The Kalevala is the great Finnish epic, which like the Iliad and the
Odyssey, grew out of a rich oral tradition with prehistoric roots.
During the first millennium of our era, speakers of Uralic languages
(those outside the Indo-European group) who had settled in the Baltic
region of Karelia, that straddles the border of eastern Finland and
north-west Russia, developed an oral poetry that was to last into the
nineteenth century. This poetry provided the basis of the Kalevala. It
was assembled in the 1840s by the Finnish scholar Elias Lönnrot, who
took `dictation' from the performance of a folk singer, in much the
same way as our great collections from the past, from Homeric poems to
medieval songs and epics, have probably been set down. Published in
1849, it played a central role in the march towards Finnish independence
and inspired some of Sibelius's greatest works. This new and exciting
translation by poet Keith Bosley, prize-winning translator of the
anthology Finnish Folk
Poetry: Epic, is the first truly to combine liveliness with accuracy in
a way which reflects the richness of the original.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has
made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the
globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to
scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other
valuable features, including expert introductions by leading
authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date
bibliographies for further study, and much more.
