The need to express yourself in words will never go away

– Joel, if I am not mistaken, this conversation is the first to appear in Lithuanian. How would you present yourself to the Lithuanian audience?

– 1994 In the summer I went to Prague and wrote my first short story there. Since then, I have published sixteen novels where I create a mysterious and poetic world, I will continue to look for the truth and explore the complexity of life. I also work as a psychiatrist and a deacon of the Finnish Orthodox Church. Last year, the President of the country ranked my work by the Pro Finlandia medal, the most important award of Finnish Literature.

– You once said that if you weren’t an introvert, you wouldn’t be a writer.

– Being a writer is a way to be. I have been writing for 30 years, sometimes I feel almost obsessed. It is difficult for me to distinguish writing from life – the symbiosis I live every day. Without writing, I felt disturbed. Writing gives me a reference point where I can reflect on everything. It is a curse, but also a blessing, infinite freedom – I can travel for centuries and jump boundaries that would be an obstacle in real life. I am a very curious person and I would describe my books as a search for endless longing.

– Similarly, one of the Finnish critic – as a spiritual journey to the depths of the human mind – described your creation. I would like to touch your other profession a little – psychiatry. How much psychiatrist’s work affects you as a writer?

– Basically, the work of a psychiatrist and a writer is related to the same things. Of course, while working as a psychiatrist, I focus on another person and write on my own mind. All of this has to do with the narrative we create in our lives and the systems of beliefs based on our connection with the emotions that influence our actions every day. Sometimes these actions become a tragedy and sometimes comedy.

– What is revealed when you meet your clients?

– Our existence is not seamless, it is always a dynamic relationship with other people, ourselves and the world. Often the source of suffering becomes a distorted connection in any of these relationships, and they act each other. Being too pleasant or adaptive, people often lose themselves. The ability to find the balance of all these three components wisely facilitates life. Another observation is that recognition is the most important key in every relationship. We want to be noticed and recognized by parents, friends, coworkers, leaders, critics, and without receiving it « we lose the meaning of our existence ». I encounter this every day when dealing with my patients. The third lesson would be – we have to be able to accept suffering while living, but admission at least partially reduces its destructive effect.

– Although we live in different countries, we are not so far apart – neither geographically nor cultural. Therefore, I would dare to assume that the problems and worries that people face are quite similar, co -human. What answers do people most often look for in your office?

– If I look superficially, it is an burnout, depression, anxiety caused by the oriented society, and of course the challenges of traumatic life events. However, when it comes to deeper level, a huge problem is the exaggerated individualism that causes modern loneliness and separation. We are full of ourselves, our ambitions, pleasures, affairs, our work. When we are full, there is no room for anyone else – we begin to lose contact with other people, nature and God. The word « separation » would be very suitable here. This causes the meaning of life to be lost. Rarely can succeed all the time out of himself to pull the meaning.

– Do you think people are looking for the same answers in books?

– Art is generally blessed with a way to reconcile with life, sadness, bereavement and all other major issues. In this dynamic and information congested world, art can be something stable, almost eternal if we are talking about the paintings of the great masters. But yes, people read books to find peace, relief, some consolation in eternal contradictions of our lives.

Joel Haahela. Photo by M. Tynkkynen

– What is Finnish literature at the moment? What topics are popular with local creators?

– Very popular autoofition. This trend, of course, reflects a world where personal and unique experience is the highest value. In this context, I would use the term « trauma -oriented » or even « worshiping trauma ». As far as excessive individuality is concerned, the trauma has become almost a spiritual experience occupied by the place of God, the central identity point. Finnish literature also has its own trauma specialization, also known as the war, which is still described every year in many novels.

– We live in DI times when we can get any information at a few buttons, generate a picture, see breakfast of a person in several thousand kilometers or contact anyone in the world. How do you see this period? What do you think is its effect on a person?

– I’m not involved in social media, I’m old -fashioned, it’s not for me. The problem is the constant flow of information and the excess stimuli and the number of signals that destroy our inner time perception (experience). We lose concentration and worse, we lose the ability to think. The process of exteriorization of our ability to think, which means that we become mild victims of any algorithms or random impulses.

– It is increasingly said that DI will gradually change the nature of certain work, or perhaps in terms of certain professions – even the people themselves. Already, anyone can use the tools to create text. How do you think this will affect the writer’s work?

– I would think that the main tool of the writers – the ability to communicate freely and use it creatively – is still in our hands. However, as I mentioned earlier, writing itself is much more than just a text, which, of course, can do well. Writing can be a lifestyle, and we writers, being living human beings, still have the opportunity to maintain a unique connection with other people what DI cannot do.

– What is your own relationship with technology? How much do you let them into your professional and everyday life?

– Social media is not my horse. My main source of information is still a huge encyclopedia that I inherited from my grandmother. The last part of her series was written back in 1939. It says everything (smiles);

– How do you work in writing?

– I’m an early bird, I wake up at 5.30 p.m. That time is a beautiful intermediate space when the day has not yet started. For me as a writer, inspiration is very important. I can give a secret: 30 years ago I wrote my first novel and felt a great joy of writing. If I still have such joy when writing today, I know that history is right.

– What do you do when you get stuck?

– I retreat a little or read a few poems. Poetry very often gives me a spark that encourages to continue. It can be a word, a sentence or a thought that becomes a bigger idea. Poetry has its own space and I really like it.

– What reader are you? What topics are important to you? What books do you like?

– I am very curious, I am excited by many things that are very deep in. I often find that when a new story starts to emerge, I already have the basic information in my mind. For the last few years, I have read a lot of religious literature, especially the writings and stories of the monks’ life. I also have my favorite writers and works of all time – Tom’s my « vicious mountain », James Salter, Orhan Pamuk, Hilary Manel, P. Modian, Fedor Dostoevsky, Finnish writer Raija aimkinen … Style to me is what creates prose.

– The last but very important question for every writer: do you think writers will need in the future?

– Sometimes I feel that I am lucky to live in the final year of printed books. I think the need to express yourself in words will always survive, it will not go away. The need for writers and the need to write are a bit different things. Whether this expression will take place in the future or in any other form, I cannot say.