Krohn, Leena

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

(1947- ) Finnish author whose first novels were composed for younger readers, an example being Ihmisen vaatteissa: Kertomus kaupungilta (1976; trans Bethany Fox as "The Pelican's New Clothes: A Story from the City" in Collected Fiction 2015), whose young protagonist experiences a magical City through his relationship with the eponymous talking bird. Krohn's focus on multivariant experiences of urban life [for Beast Fable and Urban Fantasy see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] may have reached its apotheosis in Tainaron: Postia toisesta kaupungista (1985; trans Hildi Hawkins as Tainaron: Mail from Another City 2004), which is structured as a series of letters written from the eponymous city, whose inhabitants are insects and through whose intricate lives it is possible to see, illuminated through this complex mirror, Homo sapiens reflected. The tone of Tainaron reflects, though not slavishly, the work of Franz Kafka and Italo Calvino, and bears some resemblance to Stefan Themerson's Professor Mmaa's Lecture (1953), though the focus of the latter book is directed outward from the termite city at its heart. Oofirin kultaa ["Gold of Ophir"] (1987; trans Hildi Hawkins in Dona Quixote and Other Citizens; Gold of Ophir omni 1995) is a fantasy set in an edifice whose highly various inhabitants comprise the heart of a seemingly Middle-Eastern city; its companion volume, Donna Quijote ja muita kaupunkilaisia: Muotokuva ["Doña Quixote and other citizens: Portrait"] (coll 1983; trans in omni cited above), which is set in something like Helsinki, also works as an assemblage of portraits that converge into a vision of the human species.

Krohn's later sf tends to depict Near Future worlds through narrative structures built around similar insect-eye complexities of vision, though it is only on a first encounter that they may seem fragmented: in Pereat mundus, Romaani, eräänlainen ["Pereat Mundus: A novel of sorts"] (1996; trans as Pereat Mundis 2010) a mosaic of protagonists, all with the same name, and all exemplary of Homo sapiens, inhabit a surreal Dystopia; the reborns (or Clones or Avatars or simply shadows) who inhabit the eponymous Hotelli Sapiens ["Hotel Sapiens"] (coll of linked stories 2013) bear the selves of significant exemplars of the human species, and tell their tales. Throughout her prolific career, with a fluent wit that savingly infiltrates narratives that might otherwise seem didactic, Krohn has focused on work design to enforce scrutiny of ourselves as a species. Her novels and stories seem increasingly germane. [JC]

Leena Elisabeth Krohn

born Helsinki, Finland: 28 February 1947

works

Vihreä vallankumous ["The Green Revolution"] (Helsinki, Finland: Tammi, 1970) [binding unknown/]
Ihmisen vaatteissa: Kertomus kaupungilta ["In Human Clothing: A Tale of the City"] (Helsinki, Finland: Tammi, 1976) [for translation see Collected Fiction below: binding unknown/]
Galleria ["Gallery"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1982) [binding unknown/]
Sydänpuu ["Heart Tree"] (Helsinki, Finland: Tammi, 1984) [binding unknown/]
Tainaron: Postia toisesta kaupungista (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1985) [binding unknown/]
- Tainaron: Mail from Another City (Canton, Ohio: Prime Books, 2004) [trans by Hildi Hawkins of the above: illus/hb/Inari Krohn]
Oofirin kultaa ["Gold of Ophir"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1987) [for translation see Donna Quijote below: binding unknown/]
Umbra: Silmäys paradoksien arkistoon ["Umbra: A Glimpse of the Archive of Paradoxes"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1990) [binding unknown/]
Todistajan katse: Kirjoituksia Taiteen ja Kirjallisuuden Etiikasta ["Witness's Gaze"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1992) with Eila Kostamo [binding unknown/]
Salaisuuksia ["Secrets"] (Helsinki, Finland: Kirjayhtymä, 1992) [binding unknown/]
Tribar (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1993) [binding unknown/]
Älä lue tätä kirjaa ["Do Not Read This Book"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1994) [binding unknown/]
Ettei etäisyys ikävöisi ["That Distance Shall Not Yearn"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1995) [binding unknown/]
Kynä ja kone ["The Pen and the Machine"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1996) [binding unknown/]
Pereat mundus, Romaani, eräänlainen ["Pereat Mundus: A Novel of Sorts"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1996) [binding unknown/]
- Pereat Mundis (Richmond, California: Omnidawn Publishing, 2010) [trans of the above: pb/]
Sfinksi vai robotti: Filosofinen kuvakirja kaikenikäisille ["Sphinx or Robot: A Philosophical Picture Book for People of all Ages"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1999) [binding unknown/]
Mitä puut tekevät elokuussa ["What Trees Do in August"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 2000) [binding unknown/]
Datura tai harha jonka jokainen näkee ["Datura; Or a Figment Seen by Everyone"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 2001) [binding unknown/]
- Datura: Or, a Delusion We All See (Tallahassee, Florida: Cheeky Frawg Books, 2013) [trans by Anna Volmari and J Robert Tupasela of the above: pb/Jeremy Zerfoss]
3 sokeaa miestä ja 1 näkevä ["Three Blind Men and One Who Can See"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 2003) [binding unknown/]
Unelmakuolema ["A Dream Death"] (Helsinki, Finland: Teos, 2004) [binding unknown/]
Mehiläispaviljonki ["The Bee Pavilion"] (Helsinki, Finland: Teos, 2006) [binding unknown/]
Kotini on Riioraa ["My Home is Riioraa"] (Helsinki, Finland: Teos, 2008) [binding unknown/]
Erehydys ["The Mistake"] (Helsinki, Finland: Teos, 2015) [binding unknown/]

collections

Tyttö joka kasvoi ja muita kertomuksia ["The Girl Who Grew Up and Other Stories"] (Helsinki, Finland: Tammi, 1973) [coll: binding unknown/]
Viimeinen kesävieras: Kertomuksia ihmisten ilmoilta ["The Last Summer Guest: Stories about People"] (Helsinki, Finland: Tammi, 1974) [coll: binding unknown/]
Kertomuksia ["Short Stories"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1976) [coll: binding unknown/]
Suomalainen Mignon: Runoja ja lauluja vuosilta 1965-1977 ["The Finnish Mignon: Poems and Songs 1965-1977"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1977) [coll: binding unknown/]
Näkki: Kertomus vesirajasta ["Troll: Tales of the Water Level"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1979) [coll: binding unknown/]
Metsänpeitto: Kertomus kadonneista ["The Forest Cover: Tales of Things Lost"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1980) [coll: binding unknown/]
Donna Quijote ja muita kaupunkilaisia: Muotokuva ["Doña Quixote and Other Citizens: Portrait"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1983) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Dona Quixote and Other Citizens; Gold of Ophir (Manchester, England: Carcanet Press, 1995) [omni: trans by Hildi Hawkins of the above plus Oofirin kultaa above: hb/]
Rapina ja muita papereita ["Rustling and Other Papers"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1989) [coll: binding unknown/]
Matemaattisia olioita tai jaettuja unia ["Mathematical Beings or Shared Dreams"] (Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström, 1992) [coll: binding unknown/]
Valeikkuna ["Fake Window"] (Helsinki, Finland: Teos, 2009) [coll: binding unknown/]
Hotelli Sapiens ["Hotel Sapiens"] (Helsinki, Finland: Teos, 2013) [coll of linked stories: binding unknown/]
Collected Fiction (Tallahassee, Florida: Cheeky Frawg Press, 2015) [omni/coll: containing all five previously translated volumes as cited above: plus Ihmisen vaatteissa (1976) above, trans by Bethany Fox as "The Pelican's New Clothes: A Story from the City": plus material from other volumes: hb/John Coulthart]

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