80 years old | Pentti Saaritsa broke through as a poet and translator in the 1960s, and the work still continues

“Small and slow down / is all the work of the world, ”the poet Pentti Saaritsa summed up in one of his poems in 1976 – perhaps as a sign of middle age and relativization. As early as the 1960s, he had a sharp rise to the forefront of poetry and Finnish translation, and his sharp sociality flourished with numerous lyrics.

At the beginning of December 2021, the poet Saaritsa sits at the table of the restaurant Sea Horse and thinks about it, the difficulty of getting the world better.

“My mother tongue teacher Päiviö Alaranta It was once emphasized that efforts can be good, but one can never achieve the goals of sustainable equality and democracy, ”says Saaritsa, who returns to the days of Helsinki II Lyceum, or Tossu, more than 60 years ago. He feels a little leaning towards his teacher, just as history laughed at the faith in progress.

Times change, questions not so much.

Sodan After that, Saaritsat – mother, big brother and Pentti – lived at Kaarlenkatu 15 in Kallio. Father Island (Pentti he too) had fallen as the corporal of the Ässärykment in East Karelia in the autumn of 1941.

“As for the impact of fatherless childhood, it’s bad to say I didn’t have a benchmark. My father was present at the drawing and in my mother’s loving speeches, ”says Saaritsa.

The solidarity of the men of the ace regiment was strong, and one of the comrades-in-arms also dropped an anonymous letter of assistance from the Saaritsoja post office during the accounting days. “Of course we knew who brought them.”

Mother tongue and poetry got an early grip on Pentti Saarita. His mother practiced poems and often read them to her pit.

“From pre-school, I experienced the worlds of poetry, I listened Sarkiaa, Leinoa, Kailasta, Hellaakoskea… ”The poet says.

“If the poem was very moving and I cried, I wanted to hear it again.”

At the age of twelve he himself began to write poems, at first absolutely rhyming. Teacher Alaranta encouraged him and often borrowed his own books, unless they could be found in the Kallio library.

In his twenties, Saaritsa won top positions in the student union and JH Erko’s poetry competitions, and the first collection was published in 1965.

The sixties reformed the lyrics. Above all, the island was inspired Pablo Nerudan “Impure poetry,” as the Chilean master had already called his poetry theory in 1935.

“Neruda was of great importance, and I met him in Helsinki in 1965. From the Peace Conference of Writers at the House of Culture, I took him to the people because he asked. We had a cart of beer here at Sea Horse, and we met on other days as well. ”

in the 1960’s a toned career as a translator also began. Saaritsa translates from almost ten languages, and above all he has translated Latin American literature to the extent of a train load. The work still continues, and the print became the most recent work, Jorge Luis Borgesin texts.

When does a translator feel the greatest satisfaction?

“When the work is done,” the translator humorized. “There are some moments, of course, over others: for example, when I got finished Gabriel García Márquezin Autumn of the Patriarch in a long, forward-falling sentence, I felt happy intoxicated. ”

What about Saaritsa’s own production, twenty-five poems, has the monument already been polished?

“Not there at all, the process is always unfinished. It has to be in motion as the human and the brain are. ”

The poet, who has sensitively reflected on society, as well as his art and social thinking, looks behind him – not regretting: “I do not find texts that contain correctable excesses. They have all belonged to an era and a situation. ”

The meeting is over. The lyricist steps into the early evening twilight.