Eternal Disputes About Kalevala. Review of the Book by M. Nieminen “My Kalevala. What? Why? Where from? When? Whose? Discussions About an Epic”

Abstract

The article reviews the book “My Kalevala. What? Why? Where from? When? Whose? Discussions About an Epic” by the Finnish writer, researcher, and public figure Markku Nieminen published in Finland in Finnish in 2023. The book is dedicated to the history of the controversy surrounding the poem “Kalevala” created by Elias Lönnrot. Various interpretations of Kalevala — as a national Finnish epic, a Karelian-Finnish folk epic, and an author’s poem — give rise to endless discussions and determine the relevance of the work under review, which also makes its contribution to the modern debate. The article presents a brief description of the work, identifying pairs of the main participants in the discussion over an almost 200-year period: E. Lönnrot — K.A. Gottlund, A. Ahlquist — J. Krohn, T. Rein — J. Aho, K. Krohn — V. Salminen and I. K. Inha, K. Kron — E.N. Setälä, M. Kuusi — V. Kaukonen, A. Tuomi — A. Mishin, M. Nieminen — T. Kondie. Particular attention is paid to the disputes between Russian participants and M. Nieminen’s response to the controversy in Finland at an online seminar in 2022. M. Nieminen consistently reveals the essence of the Kalevala discussions in which researchers, journalists, and public figures occurred in Finland and Russian Karelia. A structured presentation of such extensive material (dozens and hundreds of publications have been analyzed), in which the author’s broad outlook is felt at every step, certainly deserves the attention of readers.

Keywords

• kalevala
• lönnrot
• karelian runes
• folk epic
• original poem
• controversy
• discussion
• finland
• karelia