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Bezig met laden... The Thirty Years' Wardoor Henrik Tikkanen
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 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek.  TimBazzett | Nov 4, 2015 |  geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
By turns ironic and uproarious, The Thirty Years' War is about a soldier who carried on World War II by himself, years after it officially ended. In satirizing war and the making of a war hero, the controversial Finland-Swedish writer Henrik Tikkanen gives many a nod to American culture and the American military. His comic novel, reminiscent of the best writing of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., is now available in English, ten years after its original publication in Finland. The twenty drawings are by Tikkanen, a noted artist and caricaturist as well as author. The Thirty Years' War was translated into English by George and Lone Thygesen Blecher, who were named Translators of the Year in 1984 by the American Library Association. The afterword is by George C. Schoolfield, chairman of the Department of Germanic Languages at Yale University, and an authority on Scandinavian literature. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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 Google Books — Bezig met laden...GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)839.7Literature German literature and literatures of related languages Other Germanic literatures Swedish literatureLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: (4.1)
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I bought this book - and it's not that easy to find - because I had very much enjoyed another Tikkanen book I'd read four years ago, a memoir called A WINTER'S DAY, which was very funny, even in translation. THE 30 YEARS' WAR is one of the few other Tikkanen books that is available in English. Sadly, its humor is not nearly as accessible at A WINTER'S DAY. The story of Finnish Army Private Viktor Kappara, who doesn't get the news of the end of WWII, and so stolidy stays at his post in far northern Finland, awaiting further orders, for the next thirty years. I know there was a real case like this, only it was a Japanese soldier on a Pacific island. But no matter.
Kappara is less a character than a caricature here, a fictional vehicle for poking fun at the military, at war, and at politics, not only Finnish, but Soviet, American, and European politics too. The book was first published in 1977, and this English translation appeared ten years later, complete with numerous explanatory footnotes. But the political humor, which includes jabs at Watergate and the Vietnam war, is pretty dated by now, although its anti-war message remains relevant.
Nope. I was disappointed in this one. The book has been compared to Vonnegut's writing, but I don't think so. I was reminded more of a couple other books I read years ago - Vladimir Voinovich's THE LIFE AND EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF PRIVATE IVAN CHONKIN and Jaroslav Hasek's THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK. I liked both of those. But this one? Yeah, there are a few good chuckles here and there, but I would recommended it mainly for history enthusiasts, and perhaps for American readers who want to know more about Finnish history. (