Minna Canth facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Minna Canth
Photograph of Minna Canth by Victor Barsokevitsch
Born	Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnson 19 March 1844 Tampere, Finland
Died	12 May 1897(1897-05-12) (aged 53) Kuopio, Finland
Occupation	writer, playwright
Notable work	The Pastor's Family The Worker's Wife Anna Liisa
Spouse(s)	Johan Ferdinand Canth (husband)
Children	Anni Canth (daughter) Elli Canth (daughter) Hanna Canth (daughter) Maiju Canth (daughter) Jussi Canth (son) Pekka Canth (son) Lyyli Canth (daughter)
Parent(s)	Gustaf Vilhelm Johnson (father) Lovisa Ulrika Archelin (mother)

Minna Canth (born Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnson; 19 March 1844 – 12 May 1897) was a Finnish writer and social activist. She started writing while running her family's fabric shop and raising her seven children as a widow. Her stories and plays often talked about women's rights. She believed that the way society was set up made it hard for women to achieve their dreams. Her most famous plays are The Worker's Wife and The Pastor's Family. Her play Anna Liisa has been made into many films and operas.

Minna Canth was the first important Finnish-language playwright and prose writer after Aleksis Kivi, who is known as Finland's national author. She was also the first Finnish woman to work for a newspaper. On 19 March 2007, she became the first woman in Finland to have her own flag flying day. This day is also celebrated as the day of social equality in Finland.

Minna Canth's Life

Minna Canth was born in Tampere, Finland, on March 19, 1844. Her parents were Gustaf Vilhelm Johnsson and Ulrika Archelin. Her father worked at a textile factory. In 1853, her family moved to Kuopio because her father became in charge of a shop there.

Minna received a very good education for a working-class girl at that time. She went to school at the factory where her father worked. In Kuopio, she attended different girls' schools. She even got into a school for upper-class children, which showed how well her father was doing as a shopkeeper. In 1863, she started studying at the Jyväskylä Teacher Seminary. This was the first school in Finland that offered higher education for women.

In 1865, she married Johan Ferdinand Canth, who was her natural sciences teacher. She had to leave the Seminary after getting married. Between 1866 and 1880, she had seven children. Her husband, Johan, passed away in 1879, shortly before their seventh child was born.

Minna began her writing career at the newspaper Keski-Suomi, where her husband worked as an editor. She wrote about issues important to women and supported the idea of temperance, which means avoiding alcohol. In 1876, the Canths had to leave the paper because Minna's writings caused some disagreements. However, they both found jobs at a different newspaper, Päijänne, the next year. Minna published her first fiction stories in Päijänne. These stories were later put together into her first book, Novelleja ja kertomuksia, in 1878.

Minna Canth passed away suddenly from a heart attack at her home in Kuopio on May 12, 1897. She was 53 years old.

Fighting for Women's Rights

Minna Canth was a strong voice in public discussions about women's rights. In 1885, a bishop said that God's plan meant women should not be free to do as they pleased. Another writer, Gustaf af Geijerstam, argued that men and women were so different that men could never be as pure as women. He used this idea to excuse men's bad behavior.

Minna Canth strongly disagreed with this. She believed that this argument allowed men to defend their poor actions by saying it was just how they were. She fought for women to have equal rights and opportunities.

Her Amazing Stories and Plays

Minna Canth wrote ten plays, seven short stories, and many newspaper articles and speeches. She was known for her "realism," which meant she showed society as it truly was, including its problems. Her most important works are the plays Työmiehen vaimo (The Worker's Wife) from 1885 and Anna Liisa, written in 1895.

In Työmiehen vaimo, the main character, Johanna, is married to Risto, who drinks too much and wastes all her money. Johanna cannot stop him because, by law, her money belonged to him, not her. The play caused a big stir when it first opened. But just a few months later, the Finnish parliament passed a new law that allowed married women to keep their own property separate from their husbands'.

Anna Liisa is a sad story about a fifteen-year-old girl who faces a difficult secret. She tries to hide what happened, but years later, when she wants to marry, her secret is threatened to be revealed. Instead of giving in to blackmail, she bravely decides to tell the truth, even though it means going to prison. She finds peace by being honest.

How Minna Canth is Remembered

Minna Canth is honored in Finland in many ways. There are landmarks, books, medals, special coins, stamps, paintings, plays, and events named after her. Many buildings and places are named after her. There are also cultural clubs and groups named after Minna Canth.

The Finnish Fair Foundation gives out the Minna Canth Prize every year. This award goes to someone who "shakes up our society" and is given at the Helsinki Book Fair. The prize is 5,000 euros.

Statues of Minna Canth have been put up in Kuopio, Tampere, and Jyväskylä. The statue in Kuopio was revealed on May 12, 1937. The city of Kuopio also holds "Days of Minna" events to celebrate her birth or death anniversaries. For example, in the 21st century, these events were held in 2004 and 2007.

On March 19, 2017, Google celebrated her 173rd birthday with a special Google Doodle on their homepage.

Translations

Canth, Minna: The Burglary and The House of Roinila. Translated into English by Richard Impola. Aspasia Books, Beaverton 2010.

Images for kids

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  A family grave of Minna Canth at Great Cemetery of Kuopio in the Puijo district of Kuopio, North Savonia

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  The 1891 portrait of 47 years old Minna Canth by Kaarlo Vuori

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  Minna and Johan Ferdinand Canth in Jyväskylä, where Minna lived until the death of her husband.

See also

In Spanish: Minna Canth para niños