The article analyzes the construction of space and the relations between
identity and space in some novels by two Finnish writers representing religious
and ethnic minorities. Daniel Katz (born in 1938) is considered as
the first Jewish author writing in Finnish. He was rapidly spotted out as a
writer with an original voice and an atypical perception of the world. Veijo
Baltzar (born in 1942) is the first Finnish gypsy writer who managed to
get published by a leading publishing house and to gain a large public outside
of his own ethnic group. Drawing on Marc Augé’s theory of nonplaces,
the article examines how Jewish and Gypsy identities in Katz’s and
Baltzar’s works are questioned in relation to the major geopolitical transformations
of the 20th century and the modernization of Finnish society in
the 1950s and 60s, showing how sub-and transnational networks connect
individuals with traditional communities engaged in a difficult process of
redefinition and adaptation. The analysis contextualizes the novels within
the tradition of Finnish literature and includes an overview of the construction
of Finnish culture in the 19th century and the codifications of
space and nation it produced.
