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JOHANNA DOMOKOS
1he present study will analyse the relationship between endurance running
and mysticism by examining the topic of endurance running in contemporary
literary works from Finland. It thus focuses on creative writing as a method
for describing situations of initiation into sacred mysteries. In order to get
closer to this tripartite setup of sports, literature, and mysticism, it will look
to some of the works by the contemporary Finnish author and philosopher Jari
Ehrnrooth, whose approach—according to some of his Spanish critics, as well
as information from the author himself—can be best described as realismo
mistico / mystic realism. Here “realism” refers to the style and the attitude
of writing, while “mystic” refers to its topic; thus the style can be defined,
in the words of Ehrnrooth himself, as “taking the mystical experiences as
part of a person’s inner reality and in writing describing it in a realistic way”
(cited from an e-mail of 13 November 2015). This analysis concentrates
especially on his 2013 poetic, essayistic work Juoksu (The Run), along with
the reworked Finnish essay Palvelijan loikka (English version by the author
entitled The Servant Stride), since both works are included in a forthcoming
Hungarian translation at Pluralica Publishing house." This hybrid work, which
comprises an autobiographical narrative, poems, and an essay, explores the
intimate relationship between the mind and body of a committed runner, thus
uniting the sensual drama of physical life with the innermost sensibilities of
the yearning soul. The appended essay excellently distils the book’s main ideas,
offering an even more intense reading experience. The work has garnered
Ehrnrooth considerable recognition in his home country of Finland, where it
was nominated for the Sport Book Award of the year in 2012. The appended
essay Kaipaava askel | The Yearning Stride, meanwhile, was first published
as part of a 2013 bilingual (Finnish and English) exhibition catalogue on the
Finnish director Mika Taanila.’* Jari Ehrnrooth wrote this essay in connection
with Taanila’s film Six Day Run on Pekka Aalto, the Finnish endurance runner
and devotee of Sri Chinmoy. The running philosophy of Sri Chinmoy is also
worth considering in a more detailed analysis regarding the spiritual practice
of endurance running. For the Hungarian publication, however, Ehrnrooth
decided to rework the piece under the title The Yearning Stride (in Finnish:
Kaipaava askel), omitting the immediate references to Aalto and Taanila’s
film. Ultimately, the essay will be translated into Hungarian from the edited
or, more precisely, adapted version that Ehrnrooth entitled Palvelijan loikka
in Finnish and The Servant Stride in English.
1 Jari, Ehrnrooth, Juoksu, Helsinki, Lurra Editions, 2012a. Jari Ehrnrooth, A futas, trans.
Istvan Kozmacs, Budapest, Pluralica (upcoming).
Jari Ehrnrooh, Kaipaava askel / The Yearning Stride, in: Leevi Haapala, Kati T. Kivinen,
Mika Taanila (ed.), Time Machines. A Museum of Contemporary Art Publication 140/2013,
77-88.
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