Suositellut, valitut ja luetut. Kirjallisuus kirjastoissa 1918-1939

Abstract

Eija Eskolan väitöskirja liittyy lukemisen historian ja kirjastohistorian tutkimustraditioon. Siinä etsitään vastauksia kysymyksiin millainen lukija haluttiin kirjastotoimen piirissä sotien välisenä aikana kasvattaa ja millaisia lukijat tosi asiassa olivat.

Kirjastotoimen eri organisaatioista ja henkilöistä tarkastellaan valtion kirjastotoimiston päällikön Helle Kannilan ja kirjastotoimiston kirjastontarkastajien toimintaa ja kannanottoja sekä kirjastojen kirjavalinnan avuksi tarkoitettuja Arvostelevassa kirjaluettelossa julkaistuja kirja-arvosteluja. Kirjastoihin hankittua ja hankkimatta jäänyttä kirjallisuutta kartoitetaan eräiden eri puolilla Suomea sijainneiden maalaiskuntien pääkirjastojen ja pienten kaupunginkirjastojen hankintaluetteloiden avulla. Lukijoiden mieltymyksiä ja näkemyksiä selvitetään 1984 kerätyn kirjastonkäyttäjien omaelämäkerta-aineiston pohjalta. Tutkimuksessa yhdistyvät mikro- ja makrohistoriallinen tarkastelutapa.

Tutkimuksessa nähdään kirjastojen käyttäjäkunta, lukijat, osana kirjastoinstituutiota, mikä on kirjallisuusinstituutioita käsittelevässä tutkimuksessa uutta. Myös ajan kirjastovaikuttajat saavat kasvot ja äänen. Heidän keskuudestaan esille nostetaan erityisesti valtion kirjastotoimiston päällikön ja monella tavalla kirjallisuuden kentällä vaikuttaneen Helle Kannilan näkemykset kirjallisuudesta ja lukemisesta. Kannilan persoona on hiljattain ollut julkisuudessa myös Suuret suomalaiset ­äänestyksessä menestymisen johdosta.

Eija Eskola päätyy siihen käsitykseen, että kirjastoista ei sotien välisenä aikana tullut tietokeskuksia eikä kansalaisten itsekasvatuksen tukipalveluja, kuten Helle Kannila ja Arvosteleva kirjaluettelo toivoivat. Kirjavalinnat eivät myöskään tukeneet ensi sijassa kansallisten arvojen, kuten raittiuden ja kunnon kansalaiseksi kasvamisen, välittämistä. Lukijat eivät halunneet ensi sijassa tai ainoastaan sivistyä, vaan lukiessaan viihtyä ja kuluttaa vapaa-aikaa. Kirjastot tarjosivat kirjavalikoimillaan tähän mahdollisuuden. Kirjastojen piirissä muotoutunutta lukutapaa päädytään tutkimuksessa kutsumaan lukuharrastukseksi. Lukemisella oli lukijalle itseisarvoa, se tuotti tyydytystä ja taide-elämyksiä, se viihdytti. Tutkimus osoittaa, että Suomen yleiset kirjastot palvelivat sotienvälisenä aikana lukuharrastusta, vaikka kyseistä käsitettä ei kirjastotoimen piirissä käytettykään eikä lukuharrastuksen tyydyttämistä otettu kirjastolain tavoitepykäliinkään ennen vuotta 1961.

Kirjastojen piirissä toteutuneen vapaan, spontaanin, maailmankatsomuksen muodostamiseen ja ennen kaikkea viihtymiseen tähtäävän lukemisharrastuksen teki mahdolliseksi se, että kirjastojen kirjavalinta tuotiin lähelle lukijoita. Kirjojen hankinnasta päättivät kirjastojen johtokunnat ja kirjastonhoitajat, jotka olivat paikallisyhteisöissään yksi meistä , yhteisön asukkaita ja lukijoita itsekin. Toinen vapaan lukemisharrastuksen mahdollistaja oli kirjastojen kirjavalintaa koskevan sinänsä muodollisesti byrokraattisen ja yksityiskohtaisen normintamis- ja valvontajärjestelmän löyhä ja muodollinen soveltaminen. Syynä tähän seikkaan voivat toisaalta olla keskitetyn kirjastotoimen erittäin niukat henkilöstöresurssit, toisaalta maan ylimmän kirjastotoimen realistinen näkemys siitä, että ainoastaan paikalliseen, vapaaehtoisuuteen perustuvan toiminnan varassa harvaanasuttuun maahan saatettiin luoda sellainen kirjastojärjestelmä, joka saavutti lukijoiden luottamuksen. Kolmas ja erittäin merkittävä tekijä ovat kirjatuotannossa tapahtuneet muutokset. Markkinoille saatiin kirjallisuutta, joka palveli lukijoiden lukemisharrastusta, sellaisena kuin se edellä on kuvattu.

