[en] The article analyzes the construction of space and the relations betweenidentity and space in some novels by two Finnish writers representing religiousand ethnic minorities. Daniel Katz (born in 1938) is considered asthe first Jewish author writing in Finnish. He was rapidly spotted out as awriter with an original voice and an atypical perception of the world. VeijoBaltzar (born in 1942) is the first Finnish gypsy writer who managed toget published by a leading publishing house and to gain a large public outsideof his own ethnic group. Drawing on Marc Augé’s theory of nonplaces,the article examines how Jewish and Gypsy identities in Katz’s andBaltzar’s works are questioned in relation to the major geopolitical transformationsof the 20th century and the modernization of Finnish society inthe 1950s and 60s, showing how sub-and transnational networks connectindividuals with traditional communities engaged in a difficult process ofredefinition and adaptation. The analysis contextualizes the novels withinthe tradition of Finnish literature and includes an overview of the constructionof Finnish culture in the 19th century and the codifications ofspace and nation it produced.