Published in 2009, ‘Uuni’ (‘Oven’) is a novel written by Finnish author Antti Hyry that won the ‘Finlandia Prize‘ in 2009. Antti Kalevi Hyry (1931 – 2016) was a Finnish writer and recipient of the ‘Eino Leino Prize’ in 2005. Many authors have inspired imitators, but few prove to be so original that they lend their name to an entire stylistic movement: Antti Hyry is a member of this most influential class of writers, as his stark, crystal-clear ‘Hyryesque’ sentences have been at the core of Finnish modernism for over half a century now. His book ‘Uuni’ (Oven), a quiet, meditative work, describes in minute detail (‘brick by brick’) how a man constructs a great wood-burning hearth in his house. Rich in content and brilliant in its simplicity, alongside the building work in this novel Hyry provides minutely observed details of the natural surroundings and nearby people.
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