Maiju Lassila
1868–1918
Biography
Maiju Lassila was one of the pen names of Algot Untola (1868–1918), a Finnish writer and journalist. Untola was born in Tohmajärvi, in eastern Finland, and was registered with the given name Algoth, which he later changed to Algot. He earned his living as a teacher, and he published under a number of pseudonyms, among them Irmari Rantamala, Algoth Tietäväinen and Jussi Porilainen.
The book on this site, Tulitikkuja lainaamassa, appeared in 1910 under the name Maiju Lassila. Its title can be rendered as 'Borrowing Matches', a phrase from everyday village life. Harhama, published in 1909 under the name Irmari Rantamala, is the other of his most famous books. A state literature prize was awarded to him for these books, and he refused to accept it.
His political life moved from the Finnish Party, which he first supported before he came to disagree with its views, to the Social Democratic Party of Finland. During the Finnish Civil War of 1918 he sided with the Reds and worked as a newspaper editor. After the Battle of Helsinki he was arrested by White troops, and on 21 May 1918 he was shot in Helsinki while being taken with other rebel prisoners toward the Suomenlinna prison camp. He was forty-nine.
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Books
Tulitikkuja lainaamassa
by Maiju Lassila
One morning Antti Ihalainen is sent across to his neighbour Jussi Vatanen to borrow some matches. Over coffee and talk the errand turns into a matchmaking scheme, and the two men set off on a slow, argumentative and increasingly absurd journey that wanders a long way from the…
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.