Topelius – Historian and Fairytale-Teller

By general consensus, the three great national figures of nineteenth-century Finland were Snellman, Runeberg and Lönnrot, each predominant in their specific field. However, to these we should add Zacharias Topelius (1818–98), their junior by more than ten years. Topelius had a significant influence on the national movement through his history writing, primarily via the groundbreaking Boken om vårt land (The Book of our Country), published in 1875. This popular textbook’s presentation of Finland’s history, nature and geography, and its illustrations, had an enormous impact (in both Swedish and Finnish) on the many generations of schoolchildren who read it from its publication until the 1950s. Topelius had earlier published Finland framställt i teckningar (Finland Presented in Drawings, 1845–52), which served a similar function. “Topelius was the popularizer, who brought the great fate of Finnishness to the public enlightenment and made the grace of God into a persistent component of public Finnish nationalism.”

Topelius was born in the little town of Uusikaarlepyy (Nykarleby) in Ostrobothnia on the west coast, not far from Runeberg’s birthplace. Like his fellows, he was sent away to school at an early age, first to Oulu (Uleåborg) and then to Helsinki, where the university had been transferred in 1828. For a period in 1832 he even boarded at the Runebergs’ and, as an adolescent, was able to share in the discussions of the Saturday Circle (see chapter 2). He studied history, defending his thesis on ancient Finnish wedding rites in 1847, and was appointed professor of Finnish history at the university in 1854 and finally rector of the Imperial Alexander University (1875–78).

During his studies, Topelius became actively engaged in student organizations known for serving as cradles of political awareness. At the age of twenty-four he became editor of the newspaper Helsingfors Tidningar, which he reformed and developed into a modern journal during his twenty years in the position (1841–60). However, his broad and significant impact on journalism and his social reportage, including political opinion formation, was not fully acknowledged until the twentieth century.

In addition to public education (Volksbildung), journalism and scholarly activities, Topelius was active as a poet. His first collection of poems, called Ljungblommor (Heather Flowers), appeared in 1845, but he had published his first poem in Helsingfors Morgonblad (Runeberg’s journal) in 1838.