Lintrup, Morten Johan

It is discussed how, since its first publication in 1835, The Kalevala has consistently benefited from twists and turns of history to be propelled – justly – from an obscure origin to a prominent position within world literature.It is charted song by song how the contemporary Danish translation of The Kalevala is abridged by 4373 verses, 19% of the total. It is shown how the adaptation disproportionately affects the representation of gender relations to leave a more patriarchal and gender skewed impression than the full text.It is discussed how key feminist and intersectionalist readings of The Kalevala suffer from a lack of historicism. Consequently, they fail to grasp the temporal context of The Kalevala and misunderstand key elements of Elias Lönnrots literary composition. Indeed, some translators and researchers appear to pay only nominal service to Lönnrots role as author of The Kalevala, while primarily treating him as compiler of variants of oral tradition. Really, The Kalevala must be seen as a set piece of 19th century textual sampling by a literary artist, Elias Lönnrot, and it should be treated and respected as such.It is discussed how, since its first publication in 1835, The Kalevala has consistently benefited from twists and turns of history to be propelled – justly – from an obscure origin to a prominent position within world literature.It is charted song by song how the contemporary Danish translation of The Kalevala is abridged by 4373 verses, 19% of the total. It is shown how the adaptation disproportionately affects the representation of gender relations to leave a more patriarchal and gender skewed impression than the full text.It is discussed how key feminist and intersectionalist readings of The Kalevala suffer from a lack of historicism. Consequently, they fail to grasp the temporal context of The Kalevala and misunderstand key elements of Elias Lönnrots literary composition. Indeed, some translators and researchers appear to pay only nominal service to Lönnrots role as author of The Kalevala, while primarily treating him as compiler of variants of oral tradition. Really, The Kalevala must be seen as a set piece of 19th century textual sampling by a literary artist, Elias Lönnrot, and it should be treated and respected as such.<br/

The Kalevala And Its Gender Roles: NA

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Roskilde Universitet