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<P align="justify"> In this article … <P align="justify"> In this article prose literature will be treated as a separate genre from [[Poetry|poetry]] and [[Drama|drama]], although the origins of written prose can (justifiably) be considered to lie in juoiggus poetry; after all the Saami have for centuries, perhaps millennia, expressed their feelings and sentiments in words and music in the form of the <I>juoiggus</i>. </p>
<P align="justify"> The first works in Saami - <I>Guldnasaš</i> and <I>Moarsi fávrrot</i> by Olaus Sirma - were part of the oral tradition. They were described as lyric poems, but they were in fact <I>juoiggus</i> poems. They appeared in 1673 in Johannes [[Schefferus, Johannes|Schefferus]] monograph [[Lapponia (a book)|<I>Lapponia</i>]], and in the Enlightenment and the Pre-Romantic Age they aroused considerable attention in England and Germany. </p>
<P align="justify"> Anders [[Fjellner, Anders (engl. ver.)|Fjellner]] (1795-1876), a young Saami who had studied at the University of Uppsala in the early nineteenth century, was influenced by national romantic ideals. Inspired by the folklorist C. A. [[Gottlund, C.A. (engl. ver.)|Gottlund]], he began to collect Saami folklore and recorded numerous <I>juoiggus</i> poems that he claimed to have heard in various parts of Lapland. The most important of these is the saga <I>Peiven Parneh / Peiveparnen Suongoh Jettanasi ilmin</i> [The Sons of the Sun], published in 1876. This mythical work describes how the Son of the Sun travels to the Land of the Giants, where he falls in love with the daughter of a giant and marries her. The children who were born of the union, the Sons of the Sun, were the forefathers of the Saami. </p>
<P align="justify"> At the same time as Fjellner, several priests who were working in Lapland and also some Finno-Ugric scholars began to take an interest in Saami folk poetry. For example Jacob [[Fellman Jacob (engl.ver.)|Fellman]], the Minister of Utsjoki (1820 1831), recorded an extensive collection of <I>juoiggus </i> poetry and folk tales called <I>Anteckningar under min vistelse i Lappmarken</I> [Notes during My Sojourn in Lapland], published in 1906. The most extensive collection of folklore, a four-volume work, <I>Lappiske eventyr og sagn</i> [Lappish Tales and Stories], was published between 1927 and 1929 by the Finno-Ugric scholar J. K. [[Qvigstad, Just Knud (svensk ver.)|Qvigstad]]. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the musical aspect of <I>juoiggus</i> began to arouse interest, the best known collections being those of Armas Launis, Eliel Lagercrantz, A. O. Väisänen and Karl Tiren. </p>
<P align="justify"> Saami prose literature is considered to have been born in 1619 with the publication in Sweden of two religious books in Saami: <I>ABC Book på Lappska Tungmål</i> [ABC Book in the Lappish Tongue] and <I>En liten sångebook</i> [A Little Hymnbook]. They are translations, as is the case with nearly all works published in the [[Modern Saami languages|Saami languages]] up to the beginning of the nineteenth century. For nearly three hundred years, it was mainly religious texts written by clergymen that were published in Saami. </p>
<P align="justify"> For centuries a vigorous oral narrative tradition survived among the Saami. Its influence can also be seen in the language and themes of the different genres of written prose. The memoir is the preferred genre of many Saami writers; in its style and content it is close to the oral tradition in that it lacks the characteristics of composition proper. The number of memoirs is fairly large in relation to Saami prose as a whole, and the genre was a vigorous one. </p> <P align="justify"> The first memoirist works can be considered to be the autobiographical notes of Lars Hætta and Anders Bær, who were convicted for participation in the Kautokeino riots of 1852. They were initially published in Norwegian in 1923 and 1926, and it was not until 1956 that they came out in Saami under the name of Muitallusat [Tales]. Lars Hætta s career as a writer continued later as a translator of the Bible and a hymnist. After the [[The Koutokeino mutiny 1852|Kautokeino riots]] and the closure of the border, many reindeer herders were forced to move elsewhere; this was the fate of Johan [[Turi, Johan (engl. ver.)|Turi]] (1854-1936), who moved with his family from [[Kautokeino|Kautokeino]] to Sweden. He became famous for his work <I>Muitalus sámiid birra</i> [Tales of the Saami] published in 1910 and later in Finnish as <I>Kertomus saamelaisista</i> [A Tale of the Saami]. He wrote it in collaboration with the Danish artist Emilie Demant Hatt. </p>
<P align="justify"> Inspired by the example of Johan Turi, many other Saamis began to write about their experiences. Antta Pirak (1873-1951) wrote <I>Jåhttee saame viessom</i> [Nomad Saami Life] in Lule Saami in 1937. Women did not start to write their memoirs until the 1970s, when Saara Ranta-Rönnlund (1903-1979) published her recollections of her childhood and youth as a nomad: <I>Nådevalpar</i> (1971). Other women who published their memoirs after her include Ellen-Sylvia Blind, Inger Huuva-Utsi, Stina Gaup-Westerlund, Ella-Karin Blind, Anni Kitti and Astrid Johnskareng. Of the male memoirists, Mikkel P. A. Pongo, Klemet A. Turi, Iisakki Mattus and Anders O. Eira are particularly noteworthy. </p>
