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| Originally released : | | 12/03/1954 | |
| Notes : | | The Unknown Soldier (Finnish: Tuntematon sotilas, Swedish: Okänd soldat) or Unknown Soldiers is a war novel by Finnish author Väinö Linna, considered his magnum opus. Published in 1954, The Unknown Soldier chronicles the 1941–1944 Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers.
In 2000, the manuscript version of the novel was published with the title Sotaromaani ("the war novel") and in 2015, the latest English translation as Unknown Soldiers. A fictional account based closely on Linna's own experiences during the war, the novel presented a more realistic outlook on the formerly romanticized image of a noble and obedient Finnish soldier. Linna gave his characters independent and critical thoughts, and presented them with human feelings, such as fear and rebellion.
Although published to mixed reviews, The Unknown Soldier quickly became one of the best-selling books in Finland and is considered both a classic in Finnish literature and a part of the national legacy. The novel was well received by frontline veterans; it shot Linna to literary fame and has been described as creating a shift in the collective memory of the war. It has sold nearly 800,000 copies, been translated into 20 different languages and adapted into three films with the latest one released in 2017.
By 2017, the book had been printed in 60 editions in Finland. Its first English translations were published in 1957 by William Collins, Sons and G. P. Putnam's Sons in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively. It has since been translated into 20 other languages. An unedited manuscript version was published in 2000 by WSOY as Sotaromaani ("the war novel")—Linna's working title for The Unknown Soldier. Penguin Books published a new English translation by Liesl Yamaguchi in 2015 with the idiosyncratic title Unknown Soldiers to reflect the lives of young Finnish soldiers in the war. | |
| Source : | | Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Soldier_(novel))Original release date & notes | |
| Credits (Main Page): | | Author : Väinö Linna | |
| Credits (Main Page): | | First Published By : Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö | |
| Tags : | | Fiction | |
| Tags : | | Military & War | |
| Tags : | | Historical Fiction | |
| Tags : | | Novel | |
| Displayed (non textual) : | | - : | |
| Language : | | Finnish (Suomi) | |
| Copied Wikipedia parts under license : | | Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) | |
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| New one. Could the Military tag be edited to Military & War, or something to that effect? Wikipedia seems to use both terms equally, so it might help in adding the right tags (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_novel). Or should war be separate? |
| on 02/01/2026 by bob (10460) |
| Good idea. Think « Military & War » will be fine. Cheers |
| | ACCEPTED on 02/01/2026 by bob (10460) |
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| | ACCEPTED on 06/01/2026 by Lo55o (14048) |
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