This volume presents the first English translation of
Mirdja
(1908), a remarkable work of Decadent literature by Finnish author L. Onerva (the pen name of Hilja Onerva Lehtinen, 1882-1972). Onerva was one of the most versatile literary figures of her generation, and her novel
is among the most important works of Nordic
fin-de-siècle
literature. It recounts the life of its free-spirited protagonist from adolescence to old age as she navigates the gendered world around her, testing the boundaries of her sexuality and railing against conventionality. Onerva's candid, subversive depiction of society's norms and traditions creates a vivid backdrop to her heroine's defiant quest for self-determination.
sharply divided the opinions of the contemporary reading public, winning the National Prize for Literature while being widely condemned for immorality. An example of early Modernist writing, described as having Decadent and Nietzschean tendencies, the novel has since been re-evaluated in light of feminist criticism and new trends in scholarship on
culture and New Woman fiction. Just as her protagonist rebels against the constraints of bourgeois norms, so Onerva challenged the conventions of prose to create an experimental, vividly individualistic form of expression.
This fully annotated translation brings this important work to an English readership for the first time.