<P align="justify"> Literature proper started with the publication of some poems in Norwegian composed by Pastor Anders Porsanger (1735 1780). The first Saami-language poems were published by Anders Fjellner in the early nineteenth century. The first Saami novel, Matti Aikio's (1872-1929) <I>Kong Akab og Naboths vingaard</I> [King Ahab and Naboth s Vinyard], came out in Norwegian in 1904. Akio came to general recognition for his work I Dyreskinn [In an Animal Skin] published in 1906, in which he described realistically the conditions in which the Saami lived in the midst of social upheavals. His contemporaries, Anders [[Larsen, Anders (engl. ver.)|Larsen]] (1870-1949) and Pedar Jalvi (1888-1916) wrote in Saami, and their aim was to raise Saami self-esteem by their writings.In 1912 Anders Larsen wrote a novelette Beaiveálgu, which he published at his own expense. It had appeared in part in serial form in the Saami-language periodical Sagai Muittalægje, of which he was the editor. The periodical was published in Norway for a period of seven years between 1904 and 1911. Isak [[Saba, Isak (engl. ver.)|Saba]] (1875-1921), the Saami national poet and later a member of the Norwegian Parliament (<I>Storting</i>), also made his literary debut in the same paper with his poem <I>Sámi soga lávlla</i> [Song of the Saami Clan], which was adopted as the official Saami national anthem by the Nordic Saami Conference in 1986. </p>
<P align="justify"> Pedar Jalvi, a contemporary of Aikio and Larsen, studied at Jyvväskylä Teacher Training College from 1911 to 1915, and inspired thereon the one hand by national romantic ideals and on the other by the example of Aikio and Larsen, he began to write in Saami. In 1915 he published his only literary work <I>Muohtačalmmit</i> [Snow], which contains poems and stories. During his studies Jalvi also became interested in the past and the traditions of his people, and during his summer vacations he collected folklore for the Finnish Literary Society. His folkloristic records <I>Sabmelaččai maidnasak ja muihtalusak</i> [Saami Tales and Stories], edited by Samuli Aikio, appeared in 1966. </p> <P align="justify"> Although the early nineteenth century appeared to hold forth some promise for Saami literature, the following four decades were a relatively inactive period. Any literature that was produced was mainly published in the journal <I>[[Journal Sápmelaš|Sápmelaš</i>]], which was founded in 1934, and which provided a springboard for the future writing careers of several Saami writers. For example, Hans-Aslak Guttorm (1907-1992), Pekka Lukkari, Nils-Aslak [[Valkeapää, Nils Aslak (engl. ver.)|Valkeapää]] and Kirsti Paltto all made their debuts as writers in this journal. The only work published in the 1940s was Guttorm's collection of poems and short stories <I>Gohccán spálli </i>(1940). The rest of his early production had to wait almost half a century before it was published. In his works <I>Golgadeamen</i> (1982), <I>Rádjajohtin</i> (1983) and <I>Iešnjárgga šiljut</i> (1986), Guttorn succeeded in skilfully combining the Saami narrative tradition with literary form. </p>
<P align="justify"> Although the first literary works in Saami had appeared as early as the 1910s, the actual breakthrough in Saami literature did not take place until the beginning of the 1970s, when to an increasing extent a wide variety of works ranging from poetry to novels and plays began to appear. Women also started to get published; the first work written by a Saami women was Kirsti Paltto s collection of short stories and tales called <I>Soagŋu</i> (1971). In fact, Kirsti Paltto has been the most productive and versatile of these writers, for in addition to short stories she has also written children s books, poetry, plays and novels. Her first novel <I>Guhtoset dearvan min bohccot</i> (1987) came out half-way through the 1980s,and in its Finnish translation (<I>Voijaa minun poroni</i>) it was a candidate for the prestigious Finlandia Prize for Literature. The translation was published before the original, the reason, as is commonly the case, being a lack of funding. The events of the story were continued in a sequel <I>Guržo luottat</i> (1991). In her novels, Paltto deals with the relations between Saamis and Finns just before and during the Second World War. Her novel 256 <I>golláža</i> (1998) is a parody dealing with events in a place called Bollomohkki. Since her first collection of short stories, Paltto has published three others: <I>Risten</i> (1980), <I>Guovtteoaivvat nisu</i> (1987) and <I>Suoláduvvan</i> (2001). The last mentioned was a candidate for the Nordic Council s Literature Prize in 2002. </p>
<P align="justify"> The Swedish Saami writer Annok Sarri Nordrå began her career at the same time as Paltto with her Swedish-language trilogy, the first part of which <I>Ravnas vinter</i> was published in 1973. It was followed by <I>Fjellvuggen</i> in 1975 and Avskjed med Saivo in 1981. During the following decades Paltto and Sarri Nordrå were joined by other novelists who described the Saami community from new perspectives. For example, Eino Guttorm s <I>Árbeeatnan luohti</i> (1981) aroused great interest among Saami readers because of its stand on the Lestaedian religious sect. Ellen Marie Varsi, for her part, made a welcome breakthrough in literature for young persons with her novel, <I>Kátjá</i> (1986). </p>
