ABSTRACT
The first novel to recognize the Finland-Swedish community as a minority was Karl August Tavaststjerna's Barndomsvanner (1892; Childhood Friends), about a singer who ends up as the inglorious inspector of an isolated railroad station. Tavaststjerna's Harda tider (1891; Hard Times) contrasts the self-sacrifice of some members of the Finland-Swedish upper class with the unthinking selfishness of others. Lille Karl (1897; Little Karl) recounts the author's own childhood as the son of an estate owner and retired general.
