–1897) * Nansen, Fridtjof: ''Suksilla poikki Grönlannin'' (1896) * Weyman, Stanley: ''Susi'' (1898)

References

External links

* * * (Finnish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pakkala, Teuvo 1862 births 1925 deaths People from Oulu People from Oulu Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Writers from Northern Ostrobothnia Finnish writers Realist artists Finnish film directors