A Finnish Fin-de-siècle Synthesis of Idealized North and South

Abstract

<p>The article focuses on the esoteric ideas of the Finnish artist and writer Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa (1870–1946). Wettenhovi-Aspa claimed that most languages had their origins in Finnish. He also claimed that the ancient Egyptian language and culture were of Finnish origin. Wettenhovi-Aspa studied painting and sculpture in Paris in the 1890s, where Swedenborg’s ideas, theosophical ideas on the unity of divinities and mythological texts, and the interest in ancient Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Oriental cultures converged. As for the culture of the Nordic countries, it was seen as inspirational by both local artists and, for example, Swedish and Finnish artists as well. Wettenhovi-Aspa was also influenced by contemporary writers such as August Strindberg and Joséphin Péladan. From the 1910s onwards, Wettenhovi-Aspa combined these idealized notions of Northern and Southern cultures in his literary works concerning language and history. He emphasized the nature of the Finnish language and The Kalevala as the source of a secret wisdom. This article examines the origins of Wettenhovi-Aspa’s occultural synthesis of Northern and Southern ideals and the various ways he represented those ideals in his writings from the 1890s to the 1930s.</p>