The Howling Miller

The Howling Miller
First edition (Finnish)
AuthorArto Paasilinna
Original titleUlvova mylläri
TranslatorWill Hobson from the French of Anne Colin du Terrail
LanguageFinnish
PublisherWSOY
Publication date
1981
Publication placeFinland
Published in English
2007
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages236

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]

  1. ^ "Le meunier hurlant". Futuropolis. Retrieved 2024-06-10.