Maria Gustaava Jotuni (Haggrén until 1906,[1] Jotuni-Tarkiainen from 1911, born 9 April 1880[1]Kuopio, died 30 September 1943 in Helsinki) was a Finnishauthor and a playwright.
Life
Jotuni went to an all-girls school in Kuopio.[2] She graduated in 1900 and planned to become a teacher. In 1900–1904 she studied history and literature at the University of Helsinki.[2] Jotuni met her future husband, the literary critic Viljo Tarkiainen (1879–1951), in the university, and they got married in 1911. They had two sons: Jukka Tarkiainen and Tuttu Tarkiainen.
She is sometimes considered an early feminist,[3] and according to Jukka's son Kari Tarkiainen, her posthumously published novel Huojuva talo ("Tottering House") was based on her marriage to his grandfather; it depicts the husband as nightmarishly abusive.
She started working as a journalist in a student magazine at the University of Helsinki. Maria Haggrén changed her surname to Jotuni in 1906. "Jotuni" means a giant in Scandinavian mythology.[2][4][5] She died of heart disease in Helsinki.[1]
In 1961 The Golden Calf, a film based on her play of the same name was released.
Tohvelisankarin rouva (1924: "The Hen-Pecked Husband's Wife")
Olen syyllinen (1929: "I am Guilty")
Kurdin prinssi (1932: "The Kurd Prince")
Klaus, Louhikon herra (1942: "Klaus, Master of Louhikko")
Novels:
Arkielämää (1909: "Ordinary Life")
Huojuva talo (1936, published 1963 posthumously. Depicts contemporary literary ideas, realism and Tolstoyism. Adapted for the Finnish stage by Maaria Koskiluoma in 1983; Koskiluoma's stage adaptation was translated into English as Tottering House by Douglas Robinson for the Frank Theatre in Minneapolis in 1994.)
Äiti ja poika. Elämän hiljaisina hetkinä (1965: "Mother and Son: In Life's Quiet Moments")
Norsunluinen laulu (1947, posthumous: "Ivory Song")
Jäähyväiset (1949, posthumous: "Farewell").
Short stories:
Suhteita (1905: "Relationships")
Rakkautta (1907: "Love")
Kun on tunteet (1913: "Since There Are Feelings")
Martinin rikos (1914: "Martin's Crime")
Jussi ja Lassi (1921: "Jussi and Lassi")
Tyttö ruusutarhassa (1927: "The Girl in the Rose Garden")
Collection of other works:
Kootut teokset I–IV (1930: "Collected Works I-IV")
Valitut teokset (1954: "Selected Works")
Maria Jotunin aforismit (1959: "MJ's Aphorisms")
Novellit ja muuta proosaa I–II (edited by Irmeli Niemi, Otava, 1980: "Short Stories and Other Prose, I-II")
Näytelmät (edited by Irmeli Niemi. Otava, 1981: "Plays")
Kun on tunteet, Tyttö ruusutarhassa ynnä muita novelleja edited by Irmeli Niemi, SKS, 1999, 262 pages, ISBN951-746-125-9 ("Since There Are Feelings, The Girl in the Rose Garden, and Other Short Stories")
