Tuesday, September 2, 2008

#73 The Ancient A.F. Rützy

A.F. Rützy (pen name) was born Ari Rytsy in Joensuu, North Karelia, which is considered to be the treasure chest of Finnish folklore, especially ghost stories about dead Russian soldiers wandering the old battlefields. Later, A. added a second name (Feodor) to honor his paternal grandfather, who he never met. He stole the last name from his uncle (RIP) who immigrated to the U.S. The only part of his name that is his own is Ari, which is Hebrew for lion, Armenian for brave, Hindi for sin, and Japanese for ant. The first year of his life, A. lived in a old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere with his mother. His father visited on the weekends until the whole family moved to Helsinki. As a kid, A. had episodes of sleepwalking and weird premonitions. Once when A. was five or six years old, he was riding his bike and suddenly had this strange need to fall down, which he did off to the side of the road, which saved his life from a large truck that came blasting down the road. Years later, A. broke his nose during a sparring session, which made him realize that physical pain can't compete with inner demons. Along the way, A. worked jobs from sales to quality management to bodyguarding (once for a Saudi Arabian prince). He now works as a freelance writer (see: End Credits), which is almost the same thing as being a bodyguard—doing something for somebody else because they can’t do it for themselves. Meeting his girlfriend Galina and becoming a father has forced A. to admit that there are beautiful things in this world. He works hard to support his family. He’s currently working on what may be the perfect novel—not a bestseller, but a novel that will help people to handle the perpetual craziness that surrounds us. He’s currently 36 years old, but he feels much older. When he’s drunk, he feels ancient.


More A.F. Rützy

No comments: