Pentti Saarikoski

Born: Impilahti September 2, 1937 Died: Valamo monastery August 24, 1983 Pentti Saarikoski was one of the most important authors in Finland after World War II and the central figure in Finnish literature in the 1960s and 1970s. He published numerous poetry books from 1950s to his death at the early 1980s. Saarikoski also translated several classics in Finnish including James Joyce's Ulysses, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Aristotle's Poetics, as well as contemporary prose such as Saul Bellow's work. Saarikoski also wrote columns to Ylioppilaslehti, Uusi Suomi and Kansan Uutiset under a pseudonym Nenä (= The Nose). His colums were very sarcastic and satirized the church, army, politics and all forms of conservativeness. He was also an active communist and tried to run twice for the Parliament of Finland yet without being elected.