Joel Lehtonen (27 November 1881 – 20 November 1934) was a Finnish author, translator, critic and journalist. He was born in Sääminki (now part of Savonlinna). His childhood was fatherless and poverty-stricken, his mother suffered from mental frailties and Joel himself was forced into paupery. Joel's foster mother supported his schooling and Lehtonen was able to study literature for a few years in the University of Helsinki, but dropped out without completing a degree. As an author, he began as a neoromanticist, but after the Finnish Civil War his outlook transformed into deep pessimism and disenchanted scepticism. Having suffered for years from various ailments, he committed suicide by hanging himself with a rope, that had been used to wrap up a parcel of books, in November 1934. Bibliography Paholaisen viulu (1904) Perm (1904) Mataleena (1905) Villi (1905) Tarulinna : Suomen kansan satuja Suomen lapsille (1906) Myrtti ja alppiruusu (1911) Rakkaita muistoja (1911) Punainen mylly (1913) Kerran kesällä (1917) Kuolleet omenapuut (1918) Putkinotkon metsäläiset (1919) Putkinotkon herrastelijat (1920) Rakastunut rampa eli Sakris Kukkelman, köyhä polseviikki Sorron lapset (1923) Punainen mies (1925) Lintukoto (1929) Hyvästijättö lintukodolle, (1934) References External links 1881 births 1934 suicides People from Savonlinna People from Mikkeli Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Writers from South Savo Finnish male short story writers Finnish short story writers Finnish translators Finnish critics 20th-century Finnish novelists 20th-century translators Suicides by hanging in Finland 20th-century short story writers 20th-century male writers 20th-century Finnish journalists 1934 deaths