Fiction, Moral Reform, and Religion–Finnish Feminists at the Turn of the Century

Abstract

This article examines how the Finnish women’s rights movement perceived the relationship between fiction and religion from the late 1880s until the First World War. For this purpose, the women’s press provides a good vantage point. The analysis shows that it was mainstream to award an ideological and pedagogical function to literature – literature was not purely perceived as art. Literature and authors had a duty to contribute to societal development and transformation. Good literature had to serve women’s rights and society’s progress. They were seen as dependent on high moral standards. Fiction had to defend women’s interests – that is, absolute sexual morality – and women writers were expected to put themselves in the service of ideologically correct literature. Christianity, properly understood, was interpreted as a support to progress at all levels of society. Essential in assessing the morality of fiction was to pay attention to how things were described. “Dirty” things could be represented as long as it was done in the right spirit. Women were not alone in the service of progress. The contributions from male authorities with the same message were highly appreciated, and their publications used as a strategy. It was perceived as a joint effort to envision and gradually, realize a woman-friendly future.