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Author | Arto Paasilinna |
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Original title | Ulvova mylläri |
Translator | Will Hobson from the French of Anne Colin du Terrail |
Language | Finnish |
Publisher | WSOY |
Publication date | 1981 |
Publication place | Finland |
Published in English | 2007 |
Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Pages | 236 |
The Howling Miller (Finnish: Ulvova mylläri) is a 1981 novel by the Finnish author Arto Paasilinna.
The protagonist of the story, which is set in Finnish Lapland around 1950, is a man by the name of Gunnar Huttunen, who settles in a small village to mend and run a derelict mill. Huttunen is an enterprising and resourceful man, a hard worker, proudly independent but generally good-natured. However, his peculiar personality, particularly his habit of howling to vent his emotions, turns the intolerant villagers and authorities against him, and he is eventually committed into a mental hospital. After escaping, Huttunen lives as a fugitive in the wilderness, aided by his few friends: his lover Sanelma, the local police constable Portimo, and the postman and moonshiner Piittisjärvi. After a final confrontation with the law, Huttunen disappears, never to be heard from again.
The book has been translated into several languages. It has twice been adapted into a feature film: a Finnish one called Ulvova mylläri (1982) and a French one, Cornélius, le meunier hurlant (2017). It was also adapted as a graphic novel by French comics artist Nicolas Dumontheuil.[1]