无名战士 (1954)

《无名战士》（芬兰语：Tuntematon sotilas）是芬兰作家韦伊诺·林纳的代表作。小说发表于1954年，以芬兰普通士兵的角度来描叙发生在二战时期1941年芬兰和苏联之间的继续战争。2000年，该小说未被剪辑的手稿以《战争小说》（芬兰语：Sotaromaani）的名字得以发表。

林纳根据自己在战争中的亲身经历写成了这本虚构小说，用更真实的手法颠覆了之前芬兰士兵高尚和服从的浪漫化的印象。林纳给小说中的人物注入了他们独立和具有批判性的想法，并描述了他们人性化的感觉，如恐惧和反抗等。

《无名战士》是芬兰的畅销书之一，也是芬兰文学的经典和民族遗产的一部分。该小说已被翻译成24种语言（截至2019年4月），并三次改编成电影，最近改编的一部是在2017年首映的。

The Unknown Soldier (Finnish: Tuntematon sotilas, Swedish: Okänd soldat) or Unknown Soldiers is a war novel by Finnish author Väinö Linna, considered his magnum opus. Published in 1954, The Unknown Soldier chronicles the 1941–1944 Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers.

In 2000, the manuscript version of the novel was published with the title Sotaromaani ("the war novel") and in 2015, the latest English translation as Unknown Soldiers. A fictional account based closely on Linna's own experiences during the war, the novel presented a more realistic outlook on the formerly romanticized image of a noble and obedient Finnish soldier. Linna gave his characters independent and critical thoughts, and presented them with human feelings, such as fear and rebellion.

Although published to mixed reviews, The Unknown Soldier quickly became one of the best-selling books in Finland and is considered both a classic in Finnish literature and a part of the national legacy. The novel was well received by frontline veterans; it shot Linna to literary fame and has been described as creating a shift in the collective memory of the war. It has sold nearly 800,000 copies, been translated into 20 different languages and adapted into three films with the latest one released in 2017.

Setting and characters

The novel follows soldiers of a Finnish Army machine gun company operating on the Karelian front during the Continuation War from mobilisation in 1941 to the Moscow Armistice in 1944. The company's action is based on Infantry Regiment 8 (Finnish: Jalkaväkirykmentti 8), the actual unit Väinö Linna served in. The novel has no single central character and both begins and ends with an ironic play on the narrator's omniscience. Rather, its focus is on different responses and views on the experience of war from a soldier's point of view.

The men of the company come from all over Finland, they have widely varying social backgrounds and political attitudes, and everyone has their own way of coping with the war. The novel paints realistic, yet sympathetic, portraits of a score of very different men: cowards and heroes—the initially naive and eventually brave upper-class idealist Jorma Kariluoto; the down-to-earth Vilho Koskela; the hardened and cynical working-class grunt Lehto; the company comedian Vanhala; the pragmatic and strong-nerved Antero "Antti" Rokka; the politically indifferent Urho Hietanen, and the communist Lahtinen. Most of the characters are killed in action during the course of the novel. Nevertheless, the general atmosphere of the machine gun company is relaxed and business-like, even childish and jolly, throughout the story, despite the war, losses, death and despair. The soldiers' continued disrespect for formalities and discipline is a source of frustration for some of the officers.

Plot

The novel starts with the company transferring in June 1941 from their barracks to the Finnish-Soviet border in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Soon after, the soldiers receive their baptism by fire in an attack over a swamp on Soviet positions. Captain Kaarna is killed during the battle and the stern Lieutenant Lammio takes his place as company commander. Amidst a series of battles, the company assaults a Soviet bunker line on a ridge and stops an armoured attack, the ambushed and abandoned Lehto commits suicide during a regimental flanking maneuver, and the soldiers advance into East Karelia. The company eventually crosses the old border lost during the Winter War and the soldiers ponder the justification for the continued invasion. In October 1941, the company is stationed in the captured and pillaged Petrozavodsk, where the novel follows the soldiers interacting with the locals.