Published in 1972, ‘Siinä näkijä missä tekijä‘ is a novel by Finnish author Hannu Salama that won the ‘Nordic Council Literature Prize‘ in 1975. Salama was born in Kouvola (South-Eastern Finland) in a working class family, therefore he has always seen himself as a working-class writer. Despite his political position on the left, he upheld his autonomous stance against the more dogmatic Communist groups, and was also severely criticised by these groups for not describing Communist heroes as one-dimensionally positive. In 1964, Salama was also sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for blasphemy after publishing the irreligious novel ‘Juhannustanssit‘ (he was subsequently pardoned by President Kekkonen). As a prose writer, he works in the Finnish tradition and refrains from experimenting with modern styles. ‘Siinä näkijä missä tekijä’ is a family chronicle describing the significant political and social tensions in Finnish history: for example, it describes the resistance and sabotage of Communist groups during the Continuation War. According to the Adjudicating Committee, in his novel ‘Siinä näkijä missä tekijä’ Hannu Salama depicts with epic and moral candour a time full of contrasts in his country’s history.
