![\"joelshakespeare\"](\"http:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/englishturku\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2016\/04\/joelshakespeare.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nFollowed by the toasts, the guest speaker, Helsinki University\u2019s Senior Lecturer, Nely Kein\u00e4nen gave a fascinating lecture on how Shakespeare\u2019s plays were translated into Finnish and performed in Finland from the 19th century to the present day. We learned about the rich tradition of performing Shakespeare in Finland which interestingly coincided with and helped develop Finnish as a literary language. Translating Shakespeare into Finnish was seen as a great national victory for Finns, who now saw their own language take its place as a proper European language of culture. Shakespeare translations were and are yet another way for us Finns to prove ourselves that we are \u201cmost worthy friends\u201d of English, French, and the rest. <\/p>\n
\nText and photos by Elina Valovirta<\/i> p.s. Stay tuned for more information on the Faculty of Humanities\u2019 joint Shakespeare 400 lecture course in Q2 next academic year. For more info on Shakespeare festivities in England, go to www.shakespeare400.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week, our department \u2013 along with the rest of the world \u2013 celebrated Shakespeare as Saturday April 23rd marked the 400th anniversary of the Bard of Avon\u2019s death. Why death, you ask? Well, because we do not know his … Continue reading <\/a>
\nShakespeare, then, was crucial to making Finnish a language of sophistication, culture, and the arts, and our little gathering helped celebrate that fact among others. For a celebration of death, it was a very jolly occasion indeed, marking 400 years of the Bard’s \u201ccharmed life\u201d. <\/p>\n
\nQuotes from Macbeth<\/p>\n