{"id":1369,"date":"2010-01-04T03:53:59","date_gmt":"2010-01-04T08:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1369"},"modified":"2018-08-06T22:26:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T02:26:00","slug":"18426-3-elias-lonnrot-the-kalevala-epic-of-the-finnish-people-18427-2-f-r-kreutzwald-kalevipoeg-an-ancient-estonian-tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1369","title":{"rendered":"18426. [3] (Elias L\u00f6nnrot) The Kalevala: Epic of the Finnish People; 18427. [2] (F. R. Kreutzwald) Kalevipoeg: An Ancient Estonian Tale"},"content":{"rendered":"

As my Decem\u00adber read\u00ading has con\u00adcen\u00adtrat\u00aded on the relat\u00aded sub\u00adjects of shaman\u00adism, Finno-Ugric lin\u00adguis\u00adtics and folk\u00adlore, it\u2019s appro\u00adpri\u00adate for me to start off the year by re-read\u00ading the Kale\u00advala<\/em> and the Kale\u00advipoeg<\/em>. The Finnish Kale\u00advala<\/em> has been a con\u00adstant, haunt\u00ading pres\u00adence with me for most of my life, but the less well known Eston\u00adian Kale\u00advipoeg<\/em> is some\u00adthing I\u2019ve got\u00adten into more recent\u00adly.  Finnish and Eston\u00adian are close\u00adly relat\u00aded lan\u00adguages, about as close as Span\u00adish and Por\u00adtuguese are to each oth\u00ader. Though Fin\u00adland and Esto\u00adnia are Euro\u00adpean coun\u00adtries, their lan\u00adguages are not Indo-Euro\u00adpean, but belong to the Finno-Ugric fam\u00adi\u00adly. The metre of the epics is suit\u00aded to the agglu\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtive gram\u00admar and the dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive stress pat\u00adterns of these lan\u00adguages, and is rather dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to dupli\u00adcate in Eng\u00adlish with\u00adout sound\u00ading a bit absurd. <\/span>You have to hear Finnish and Eston\u00adian spo\u00adken or sung to get the spir\u00adit of it, and I recomend doing that before read\u00ading the works. Both epics were com\u00adpiled in the 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry by stitch\u00ading togeth\u00ader folk epics sung by tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal bards. These folk epics draw on a vast reser\u00advoir of song and myth com\u00admon to the Finno-Ugric peo\u00adples, which in turn forms part of a great cir\u00adcum-polar cul\u00adtur\u00adal con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adum that runs from the forests of north\u00adern Europe, across through Siberia, and con\u00adtin\u00adues all the way to Cana\u00adda. The Cree of Canada\u2019s North find the Kale\u00advala<\/em> myths con\u00adge\u00adnial, and a Cree drum\u00adming to ancient songs near the sweat hut has no dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty pic\u00adtur\u00ading a Finn singing by the sauna.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the his\u00adtoric and lin\u00adguis\u00adtic prox\u00adim\u00adi\u00adty, the two epics have dif\u00adfer\u00adent atmos\u00adpheres. The Kale\u00advala<\/em> has been just\u00adly described as a \u201cshaman\u00adic epic.\u201d The cen\u00adtral char\u00adac\u00adters occa\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly take out a sword and do some thwack\u00ading, like their Norse neigh\u00adbours, but most of the time they are pre\u00adoc\u00adcu\u00adpied with singing spells, going on mag\u00adi\u00adcal jour\u00adneys, and best\u00ading each oth\u00ader\u2019s mag\u00adic. It is dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to tell whether some char\u00adac\u00adters are gods or mere\u00adly human heroes. There are ele\u00adments in the myth sys\u00adtem that belong to an agri\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal world, but the dom\u00adi\u00adnant atmos\u00adphere is of hunters and fish\u00aders mov\u00ading freely in wild for\u00adest and lakes. The Kale\u00advipoeg<\/em> is ground\u00aded much more firm\u00adly in an agri\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal soci\u00adety, and there is no ques\u00adtion but that the main char\u00adac\u00adter is a human cul\u00adture hero, who com\u00adbats sor\u00adcer\u00aders and mon\u00adsters, as well as for\u00adeign aggres\u00adsion, on behalf of his people.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Kale\u00advala<\/em> has enjoyed inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal renown, the Kale\u00advipoeg<\/em> is pret\u00adty much known only to Esto\u00adni\u00adans. An Amer\u00adi\u00adcan fan\u00adta\u00adsy writer, Lou Gob\u00adle, adapt\u00aded the work into a prose fan\u00adta\u00adsy in 1982 (The Kale\u00adv\u00adide<\/em>, Ban\u00adtam Books; item 18349 in Decem\u00adber). I thought Gob\u00adle\u2019s nov\u00adel was well-writ\u00adten, and quite enter\u00adtain\u00ading. But I don\u2019t think it had much impact on Eng\u00adlish-lan\u00adguage fan\u00adta\u00adsy read\u00aders, who are com\u00adfort\u00adable with the famil\u00adiar tropes of Arthuri\u00adan, Celtic and Norse mythol\u00ado\u00adgy, and show lit\u00adtle inter\u00adest in ven\u00adtur\u00ading fur\u00adther afield. It might have helped if Arvo P\u00e4rt, Esto\u00adni\u00ada\u2019s inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly known com\u00adpos\u00ader, had cho\u00adsen to make choral works based on the epic, as Sibelius did with the Kale\u00advala<\/em>, but he seems not to have been inter\u00adest\u00aded in it. The Kale\u00advala<\/em> has also ben\u00ade\u00adfit\u00aded from the extra\u00ador\u00addi\u00adnary paint\u00adings of Axeli Gal\u00adl\u00e9n-Kallela, which are often used to illus\u00adtrate pres\u00adtige edi\u00adtions of the epic.<\/span><\/p>\n

18426. [3] (Elias L\u00f6n\u00adnrot) The Kale\u00advala: Epic of the Finnish Peo\u00adple . [trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Eino Friberg ;
. edit\u00ading and intro\u00adduc\u00adtion by George C. Schoolfield; illus\u00adtrat\u00aded by Bj\u00f6rn Landstr\u00f6m]
. [read pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly in Kir\u00adby (1) and Bosley (2) translations]
18427. [2] (F. R. Kreutzwald) Kale\u00advipoeg: An Ancient Eston\u00adian Tale . com\u00adpiled by Fr.R. Kreutzwald ;
. trans\u00adla\u00adtion with notes and after\u00adword by J\u00fcri Kurman<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As my Decem\u00adber read\u00ading has con\u00adcen\u00adtrat\u00aded on the relat\u00aded sub\u00adjects of shaman\u00adism, Finno-Ugric lin\u00adguis\u00adtics and folk\u00adlore, it\u2019s appro\u00adpri\u00adate for me to start off the year by re-read\u00ad\u00ading the Kale\u00advala and the Kale\u00advipoeg. The Finnish Kale\u00advala has been a con\u00adstant, haunt\u00ading presence \u2026<\/p>\n

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