Background
Markku Envall was born on July 28, 1944, in Hämeenlinna, Finland. He is a son of a master painter Eero Alfred and a homemaker Siri Maria (maiden name Makinen) Envall.
1987
Yliopistonkatu 4, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Markku Sakari Envall got a Doctor's degree at the University of Helsinki, Finland, in 1987.
Markku Sakari Envall
Markku Sakari Envall
Markku Sakari Envall
Markku Sakari Envall
Markku Envall was born on July 28, 1944, in Hämeenlinna, Finland. He is a son of a master painter Eero Alfred and a homemaker Siri Maria (maiden name Makinen) Envall.
Markku Sakari Envall got a Doctor's degree at the University of Helsinki, Finland, in 1987.
Markku Envall worked as a professor of Finnish literature at the University of Helsinki, in 1982-1994. He was a senior researcher at the Finnish Academy in 1991-1994. Since 1994 he has been working as a freelance writer.
Of his several published works, five have been collections of aphorisms; he received the Finlandia Prize for Literature for one such collection. Despite this prize, critic Philip Binham characterized aphorisms as “a tedious form of literature” in "World Literature Today." However, Binham wrote, “His experience as an aphorist has been fruitful in forging a style that is apt for the novelist.”
In addition to aphorisms, Envall has also written literary criticism, such as his study of the author Mika Waltari, "Suuri illusionisti: Mika Waltarin romaanit." Waltari was a prolific Finnish novelist, and his work was relatively well known outside Finland. Binham commented that Envall’s study of Waltari and his work is “worthy” and “solid” but “often makes rather dull reading.”
"Kdsioraakkeli" is an “eclectic and insightful” collection of essays, according to Helena Darnell in "World Literature Today." The title essay discusses the Chinese "7 Ching," or "Book of Changes," an ancient text used in divination. Three other essays discuss religion and its effect on a writer’s work and life, and still more essays cover the impact of music and art, and (he consequences of mistakes in language use and translation. Darnell noted that although some of these topics seem weighty, Envall’s style is not; she praised his “down-to-earth” and “genial” writing, and noted that the essays repay close reading: “Only by reading and rereading them can one grasp everything they have to offer.”
In "Asumaton huone ja muita esseitd," Envall covers a wide variety of topics, ranging from a recurrent dream of an as-yet-unused room in his house, intolerance toward foreigners, religion, social classes, emotion versus intellect, parenting, and consumerism, the environment, and censorship. Binham wrote, “These are pieces that should be read slowly and savored leisurely,” praising Envall’s “wit and acerbity,” as well as the way the pieces “arouse opinions and ideas in the reader.”
"Pdivd katedraalissa ja muita esseitd," another collection of essays, is loosely about a year he spent on sabbatical from his usual position, at the University of Colchester in England. In some of the pieces, such as “Mixed Class,” “Walks in Colchester,” and “I mean you know,” he explicitly explores English customs and language. Other essays are not specifically about his personal experiences in England, but offer more general commentaries: these include “Superstore,” “Safety,” and “Incomparable.” The book also contains three essays on religion and some that have no connection with his English stay at all, such as “My Father’s Death,” and “Your Health.”
“Mixed Class” is, according to Philip Binham in World Literature Today, one of the most lighthearted of the pieces. It describes the “English-for-foreigners” class Envall attended in England and tells about his study of television vocabulary with Abdullah, a middle-eastern man who has never heard of Donald Duck and can’t understand Envall’s explanations. “I can’t decide how much he is missing,” Envall comments. He also writes about his explorations of English streets and fields; in Finland, anyone may walk anywhere at any time, but in England, he’s constantly running up against the concept of private property.
Binham commented about the collection that Envall “seems to have developed unusually from aphorist and scholar to essayist: will he move on to historian or even novelist? As he grows older, he allows himself to be less academic, more human and humorous.” He also noted that Envall’s “voice is distinctive in Finnish literature today for its quiet, individual, and honest tones,” and commented that “as long as writers are crafting their words with such skill and care, the monument of the Finnish language is still in good hands.”
Markku Sakari Envall married Titlamari Marttinen (a writer) in 1990. They have four children: Hmari, Malva, Erasmus, Luminia.