Kalevala Mythology, Revised Edition - Paperback

by Juha Y. Pentikainen (Author), Ritva Maarit Poom (Translator)

"Pentikäinen's exceptional interdisciplinary study will richly reward those interested in the dynamics of artistic creation and cultural construction, ethnic emergence and political nationalism, and shamanistic belief systems." --American Anthropologist

" . . . a splendid contribution to the literature on folk epics . . . " --The Scandinavian-American Bulletin

The Kalevala, created during the 1830s and 1840s, is based on authentic folklore collected and compiled by Elias Lonnrot. It was the Kalevala that initiated the process leading to the foundation of Finnish identity during the nineteenth century and was, therefore, one of the crucial factors in the formation of Finland as a new nation in the twentieth century.

Author Biography

Juha Y. Pentikainen, Professor of Comparative Religion at Helsinki University and Docent in Folkloristics and Comparative Religion at the University of Turku, has published numerous articles and more than ten books, including Cultural Minorities in Finland, and the Chicago Folklore Prize-winner Oral Repertoire and World View.

Ritva Poom writes about Finnish and Estonian culture. Her translations of Finnish and Estonian literature and ethnography have appeared in Literary Review, Scandinavian Review, Drama Review, and Ethnologia Fennica. Her translation Fog Horses received an award from the Columbia University Translation Center.