Pessi and Illusia (book)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.jpg) | |
| Author | Yrjö Kokko |
|---|---|
| Original title | Pessi ja Illusia |
| Illustrator | Yrjö Kokko |
| Language | Finnish |
| Genre | Fairytale |
| Publisher | Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö (WSOY) |
Publication date | April 1944 |
| Publication place | Finland |
| Pages | 231 (1st ed.) |
| Awards | Finnish State Literary Award (1945) |
Pessi and Illusia (Finnish: Pessi ja Illusia) is a Finnish fairytale written by Yrjö Kokko and first published in 1944 by WSOY.[1]
Kokko was a veterinarian, serving as a veterinary officer in the Finnish Army on the Karelian Isthmus during the Continuation War between Finland and Soviet Union. In late 1941, while missing his children back home, he decided to write them a short Christmas story.[2]
As soon as the story was finished, however, he set about expanding it into a more substantial fairytale; he also illustrated the work with nature photos which he took himself. The entire creative process took three years.[2]
Kokko had been interested in and fascinated by nature since he was a child, and felt that he could instinctively empathise with plants and animals and understand their 'language'. It was his relationship with nature, and his personal experiences on the front, that inspired much of the content.[2]
Plot
Pessi and Illusia tells the story of a menninkäinen (goblin) boy, Pessi, and a fairy girl, Illusia, who live in a forest near the eastern border of Finland, at a time of war. Illusia is an optimist, while Pessi is a gloom-monger, by name as well as by nature: he is named after his father, Pessimist. Additional characters are provided by the forest's many animals and plants. The book consists of a series of vignettes depicting the lives of the characters intertwined with natural phenomena and the events of the human world, including the ongoing war.
