That's in part because it's something of a willful ''reconstruction." Unlike the poetic or prose Edda, say, or the Nibelungenlied or Völsung saga, it was an invented national epic, composed at a time when the popularity of "national literatures" was at its zenith. Of course, it wasn't simply produced out of whole cloth, like the songs …
That's in part because it's something of a willful ''reconstruction." Unlike the poetic or prose Edda, say, or the Nibelungenlied or Völsung saga, it was an invented national epic, composed at a time when the popularity of "national literatures" was at its zenith. Of course, it wasn't simply produced out of whole cloth, like the songs of Ossian. Lönnrot gathered together a great many very old ballads and legends and wove them together into a continuous text. Thus his Lemminkäinen, for instance, is actually a composite of various heroes from Finnish folklore. Still, it's wonderful stuff. I will always recommend cranking up the Sibelius and spending an afternoon in a lawn-chair with the Kalevala. But just remember that it's as much fabrication as scholarship.
thank you David, that's a great point about the Kalevala being a 19th century reconstruction compared to the Edda's and other ancient or medieval national epics... although about the Prose Edda? do we know how much of it is authentic and how much of it was Snorri's creation. Obviously you get the Christian elements from Snorri in the sense from the prologue where he talks about the Aesir gods being from Troy and Thor being the son of King Memnon of Ethiopia. and also the story of Ask and Embla etc.
Well, Snorri’s Edda is a textbook that happens to be a digest of myth. Most scholars would regard it as a faithful record, Christianized in good Mediaeval fashion. The Kalevala really is a synthetic recasting of the myths. Still, you’re right.
That's in part because it's something of a willful ''reconstruction." Unlike the poetic or prose Edda, say, or the Nibelungenlied or Völsung saga, it was an invented national epic, composed at a time when the popularity of "national literatures" was at its zenith. Of course, it wasn't simply produced out of whole cloth, like the songs of Ossian. Lönnrot gathered together a great many very old ballads and legends and wove them together into a continuous text. Thus his Lemminkäinen, for instance, is actually a composite of various heroes from Finnish folklore. Still, it's wonderful stuff. I will always recommend cranking up the Sibelius and spending an afternoon in a lawn-chair with the Kalevala. But just remember that it's as much fabrication as scholarship.
thank you David, that's a great point about the Kalevala being a 19th century reconstruction compared to the Edda's and other ancient or medieval national epics... although about the Prose Edda? do we know how much of it is authentic and how much of it was Snorri's creation. Obviously you get the Christian elements from Snorri in the sense from the prologue where he talks about the Aesir gods being from Troy and Thor being the son of King Memnon of Ethiopia. and also the story of Ask and Embla etc.
Well, Snorri’s Edda is a textbook that happens to be a digest of myth. Most scholars would regard it as a faithful record, Christianized in good Mediaeval fashion. The Kalevala really is a synthetic recasting of the myths. Still, you’re right.