Otto Manninen

Otto Manninen (13 August 1872 – 6 April 1950) was a Finnish writer, poet, and a celebrated translator of world classics into Finnish language. Along with Eino Leino in the early 20th century, he is considered as a pioneer of Finnish poetry. Manninen translated the works of Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Heine, Ibsen, Petőfi and Runeberg into Finnish.

Life

Manninen was born in Kangasniemi as a farmer's son. He was one of the ten children of Topias and Matilda Manninen. After passing the matriculation examination in 1892, he was admitted into the University of Helsinki, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1897. From 1898-99 he was an assistant editor of the periodical Valvoja. His early translations of Heinrich Heine were published in Koitar, the student magazine of the university, in 1897. Parts of Heine's Saksanmaa (Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen) were published in Valvoja in 1900 while the complete translation was published in 1904.

From 1907–1909 Manninen worked for the Finnish National Theatre. In 1913 he became a teacher of Finnish language at the University of Helsinki, where he remained until 1937. Manninen was a member of editorial staff of several non-fiction books, including an encyclopedia named Tietosanakirja (1909–21), and the chairperson of the National Council for Literature for nearly fifteen years. During the Civil War (1918), Manninen supported the legal government and was a member of the Civil Guards.

On 10 February 1907, Manninen married Anni Swan, a noted author of fairy tales and children's books. They had three sons, Antero (1907–2000), Sulevi (1909–36), and Mauno (1915–1969). From the 1910s on, the Manninen family spent their summers on the island of Kotavuori in Puulavesi, where they built a house. In the serene environment of Kotavuori, Manninen spent most of his time writing poems and completing his translations.