author
Ville Hynynen
1883–1947
A Finnish teacher and translator, he helped bring popular English-language fiction to Finnish readers in the early 20th century. His life stretched from rural Finland to New York, where he stayed active in Finnish American cultural circles.
1 Audiobook
Man-saaren tuomari
by Sir Hall Caine, Ville Hynynen
About the author
Born in Sukeva in 1883, Ville Hynynen trained as a schoolteacher at the Kajaani seminary and also completed studies in singing instruction in Helsinki. He worked as a teacher and became known especially as a translator, introducing Finnish readers to writers such as Jack London, Louisa May Alcott, James Fenimore Cooper, and Hall Caine.
In 1924 he moved to the United States, after having already visited there earlier, and later earned an MA from Columbia University in New York in 1927. From New York he took part in Finnish American cultural life and also wrote opinion pieces, poems, and essays for Finnish-language publications.
Hynynen died in Manhattan in 1947. He is remembered above all as a gifted mediator between languages and literary worlds, someone who helped carry widely read international stories into Finnish.