Background
He was born at Kuddnas, near Nykarleby, on the 14th of January 1818. He was the son of a doctor of the same name, who was distinguished as the earliest collector of Finnish folk-songs.
( Zamechatel'nyy finlyandskiy pisatel', poet i uchenyy Sa...)
Zamechatel'nyy finlyandskiy pisatel', poet i uchenyy Sakarias Topelius byl mladshim sovremennikom X.K.Andersena, a u sebya na rodine lyubim tak zhe, kak Pushkin v Rossii. V etu audioknigu voshli samyye izvestnyye skazki Topeliusa. V yego skazkakh zhivut trolli, velikany i lesnyye dukhi i uzhe mnogo-mnogo let zachityvayutsya vo vsem mire deti i vzroslyye. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BC3Q4T0/?tag=2022091-20
He was born at Kuddnas, near Nykarleby, on the 14th of January 1818. He was the son of a doctor of the same name, who was distinguished as the earliest collector of Finnish folk-songs.
Topelius became a student at Helsingfors in 1833.
In 1863 he was made professor at Helsingfors, and received in succession all the academic distinctions open to him. Quite early in his career he began to distinguish himself as a lyric poet, with the three successive volumes of his Heather Blossoms (1845 - 1854). The earliest of his historical romances was The Duchess of Finland, published in 1850. He was also editor-in-chief of the Helsingfors Gazette from 1841 to 1860. In 1878 Topelius was allowed to withdraw from his professional duties, but this did not sever his connexion with the university; it gave him, however, more leisure for his abundant and various literary enterprises. Of all the multifarious writings of Topelius, in prose and verse, that which hasenjoyed the greatest popularity is his Tales of a Barber-Surgeon, episodes of historical fiction from the days of Gustavus II. Adolphus to those of Gustavus III, treated in the manner of Sir Walter Scott; the five volumes of this work appeared at intervals between 1853 and 1867. Topelius attempted the drama also, with most success in his tragedy of Regina von Emmeritz (1854). Topelius aimed, with eminent but perhaps pathetic success, at the cultivation of a strong passion of patriotism in Finland. He died on the 13th of March 1898 at Helsingfors.
( Zamechatel'nyy finlyandskiy pisatel', poet i uchenyy Sa...)