Published in 1989, ‘Samurai nukkuu’ (‘Samurai sleeps’) is an aphorism collection by Finnish writer Markku Envall that won the ‘Finlandia Prize‘ in 1989. Currently living in Helsinki, Markku Sakari Envall (born 28 July 1944 in Hämeenlinna) is a Finnish literary scholar and writer. He has published studies, essays, poems, short stories, aphorisms and a novel. In 2009, Envall was awarded the ‘Samuli Paronen Prize’ for services to aphoristic. Envall graduated from secondary school in 1964, with a Bachelor of Arts in 1968, a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1971 and a Licentiate in 1976. He received his PhD in general literary studies from the ‘University of Helsinki’ in 1987. Envall worked at the University of Helsinki as Acting Assistant Professor of General Literary Studies 1970-1978 and Assistant Professor of Finnish Literature 1982-1992. He was a research fellow at the ‘Academy of Finland’ (1978-1980) and a senior researcher (1991-1994). In 1980-1990 Envall worked as a permanent assistant at ‘Helsingin Sanomat’. He was a member of the Board of the ‘Eino Leino Society’ (1984-1989), a member of the ‘State Literature Committee’ (1989-1991) and on the Board of the ‘WSOY Literary Foundation’ (1999-2009). By combining a fluid form with precision of expression and depth of content, Envall’s third collection of aphorisms ‘Samurai nukkuu’ renews the means and structures of his genre. Envall writes intelligently without being pretentious: while ‘Samurai Sleeps’ reforges the creation story of Christianity, it lives powerfully in the present and critically examines the future. Envall explores the mechanisms of the mind and the limits of individual freedom: as a writer, he feels it is his duty to shake up the self-evident truths created by religions and social bonds.