<P align="justify"> Jovnna-Ánde Vest came to general recognition after she won the Davvi Girji Prize for Writing with her work <I>Cáhcegáddái nohká boazobálggis</i> (1988), since which she has published four novels. The theme of <I>Kapteainna ruvsu</i> (1991) and <I>Eallin bihtát</i> (1992) is dislocation and loss of identity. Both also deal with the contemporary phenomenon of racism and its concomitant violence and terrorization. Like Kirsti Paltto, in her latest novels <I>Árbbolaččat</i> I-II (1996, 2002), Jovnna-Ánde Vest writes about people s life in a small Saami village and the changes that take place in it from the 1950s to the 1970s. </p>
<P align="justify"> In addition to Guttorm, Kirsti Paltto and Vest, the Teno Valley writers also include Olavi Paltto. In his collection of short stories <I>Juohkásan várri</i>, he also dealt with the problems of displacement, loneliness and the search for one s roots. The melancholy and absurd mood of Paltto s short stories is exchanged for humour in the tales in <I>Bearralat Deatnogáttis</i> (1998) by Eino Guttorm, who comes from the next village. Guttorm displays a delightful comic use of language in his stories, which describe people s lives and events in the Teno Valley. Johannes Guttorm, from the same village, takes the reader in his short prose work <I>Jogasgátti nieiddat</i> into certain events at a market in a small village, which is never the same again afterwards. Behind the humour lies a moral: You can never judge a person by appearances. </p>
<P align="justify"> Arvid Hansen, John Gustavsen, Ailu Gaup, Aagot Vinterbo-Hohr and Magnar Mikkelsen, who write in Norwegian, are among the major Saami prose writers of the 1980s. Despite the vigour of the oral narrative tradition, the Saami-language epic is only now begging to find its place as writers seek narrative modes that are suited to contemporary times and a new generation of readers. The development of Saami literature from the 1970s to the present day reflects the upheavals that the Saami people have undergone as a minority and indigenous people. During the 70s and 80s, writers personally experienced deprivation of their mother tongue, their identity and their culture by the school system. Through their writing, they express these collective experiences and at the same time develop the expressive power of their native languages. </p>
<P align="justify"> In the works of many writers, personal experience has assumed a literary form which makes it possible to come to terms with the painful experiences connected with the Saami identity. This allows the writers to stand back and turn their own experiences into those of poetic characters and fictional events. Writing at that time was also an ethnopolitical act, a defence of the rights of the Saami minority. </p>
<P align="justify"> The position of the Saami in the 1990 s has been recognized in legislation as well as in many other areas of society. For example, Saami [[Language|language]] acts have been enacted in the Nordic countries, Saami cultural autonomy has been enhanced, and in many schools pupils can study their mother tongues throughout their school careers. Thus modern writers no longer have the same collective agenda to prosecute as a couple of decades ago. Instead, they have turned to a critical examination of their own individual natures and of their immediate communities. They have also striven to restore dignity to the Saami past and the Saami culture so that it can take its rightful place beside the cultures of other peoples. In their works, they have made visible what had been invisible and shameful for centuries. From the oral tradition folk tales, stories, myths and <I>juoiggus</i> poetry many writers have drawn the strength to begin building a positive identity. For example, in the 1970s, <I>juoiggus</i> became one of the major symbols of Saami culture and the Saami identity, and its effect is also reflected in literature. Young poets in particular have adopted the <I>juoiggus</i> as a medium of expression; its intimate connection with nature and its form of language have provided the basic material of many poets. The lyric poems of modern writers almost always use free verse and colloquial language, and they make ample use of the imagery of the <I>juoiggus</i>. In epic poetry, on the other hand, the oral narrative tradition and Saami beliefs exert an influence in the background, and they are given concrete expression in the language of the narrative and the use of traditional themes. Saami literature is founded on a strong cultural heritage and all the opportunities it offers. This is its strength, and in it lies its future. </p>
<P align="justify"> In practice it is only in the last thirty years that the Saami language has been a vehicle of written expression to any great extent. Despite its short history, however, Saami literature has quickly developed into a diverse art form which is one of the central means of expression of Saami culture. Ahead lie many challenges which are common to numerous other indigenous peoples and speakers of minority languages. </p>
[[Theatre|Theatre]]<BR>. </p>
[[Theatre|Theatre]]<BR> +
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