Recommended, Selected and Read. Literature in Libraries 1918-1939

The purpose of this study is to describe, explain and understand the view of desirable and undesirable reading that was prevalent among the highest library authorities in Finland between the World Wars, and to find out whether this view was adopted and shared by libraries. The concept of good and bad literature comes under special scrutiny. The study examines the following question: what kind of a reader did the library authorities want to raise and what were the readers like in practice?

The highest library authorities include the director of the State Library Bureau, Helle Kannila (1896-1972, until 1938 Cannelin), state library inspectors and the State Library Committee. Because a view of reading and literature is a particular subject of the study, the reviewers of Arvosteleva kirjaluettelo (The Critical Book Review), which was published by the State Library Bureau, and the actions of the reviewers, also come under examination. The question whether libraries shared the views of the state library authorities, or whether their views were different, is examined by using, as research material, the acquisition lists of some rural municipal libraries and small town libraries in different parts of Finland. The third subject of the study are library users, readers of books. Did they want to borrow and read the books that were acquired by the libraries?

In the background of the study, giving inspiration, are some researchers of the history of reading. One of them, Robert Darnton, recommends that the history of reading should by examined with the help of the questions who , what , where and when , and with the more difficult questions why and how . Martin Lyons, for his part, calls the 1890's the golden age of books. During this period the first generally literate generation made its appearance, and the book was not yet threatened by any other media. Large new reader groups appeared: women, children and workers became consumers of literature. An important source of influence on this study is also Ilkka Mäkinen s doctoral dissertation, in which he examines how a modern desire to read was introduced to the Finnish discourse on reading and libraries. Also giving background information to the study are Pirjo Vatanen s ideas of public libraries as an innovation imported to Finland from the United States through intermediary countries (such as Norway and Denmark). The concept of literature is understood comprehensively in this study. From the point of view of research on reading and the history of public libraries, both fiction and non-fiction, both children s literature and literature for adults, both originally Finnish and translated literature, are all equally interesting.

The study shows that there were nationalistic, right-wing and moralistic views expressed in The Critical Book Review, but that it also published competent and moderate reviews. The Critical Book Review put special emphasis on transmitting an appropriate and desirable set of values to young people, on examining things from a nationalistic viewpoint, and on maintaining the spirit of the land , rural values. Libraries were expected to acquire healthy literature that transmitted healthy values, such as temperance, modest customs and acting in the sphere of the home. The subject matter of literature mattered greatly in the book reviews. Religious and historical themes were particularly favoured, as were depictions of everyday life, nature and work. On the other hand, eroticism, crime, drunkenness and insanity, for example, were bad themes.

Helle Kannila s total view of literature and reading was crystallized in the concept of systematic reading and two types of a reader, an undeveloped and a developed reader. People had to strive to read with a purpose and a system and avoid disorganized, haphazard reading. Children or other beginning readers were undeveloped readers, whereas developed readers had a long history in reading and a purposeful way to read. However, the systematic way of reading did not have to be connected with studying or obtaining information by reading books; even those interested in fiction could read with a purpose and to develop themselves.

Local actors are in the centre of the second main part of this study. Did those in libraries share the views of The Critical Book Review and Helle Kannila on good and bad literature? What kind of a book collection did library committees and librarians offer their readers?

The quantitative proportions of literary genres varied a lot among the sample libraries. Local differences were largest in the acquisition of juvenile literature. This observation is explained by the different ways of organizing the use of libraries for schoolchildren: either by school libraries or public libraries. The proportion of non-fiction in the acquisitions of different libraries varied between 15 and 58 per cent. All in all, the proportion of non-fiction in library acquisitions declined clearly after the Library Act and Decree of 1928 came into effect because after that, non-fiction no longer received larger state subsidies than fiction. A large part of new literary phenomena and authors were quickly accepted by the libraries. These phenomena and authors included translated melodrama, new writers of Finnish popular fiction and an abundance of travel literature in the 1920's, and depictions of city dwellers, family series and juvenile book series in the 1930's. Historical and religious fiction and fiction portraying country life belonged to basic library collections during the whole examination period. Some artistic fiction and popular fiction were not found among the translated fiction in the sample libraries. However, the amount of translated fiction that was acquired was roughly the same as the amount of translated fiction that was published, and so translated fiction was not really neglected.

