Hannu Rajaniemi

Q-1.

What country/ethnicity/culture do you identify yourself with?

 

A-1.

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I do identify myself as Finnish, although I have not lived in Finland for over a decade.

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Q-2.
 

SF/F/Horror/Slipstream genre has always been dominated by Anglo-American language. Is Anglo-American genre fiction is your major influence?
 

A-2.

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It is, although for my first novel, I consciously drew inspiration from (for example) French detective fiction as well. I also have a short story collection called Words of Birth and Death where the themes mainly come from Finnish mythology.

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Q-3.
 

Give us the ratio of your reading of Anglo-American fiction against your own or non-English literature. Currently.
 

A-3.

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I’d probably read more Finnish fiction if I had easy access to it, but as it stands, it’s probably 5 to 1 in the favour of Anglo-American fiction.

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Q-4.
 

To our dismay, a lot of so called World things are actually American ones. From Baseball's World series to our genre's Worldcon (almost) or World Fantasy Awards. How can we correct it to its real structure, into the real chaotic world?
 

A-4.

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I think this will happen naturally over time. The Anglo-American dominance of Western culture is unlikely to last more than a couple more decades.

Q-5.

Yet, it's true that we're culturally much influenced by American pop culture. Haruki Murakami cannot write like he does now without his American literature and Jazz influence. Is it the same for your case? Can you imagine you write without that influence at all?
 

A-5.

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I can imagine writing, of course, but I do agree that much of my work would be very different without the long tradition of Anglo-American SF. Having said that, my original inspiration at the age of 7 was Jules Verne... who admittedly was a strong influence on the said tradition.

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Q-6.
 

But these days a lot of young writers and editors work in English language and for American market. Do you hold any grudge against working like this? Or is it a natural reaction to that influence?
 

A-6.

 

No grudge at all――it is simply an economic reality for genre fiction.

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Q-7.
 

If and when you have to write in English, do you do that to English-American readers, or to the global readers?
 

A-7.
 

I try to write with myself as the primary audience, so I don’t give that much thought to the readers’ cultural backgrounds.

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Q-8.

Is there any works or writers from your local scene you can sincerely recommend to the world readers? And why do you recommend them? Is it because they have no equivalent works or writers in Anglo-American scene? Or is it because they perfectly fit there and have many things in common that we should share? Which do you think is important, originality, or affinity?
 

A-8.
 

There are many excellent young Finnish voices, perhaps with the so-called Finnish Weird as a unifying theme: a certain urban strangeness with a philosophical bent. Examples include Viivi Hyvönen, Pasi Jääskeläinen, and Emmi itäranta.

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I think originality and freshness will always translate past cultural boundaries, if the author has something unique to say: there are many examples of this amongst the classics, from The Arabian Nights onwards.

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Q-9.
 

Have you ever read and liked any Japanese works, in and out of our genre? What aspect of it attracted you?
 

A-9.
 

I am very fond of the aforementioned Haruki Murakami and his wonderfully strange outlook on life. There is also a certain melancholy to his work which probably resonates strongly with the Finnish mindset. I also like Banana Yoshimoto.

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On the genre side, the examples that I am more familiar with come from manga rather than literature. My favourites include Nausicaä by Hayao Miyazaki and 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa. Both are epic, long-form narratives with very strong characters, a form I like in general.

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Q-10.
 

Could you please explain what you do to promote foreign literature to your readers or your own works to foreign readers?
 

A-10.

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My books do tend to include a lot of literary references, including to works not necessarily familiar to Anglo-American readers. The Fractal Prince, my forthcoming second novel, involves The Arabian Nights rather heavily, and includes references to stories by Julio Cortazar and Jan Potocki.