Representing the best
Finnish authors abroad
Finnish authors abroad
In between escapades in the Russo-Japanese War, the young Benno – a little big man in the Tzar’s army – blasted out fanfares on his cornet at all the wrong moments and puffed away on strong cigars. Except he was too young to fight in that war. Grandpa Benno’s right index finger also made it unscathed through the First World War – a war that he did in fact fight and was wounded in. The fateful event that stiffened and hooked his finger didn’t occur until the Second World War, but not on the frontline – in a bomb shelter when the rabbi’s knife slipped during his grandson’s circumcision.
This wild, tender and absurd history of a Jewish family making its way across Russia and Finland rides roughshod over history, recounting one crazy incident after another. For Katz’s protagonists it is an everyday reality to live on the brink of disaster, but they adapt to the situation with irony and resilience and, amazingly, without fear. And they do not retreat into a corner, they are not afraid to make contact with people, for they think it is possible to get on with other peoples and ways – the important thing is to stay alive.
‘My characters have nothing to do with reality, because none of them has existed in reality,’ Katz announced at the beginning of his debut novel. In When Grandfather Skied to Finland he draws on his family’s rich supply of stories and mixes them with East European Jewish lore, transforming a dark and tragic background of cruelty, pogroms and alienation into piquant, warm-hearted narratives about survival.
The publication of Katz’s debut novel coincided with the rise of Jewish literature in America. Katz is one of the cosmopolitans of Finnish prose – a humorist who entertains us with his wild imagination and sense of the absurd. He excels at mixing the twists and turns of the human soul with the chaos of the European history. Katz is also a humanist, who gently mocks the weaknesses of people and society. When Grandfather Skied to Finland also grows into a beautiful anti-war plea.
J.H. Erkko Prize (Prize for the Best Debut novel) 1969
Czech (Ivo Zeleny, 1993)
English (USA: Continental Publishing House)
Estonian (Loomingu Raamatukogu, 1992)
French (Presses universitaires de Caen, 1995; Gaïa, 1995)
German (Hinstorff, 1972; Lübbe 1975)
Hebrew (Carmel, 2009)
Hungarian (Kozmoz, 1972; Móra Ferenc Könyvkiadó; Magvető Kiadó 2025)
Norwegian (Ernst G Mortenses Forlag)
Polish (Dialog, 2005)
Russian (Text, 2006)
Serbo-Croatian (Znanje, 1988)
Slovak (Slovart, 2022)
Slovene (Prešernova Družba, 1992)
Spanish (Libros del Asteroide, 2011 & 2023)
Swedish (Helsinki: Schildts 1971; Stockholm: Gebers, 1971)
“It is regrettable if this groundbreaking novel is not available on the classics shelf in bookstores. (…) There’s no need to be bored because Daniel Katz is a playful writer. The episodic structure of When Grandfather Skied to Finland demonstrates that depth does not have to be heavy or ponderous. Sometimes, as Italo Calvino intended, depth can manifest with lightness.” – Literary Critic Jukka Petäjä in Helsingin Sanomat Newspaper (In 1960’s Books that Everyone Should Read)
“It [When Grandfather Skied to Finland] sticks a small spoke in the wheel of the grand narrative of history, and joyfully overturns the whole cart.” – Literary Critic Antti Majander in Helsingin Sanomat on publication of the pocket edition
“Katz has cultivated sympathetic humor, wild imagination, a sense of the absurd—and, I would say, a profound view of life—since his debut novel When Grandfather Skied to Finland, 1969.” – Literary Critic Janna Kantola in Helsingin Sanomat
“This acclaimed 1960’s novel is a spirited family saga in which history’s upheavals and tragedies are tempered by exuberant storytelling, inventive reinterpretations of the past, a tapestry of Jewish lore, and relentless, affectionate bickering.” – Sanojen aika, Finland
“Now I know that the blackest humour is Finno-Jewish. The whole time that I was reading ‘The Grandfather’, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was leafing through Kalevala, based on the plot of The Good Soldier Švejk, written by Sholom Aleichem.” – Peresmeshniki, Russia
“Katz and his heros are heirs to centuries-old Jewish wisdom, according to which laughter is the best remedy for the blows of fate.” – Knigavuhe, Russia
“Grandfather’s stories are mixed with just the right amount of magic and eccentricity. Across its three parts, the book does not strive for factual precision—nor should it. The purpose is to spin a story worth telling, and it is told with brilliance.” – Kujerruksia Literary Blog
