Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.08.2009, Qupperneq 14

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 13 — 2009
14
Literature | Interview
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Finnish-Estonian writer Sofi Oksanen
will read at the Reykjavík International
Literary Festival this September. Her
latest novel, Purge, was Finland’s
bestselling book last year and the
translation rights have been sold to 23
countries. The Grapevine met up with
the 32-year shining star of Finnish
literature in Helsinki a couple of weeks
ago to discuss – amongst other things –
the Soviet Union and international sex
trade.
“I have always known that writing is
my thing,” she says without hesitation as
we meet in Helsinki.
Her first novel, Stalin’s Cows, came
out in 2003 and was an instant success.
Baby Jane followed two years later. But
it was with her latest novel, Purge, that
Oksanen hit the jackpot, selling over
130.000 copies in Finland alone (to
offer some perspective, Dan Brown’s
DaVinci Code sold 150.000). Among
the many awards bestowed upon Purge
was Finland’s premier literary award,
The Finlandia Award 2008, making
Oksanen the youngest author ever to
win this prestigious prize.
Purge takes place in Estonia and its
main characters are an old Estonian
woman in her seventies, Alide Truu,
and twentysomething Estonian girl
Zara. The novel revolves around ideas
of power, nationality, sexuality and
estrangement.
Those of you that haven’t been
keeping up with their Finnish/Estonian
history, Finland got its independence
1917 and Estonia in 1918. In World War
II, Finland lost the war against Soviet
Union, but kept its independence.
Estonia’s destiny was much worse. It was
occupied by the Soviet army, which was
the start of the cruel ‘Sovietisation’—
concentration camps, torture, sexual
violence and mass killings. Estonia
regained independence only after the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
While Purge is set in Estonia in
1990s, the novel also f lashes back to
Estonia’s period of Sovietisation in
the late forties and early fifties. In it,
Oksanen explores Estonian reality,
including the inevitable shadows of
both the Soviet Union and, later, Russia.
Nevertheless, the fundamental themes
are universal. The author examines
how history informs not only a nation’s
development, but also the individual’s
spirit and life choices.
Purge tells the story of two women
of different generations, exploring their
experiences with the loss of freedom.
The year is 1992. Alide Truu lives
in the Estonian countryside. One day,
Alide discovers a young woman lying
unconscious in her front yard. The
Russian-Estonian Zara turns out to be
on the run from the Russian mafia, a
pawn in the global sex trade industry
who sought a well-paid job in the West
like so many others. Her fate is reflected
in her host’s history, a time of night-
time interrogations, when thousands of
families were shipped off to Siberia and
partisans hid in the forests.
By interweaving these two women’s
lives and destinies, Oksanen examines
the searing wounds of the post-war
period and also brings the country’s
recent history into sharp focus. While
reading the book, it became clear to
me that Finland’s destiny could have
been the same as Estonia’s and my life
could have been like the protagonist, a
modern-day slave of sex trafficking. For
me, Purge was a physical experience.
I nearly threw up three times. The
horrible violent scenes are told through
the victim’s experience.
“Violence porn would have been
too easy solution. I wanted readers
to be able to identify with the victim.
Clinical description of a rape do not
tell you anything about the victim’s
experiences,” Oksanen explains.
Purge was initially a play Oksanen
wrote for the Finnish National Theatre.
When the play was practiced in the
theatre, Oksanen began turning the
story into novel.
“I do a lot of associative work when
I write. And I must say that the text for
this novel came out pretty fast, since the
story and the characters were already
there from the play,” says Oksanen.
“Purge actually has its roots in a
story that I heard when I was a child.
An Estonian mother and her daughter
found a wounded soldier close to
their house. They took him in and hid
him into their home. Somebody from
the neighbourhood talked, and so
Soviet authorities took the daughter to
interrogation. After the interrogation
night she stopped talking,” she
summarises.
Besides all the stories heard from
Estonian relatives, Oksanen also
researched Purge by reading Estonian
women’s magazines from 1920s. “After
the collapse of the Soviet Union, Estonian
used bookstores started selling old
Estonian magazines. It was amazing to
see the 1920's and 1930's in photos, since
there was hardly any visual material
available from these times up until then.
When I was reading these magazines, it
looked the same as Finland in the times
of gaining its independence. It was very
confusing.”
All the Estonian magazines were
prohibited during the Soviet occupation,
from World War II to the collapse of the
Soviet Union. “Who was hiding these
magazines all those decades? It is a
mystery. But it’s great that they did.”
“However, there was not so much
material regarding human trafficking.
I used the material I had, for example
Viktor Malarek’s report The Natashas,
which is a covering report of modern sex
trade in Europe.”
Trafficking women and children
for sex industry is an ugly aspect of
modernity. It’s the third biggest black
market business, after drugs and the
weapons trade. Should governments
criminalize buying sex?
“Absolutely not. The more visible
prostitution is, the safer the situation
for the weakest participant. If a western
country criminalizes prostitution, it
means that sex tourism increases. People
will go abroad to buy sex. It’s not fair if
welfare countries like Finland outsource
their problems to poorer countries like
Estonia or Russia.”
In Oksanen’s opinion, the most
effective way to prevent the illegal sex
trade and trafficking is to stabilize the
economy in the poor countries, where
the poorest ones have little choice.
“It’s stupid to moralize the decisions
that poor people living in poor conditions
make to survive,” she adds.
An Icelandic translation of Purge
will be out on Forlagið in 2010.
Sofi Oksanen joins a long list of
acclaimed international wordsmiths who
have graced the fine city of Reykjavík
with their presence over the twenty-
four years and nine instalments of
the Reykjavík International Literary
Festival. The most prominent of its kind
in Iceland, the festival has been visited
by the likes of Haruki Murakami, Kurt
Vonnegut and Fay Weldon in the past,
and September 6th through 12th will
play host to such international literary
talents as David Sedaris, Luis López
Nieves, Naja Marie Aidt, Kader Abdolah,
Jóhann Hjálmarsson, Ingunn Snædal,
Steinar Bragi and Thor Vilhjálmsson
and Griffin Poets Robert Bringhurst,
Dionne Brand, Don McKay and Michael
Ondaatje, among others.
The Reykjavík International Literary
Festival is a volunteer-run bi-annual
presentation of author readings,
interviews and panel discussions, and
also features a publisher’s symposium
and a segment dedicated to the Griffin
Poetry Prize, featuring speeches and
readings of the noted international poets
in attendance. The 2009 festival events
will take place at the Nordic House and
Iðnó. For more information about the
Reykjavík International Literary Festival
and its programme see the Listings
section of this very publication.
Purging Some Past At The Reykjavík
International Literary Festival
Sofi Oksanen on international sex trade and the USSR
The Reykjavík Int'l Literary Festival
SATU RÄMÖ
SOME RANDOM PUBLICIST
CATHARINE FULTON