The Ritual Master A story of starting over in the back country, leaving behind a lifestyle that doesn’t suit you anymore. Sounds familiar right ? You might even think it’s the story of an executive woman, reconnecting to nature and to herself in the early 2000s. Well… that’s not it !
Arto Paasilinna has written one of the funniest novels I have read this year, published in 1975 and translated ever since in almost 30 languages. The year of the Hare tells the story of Kaarlo Vatanen, a frustrated journalist, who, after nearly killing a hare with his car, turns away from an unhappy and unwholesome life. On an impulse, Vatanen abruptly abandons his urban lifestyle, job, and wife, in exchange for the freedom of the road and the wilderness, living off his cash savings and casual employment, all the time accompanied by the hare which he has nursed back to health and kept as a pet.
The adventures that he lives are quite remarkable, and set somewhere on the border of the believable, where it turns out, there is a rich source of humor.
The structure of the book is surprising : if the beginning is relatively classic in the sense that there is this great event that changes the course of Vatanen’s life, the rest of the book flows smoothly without any climax or particular conclusion to the story. This can be confusing, but being so amused by the whole thing, I found it to be absolutely refreshing.
The connection with nature is one of the main subjects the novel touches upon, and if the bond between the human and the hare is a testimony to the fact that we can live in harmony with nature, there are a few other passages where our main character needs to protect himself from the wild, in ways that might seem cruel nowadays. Is that another touch of sarcasm from the author ? Maybe… but one thing’s for sure, the humor is not devoid of meaning. When you pause for a moment and reflect, you understand why this has become a classic of Finnish literature.
And my very first Finnish novel. A triumph !
As you already noticed I read the French translation, but seing the global success of the novel, you have a pretty good chance to find it in your own language.
And in the spirit of the simple form that hides a deeper meaning, I’ll leave you with my favourite quote :
“Anyone could live this life, he reflected, provided they had the sense to give up the other way of life.”
― Arto Paasilinna, The Year of the Hare
See you tomorrow !
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