Ville Keynäs

Born March 6, 1960, Helsinki

Bachelor of Arts (Comparative Literature) 1992, University of Helsinki

Full-time translator 1992–

Various odd jobs: nurse auxiliary at the Rinnekoti Foundation, movie poster tape remover at the Finnish Film Archive, internal post messenger and packager at Stockmann department store and logistics worker at Polar Express, which later became Scansped.

Occasional translation teacher in various courses organized by the University of Helsinki and in master’s classes of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters.

Translations:
Georges Perec: Tiloja/Avaruuksia (1992), orig. Espéces d'espaces, ‘Species of Spaces and Other Pieces’
Claude Lévi-Strauss: Tropiikin kasvot (1997), orig. Tristes Tropiques
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Tutkielma ihmisten välisestä eriarvoisuudesta (2000), orig. Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes, ‘Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men’
Georges Perec: Elämä käyttöohje (2006), orig. La Vie mode d'emploi, ‘Life a User’s Manual’
François Rabelais: Pantagruelin kolmas kirja (2009), orig. Le tiers livre, ‘The Third Book’
Philippe Claudel: Varjojen raportti (2009), orig. Le rapport de Brodeck, ‘Brodeck’s Report’
Andreï Makine: Tuntemattoman miehen elämä (2010), orig. La Vie d'un homme inconnu, ‘The Life of an Unknown Man’
François Rabelais: Pantagruelin neljäs kirja (2014), orig. Le quart livre du Pantagruel, ‘The Fourth Book of Pantagruel’.

Awards
Tähtivaeltaja Award of the Helsinki Science Fiction Society 1993, 1994 and 2002
Nuori Voima Recognition Prize 1998
Maurice de Coppet Fund Prize 2007
WSOY Literature Foundation Prize 2008
France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Chevalier medal 2009
Mikael Agricola Prize for Best Translation of the Year 2010

Photo: Mika Federley
Written by Ville Keynäs and Tero Juutilainen (ed.)
Translated by Joe McVeigh

My best memory from the University of Helsinki

I have studied during three decades. I never knew what I was going to become.

After upper secondary school, I applied to the Faculty of Social Sciences at Helsinki University to study Journalism (later, the name was changed to Communication). That didn’t feel meaningful, so after my military service I started studying Comparative Literature as a minor, and after a couple of years I took the entrance exam to become a literature major. Even then I didn’t know what I was going to become. That didn’t seem like an essential question. During that time, Comparative Literature had two specializations (I don’t know if they still have them): one for future school teachers, the other for researchers. I ended up taking the researcher path, chiefly because you could read Rabelais for one of its exams. Somehow I found it to be an amusing and noble reason. Later, it turned out to be a good one.

I never really felt at home among literature students, enjoying the company of architecture students a lot more. Later I have got to know some of my fellow literature students a bit better.

Towards the end of my studies, I became interested in religions, and if I had continued my studies, I would have transferred to the Department of the Study of Religions. I wanted to study Satan.

Even when I graduated I didn’t know what I was going to become.

My best memory from the University of Helsinki might therefore be that I never had to. I could study during three decades, change my major one and a half times and do courses that were of no direct ‘use’ but which later turned out to be very useful. As the world is becoming more and more fragmented and work is increasingly short-term, shouldn’t studying be as wide-ranging as possible and not restricted to one career, since no such careers exist anymore?

By Written by Ville Keynäs. Edited by Tero Juutilainen. Translated by Olli Silvennoinen. Revised by Joe McVeigh.

Ville Keynäs

Born March 6, 1960, Helsinki

Bachelor of Arts (Comparative Literature) 1992, University of Helsinki

Full-time translator 1992–

Occasional translation teacher in various courses organized by the University of Helsinki and in master’s classes of the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters.