Nuori nainen: Neljä kertomusta

Om denne boken

"Nuori nainen" by Eino Leino is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. Framed by a circle of four middle‑aged Helsinki friends whose summer-night talks turn to faith, aging, pleasure, and women, the work explores love, memory, and the ideal of the “young woman.” The men—physician Juho Varjakka, banker Taneli Koskenkorva, journalist Jakke Pulliainen, and docent Väinö Teikari—reminisce and confess, and their portraits open into tales where desire, conscience, and modern life meet.

The opening of the collection shows the four men gathered in Alppila’s “Japanese room” on a luminous summer evening, trading wry plans for old age and marriage while sensing their circle is about to break apart. Their talk of women crystallizes an idealized figure that ushers in the first tale, “Sininen lintu,” narrated by Varjakka. He recalls Leena, a sensitive woman from a once‑prosperous family who married a poor artist, lost a baby in Florence, and then separated after her husband confessed a brief infatuation and the pair, in the name of “higher morality,” declared their union impossible. Back in Helsinki after her mother’s death, Leena consults Varjakka for sleeplessness and fatigue; he grows close to her and dissects her marriage, seeing the husband as a self‑tormenting perfectionist and Leena as dreamy, backward‑glancing, and elusive. Their quiet walks and talks circle themes of memory, identity, and a bittersweet “longing for joy,” culminating in a letter from the ex‑husband that prompts Leena’s hard verdict on his bloodless idealism.