The emphases of the library book collections were considerably different from what The Critical Book Review and Helle Kannila would have wished. The libraries did not become information centres or support service providers for citizens self-study. The book acquisitions of libraries did not primarily support the transmission of national values, such as temperance and growing to be a good citizen . The general appearance of the library book acquisitions was more vulgar than Helle Kannila would have hoped. She would have put more emphasis on current Finnish artistic fiction and reduced the number of translated fiction books of lower quality (even if they exceeded the required moral code). One of the clearest differences between the views of libraries, and those of The Critical Book Review and Helle Kannila, was that libraries reacted quickly to changes in publishing, to novelties that came into the market, to books that were offered to people in a stylish manner. In addition to differences, there were naturally also similarities. In general, library book acquisitions did not include translated women s novels and detective novels, which The Critical Book Review and Kannila regarded as the most significant books to keep out of libraries.

In 1929 a little less that six per cent of the country s population borrowed books from a library at least once a year, in 1938 ten per cent.The number of loans doubled during that period, from about 2.6 million loans to about five million. People in towns and in the South of Finland were more active in borrowing books than those in the countryside and in the East and North of the country.

Thus, to the highest library authorities, reading appeared to be a necessary, continuous and systematic activity, on the condition that the literature that was read was good and appropriate. However, readers lives also included reading bans and restrictions, reading in secret and reading only as an unusual reward for school work well done. Young readers had to change the minds of parents who had a negative attitude to reading by referring to the authority of a teacher-librarian whose attitude to reading was positive. In this study, readers choices and evaluations are searched in the material of a writing contest collected by the Finnish Library Association in 1984.

A book borrowed from a library, whether it was originally Finnish or translated, was in most cases and judged by aesthetic criteria, a second-tier novel. Criticism of the time did not raise it to the top of Finnish artistic fiction, and it has not retained its position in Finnish literary research. However, for Finnish readers who visited a library to find something to read, it was a first-tier novel. Their neighbour was reading the same book, the book was talked about. Its subject matter was familiar enough, one could identify with its characters, it moved emotions. It is possible to talk about the canon of library users , good books that were worth reading and were recommended to others.

Pertti Vakkari makes the distinction between practically-oriented reading, on the one hand, and interest in reading, on the other hand. Reading to gain practical information is directed towards some practical purpose, for example in work or hobbies. On the other hand, when one has an interest in reading, reading is either an end in itself or it gives satisfaction, artistic experiences and offers entertainment. It is orientating or entertaining.

My study shows clearly that in the 1920's and 1930's, Finnish public libraries served those with an interest in reading, even though this concept was not used in library circles, and even though promoting an interest in reading was not included in the paragraphs of library legislation stating the goals of libraries. The proportion of library acquisitions that were suited to practical reading was small. The majority of acquisitions satisfied reading that was orientating and entertaining. Compared with Kannila s systematic reading, the sphere of this form of reading was wider, freer , more spontaneous, and more dependent on an individual s own solutions (sometimes random and situation-based).

What made possible for libraries to be involved in bringing about this kind of interest in reading that was free and spontaneous, aimed at forming a world view and, above all, offering entertainment, was that the book selection process in libraries was brought near to the readers. Decisions about book acquisitions were made by library committees and librarians that belonged to their communities; the committee members and librarians were inhabitants of the communities and readers themselves. Another thing that made possible the free interest in reading was that even though the library book selection process was bureaucratic, standardized and controlled in its details, these standards and controls were applied in a lax manner, as a matter of form.

The trend about fiction in Finnish public libraries was internationally a common phenomenon. What was exceptional compared with big Western countries was primarily that in Finland the phenomenon came up and developed later. In American libraries fiction was accepted as an essential part of book collections since the late nineteenth century. In British public libraries the proportion of fiction loans varied between 65 and 90 per cent at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By the First World War British libraries had accepted fiction as fundamental to library collections, because of an increased amount of spare time, for example, and to make workers use public libraries.

The Compulsory Education Act of 1921 made the Finnish primary school a school for all the people, whereas during the preceding time period every fifth child did not go to school. In this light it is very understandable that the highest library authorities gave libraries great tasks as an extension of the primary school. In this study it is observed that young people quite clearly belonged to the central user groups of libraries and that they had better opportunities than the previous generations of getting literature in general and literature that they wanted in particular. The young generation of the so-called First Republic (1918-1939) was the first generation with an interest in reading. The reason was not only that libraries were more easily available to this generation than to the previous ones, but also that much more literature, and more versatile literature, was published, which made the interest in reading possible.