I romanzi di Paasilinna sono riconoscibili. Humour sottile, ambienti utopici. Un contatto con la natura sempre presente, un pragmatismo tutto finlandese nell'organizzazione della vita. Questo è forse il libro, tra tutti i romanzi che ho letto di questo scrittore, più chiaramente polemico nei confronti del mondo occidentale. Ovviamente, polemico come sa essere lui. Sottilmente ironico.
Per ora, uno dei miei preferiti.
Arto Paasilinna
Prigionieri del paradiso
Mondolibri (con licenza Iperborea)
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As reborn Robinson Crusoes, the crew and the passengers of a Trident airplane, flied out by Tokyo and direct to Australia, crash down in a desert island. Maybe it's not so desert, because in the hinterland a civil war is underway. But our heroes are far from everything threatening. At the beginning it's pretty difficult, but then life in the island becomes more and more comfortable and easy. Thanks to everyone's specialization, and hospital and a pub are set up, everyone has its own cottage. There is a lot of food, men and women are in open relationships. Heaven, in other words.
But then, slowly, rises the idea of not coming back anymore, and in case they are found, not giving that permission. Why would they want to pay taxes, earn a meager salary, in a cold weather, instead staying in a tropical and comfortable island, a kind of heaven, more socialist than any other socialist place in the world?
Paasilinna's novels are so recognisable. Subtle humour, visionary environment. A contact with nature always present, a typical Finnish pragmatism in life's organization. This is the book, among the other ones I've read by this author, more openly critical in the Western world. Of course, critical as he knows how to do. Finely ironic.
For the moment, one of my favourites.
Arto Paasilinna
Prisoners of the Paradise Island
