{"product_id":"the-last-days-of-maiju-lassila-9781639885305","title":"The Last Days of Maiju Lassila","description":"\u003cp\u003eWho wrote this novel?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e J I Vatanen was not a real person; he was a heteronym-a characterized pseudonym-of a strange Finnish author named Algot Untola, who was arrested as a Red agitator at the end of the Finnish Civil War in May, 1918, and summarily sentenced and shot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e This novel is \"J I Vatanen's\" \"memoir\" of the events leading up to that violent death and its tragicomic aftermath.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e But who wrote it?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Douglas Robinson, a noted Finnish-English translator and translation scholar, claims that he \"pseudotranslated\" it-but what does that mean? A pseudotranslation is a hoax translation, one with no original. But if the hoaxer declares the hoax up front, is it still a hoax?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Last Days of Maiju Lassila\u003c\/em\u003e is a readable story with its backdrop in a volatile political history from the 1880s to 1919; but it is also an experimental memoir\/novel\/translation that toys with our \"certainty\" about reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Atmosphere Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50453751038226,"sku":"9781639885305","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_39f3ca89-4f81-4c3b-934e-3599a800be61.jpg?v=1729855718","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-last-days-of-maiju-lassila-9781639885305","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}