Customer Reviews

Kalevala Mythology (Folklore Studies in Translation)

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It's been 11 years since I read this book, so forgive me if I'm vague; someone's gotta write these reviews, though.

Kalevala Mythology is a multifaceted work that looks both at Elias Lonnrot's compilation of mainly Karelian folk songs and stories, both in its final form and in the Old Kalevala, and at the shamanic tradition from which the stories first sprang forth.

The chapters on the compilation and revision of the published Kalevala serve as a brief overview of Lonnrot's biography and reveal the political motives that helped drive the 19th Century interest in Finnish ethnography. Consideration is given to the singers who were Lonnrot's sources and of how the work evolved from Lonnrot's notes to the Old Kalevala to the final form of the epic. This leads to an analysis of the songs, looking at the three main characters and what they can be thought to represent along with inclusions such as the Kullervo story and Runo 50 concerning Marjatta and her son. This analysis then leads to an examination of the tribal Finnish culture that still existed after the introduction of Christianity to Finland, using parallels between Finnish and Sami and other Finnic cultures' shamanic traditions to add depth to the picture.

All told this would be a boring book to most people. Chances are that if you've actually read Kalevala, though, you already have a vested interest in the origins of Finnish culture. I found that the book did much to help me understand Kalevala as a mirror of my ancestors' tradition, as a catalyst to the formation of the modern state of Finland, and as a source of the identity to Finns throughout the world today.

This book is an inspiration, not only in its dealing with mythical themes in the Kalevala, but also with the life and experiences of Elias Lonrrot, its creator. Pentikainen draws important parallels between Lonnrot's life: his bored existence in remote Kajaani, his relative old age at the time of his marriage, the death of his nephew and a girl from drowning on the way to church. Anyone who knows the Kalevala will see how they might impact on his recording of Finnish folktales in the 19th century. The result is a book that gives one renewed respect, not only for the achievement of the Kalevala itself, but also for its personal elements, that help emphasise how Lonnrot was both a precursor and an inspiration to Tolkien.

I do have one nitpick, which I have not allowed to detract from my rating, since I may be missing something. Ritva Poom's otherwise excellent translation consistently translates "poem" (in Finnish, "runo") as "rune" throughout. This seems like such a strange affectation that I can't help but wonder if it is not an outright error. But this is only a minor issue with a very informative book.