Finnish fiction literature dates back to the 19th century. Before that there was only religious literature published in Swedish and in Finnish dialects, and books were rare and expensive. There were not much Finnish literature published because of the fact that the written Finnish was still in its infancy. In the 19th century, as Finland was under the Russian rule, a national feeling of Finland as a nation of its own was born, and some great men of the Finnish elite, e.g. J.V. Snellman, J. L. Runeberg, Elias Lönnrot and Uno Cygnaeus, began to develop the Finnish society, written language and culture. The goal was to develop the written form of Finnish language to such extent that it could be used instead of Swedish.
Matti: Did you know that in the 19th century the elite
changed its mother tongue Swedish to Finnish so that they
learned to speak Finnish
with the help of a Finnish-Swedish dictionary?
Maija: Yes, but I bet you didn’t know that Elias Lönnrot
who was a professor of Finnish language said in his old days that because
he speaks
a Finnish dialect instead of written Finnish that the elite
used, he didn’t
feel himself worthy of speaking Finnish.