Rafael Koskimies was born in Savo in February 1898, the eldest child of a family with Fennoman sympathies. That the family supported Finnish nationalism was unsurprising, since they had connections to famous proponents of the Fennoman cause, such as Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen. Indeed, the Koskimies family changed its name from the Swedish surname Forsman – the same name that was the basis for Yrjö-Koskinen – in 1926.

His family moved to Lönnrotinkatu in Helsinki (formerly Antinkatu 22), and he passed his matriculation examination in the Finnish Normal Lyceum of Helsinki. He enrolled at the University of Helsinki in 1916. From fairly early on, it was clear that the young Koskimies was interested in literature and aesthetics, and he was an avid reader. His parents were also well educated, and his father was frequently visited by such guests as Ernst Nevanlinna, the renowned economist and politician, who was perhaps the most famous but also the most frequent visitor to the Koskimies household.

Rafael Koskimies graduated in four years but returned to the University to write a doctoral dissertation. His thesis, Fredrik Cygnaeus kirjailijana ja ajanilmiönä (‘Fredrik Cygnaeus as a writer and contemporary’) was published in two parts in 1923 and 1925, and he defended his dissertation in 1927. His subsequent research career was nothing if not eventful. He was equally interested in literary theory and cultural history.

Internationally, he was best known for his 1925 Theorie des Romans, which, as the name suggests, discusses the theory of the novel. He was particularly interested in German literary theory. He also wrote about poetics in several of his works.

The topics of his other works range from cultural history (one example being Runebergin Suomi, 'Runeberg's Finland’) to the life’s work of individual authors such as Aleksis Kivi. He also completed Gunnar Suolahti’s book on Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen, thus writing about the history of his own family.

Koskimies received praise as a researcher, and he applied for the chair of aesthetics and modern literature, becoming professor in 1939. He held this position for 22 years before retiring. However, that did not mean that he stopped working: for some time after his retirement, he was chairman of the board at the Finnish publishing house Otava. In addition, he was elected chairman of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Sources

• Laitinen, Kai, ”Koskimies, Rafael”. National Biography of Finland. Accessed 11 May 2015. http://www.kansallisbiografia.fi/kb/artikkeli/4822/
• ”Kaarlo Rafael Koskimies”. Menneisyyden humanistit (a webpage on humanists of the past). Accessed 13 May 2015.
• Rafael Koskimies, ”Helsinki ja Härjänvatsa”. Otava: Helsinki 1953.