Paper short abstract:

I am studying literature with intertextual connections to Kalevala, Finnish national epic. My topic is especially quite new literature, beginning from 1990’s. In my paper, I will present some books with different kind of connections to Kalevala.

Paper long abstract:

The Finnish national epic, Kalevala, was compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore verses. The first Kalevala was published in 1835, but Lönnrot expanded it made some changes. The new Kalevala was published in 1849; this is what we know as the Kalevala today.

Since publishing Kalevala has been a source of inspiration for artists, composers, and authors. Today there is even comics and rock lyric inspired by Kalevala. Today there are many versions of

Kalevala; the text has been rewritten in modern Finnish (both in verse and prose form) and in many Finnish dialects.

I am studying literature with intertextual connections to Kalevala. My topic is especially quite new literature, beginning from 1990's.

I will present examples of books with different connections to Kalevala. Johanna Sinisalo's Sankarit ("The Heroes") is Kalevala retold in modern times, and shaman Väinämöinen is a rock star named Rex. Jari Tammi's Kalevan solki ("The Brooh of Kaleva") tells the Kalevala-story "how it really happened". What happened to Lemminkäinen after Kalevala has ended; that is told in Juha Ruusuvuori's Lemminkäisen laulu ("The Song of Lemminkäinen"). Kalevala is real history in Timo Parvela's trilogy Sammon vartijat ("The guards of the Sampo") and Seija Vilen's Pohjan akka ("The Old Woman of Pohjola"). Mikko Karppi's Väinämöisen vyö ("The Belt of Väinämöinen") and Harri Hietikko's Roger Repo ja tuonen väki ("RR and the people from Death") are both detective stories. Of course there are a lot of books having smaller connections to the Kalevala.