The Howling Miller

The Howling Miller

First edition (Finnish)
Author	Arto Paasilinna
Original title	Ulvova mylläri
Translator	Will Hobson from the French of Anne Colin du Terrail
Country	Finland
Language	Finnish
Publisher	WSOY
Publication date	1981
Published in English	2007
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	236

The Howling Miller (Finnish: Ulvova mylläri) is a 1981 novel by the Finnish author Arto Paasilinna.

The protagonist of the story, which is set in Finnish Lapland around 1950, is a man by the name of Gunnar Huttunen, who settles in a small village to mend and run a derelict mill. Huttunen is an enterprising and resourceful man, a hard worker, proudly independent but generally good-natured. However, his peculiar personality, particularly his habit of howling to vent his emotions, turns the intolerant villagers and authorities against him, and he is eventually committed into a mental hospital. After escaping, Huttunen lives as a fugitive in the wilderness, aided by his few friends: his lover Sanelma, the local police constable Portimo, and the postman and moonshiner Piittisjärvi. After a final confrontation with the law, Huttunen disappears, never to be heard from again.

The book has been translated into several languages. It has twice been adapted into a feature film: a Finnish one called Ulvova mylläri (1982) and a French one, Cornélius, le meunier hurlant (2017).

References

• Arto Paasilinna, Will Hobson (tr.). The Howling Miller. ISBN 1-84767-181-0 (2007, 1st ed.)

External links

Reviews

• The Howling Miller at The New York Times Book Review
• The Howling Miller at The Guardian
• The Howling Miller at The Los Angeles Times
• The Howling Miller at The Skinny
• The Howling Miller at The Complete Review
• The Howling Miller at University of Rochester
• The Howling Miller at Goodreads (public comments)

Movies

• The Internet Movie Database about the movie version of The Howling Miller
• Finnish Movie Center's article about the movie Ulvova Mylläri