#lonnrot

[pohjalainen]

We can't have a constructive discussion on the Kalevala and its relationship with cultural appropriation without first seeing it for what it truly is - a multicultural hybrid that pulls from many sources.

And claiming otherwise is proof of how little people know about this topic, the contents found within the book, the origin and history of the project, and the cultures and tradition the book borrows from.

There are misconceptions (and a bad game of telephone) at play when it comes to this topic: first one being that Kalevala "belongs" to finns, and the second one being that it "belongs" to karelians. Neither of these ideas are correct nor are they based in reality. This false narrative is solely driven by emotions rather than fact on both sides of this argument, and it leaves out everyone else whose tradition and beliefs are used in the mythos of this story book, including ingrians and ostrobothnians, such as myself. My home is the starting point of the entire project, including runes and concepts which were collected and documented before the birth of karelianism. Without ostrobothnia there would be no Kalevala. The start of the project is never discussed in a truthful manner and I just can't imagine why. I hope it stems from ignorance and lack of research, because honestly I've mostly seen people parrot the same exact unsourced claims without anyone fact-checking what they're actually saying. Finns have historically not been a monolith and to this day some still aren't, for example many ostrobothnians would proudly declare that they weren't finns up to the 1900s. It's also wrong to simply divide Finland into west and east, as this is a bit too simplistic and it creates a binary that doesn't exactly exists. The truth of the matter is that there isn't just one culture, ethnicity, country or peoples who can claim the Kalevala for itself. Nor many the "characters" included, such as Väinämöinen, who is a prominent figure in the runes and beliefs of multiple cultures, such as mine. He doesn't belong to anyone nor can anyone claim him, especially when you consider the fact that his role and nature differs depending on who you ask. Trying to hog a widespread concept to one peoples/culture is ignorant at best and erasure at worst. It's downright depressing to see the "Lönnrot came up with (ostrobothnian deity)" and "finns didn't think their own culture was exotic enough" lies spread around every website. Lönnrot was first familiarised with concepts and ideas Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Louhi, Pimentola/Pohjola (to name a few) from published ostrobothnian runes and lexicons, namely Mythologia Fennica. He was familiar with these concepts long before he ventured to Kainuu and Viena, he knew what he was looking for thanks to all the published works he was able to get his hands on. In fact the main reason he went eastward was because he thought he wouldn’t be able to find new material from the documented places in Ostrobothnia, and thus decided he might be able to find more material for his “longer narrative” elsewhere (1). After learning that merchants from Vuokkiniemi had recently visited Zacharias Topelius in Uusikaarlepyy/Nykarleby, he decided to head there next. Even Viena, where most runes were collected, has a unique culture due to being settled by karelians in the 1500s, and ostrobothnians in the 1600s (many of them rune singers). No doubt that pieces of the indigenous sámi (most of whom were pushed northward by the arrival of karelians) also persist in the culture of the region (possibly along with savonian and tavastian settler influence) (2). Just because these populations assimilated into karelians doesn't mean they shouldn't be mentioned when discussing the culture of Viena, and of course Kalevala. While I understand the frustration around this subject, and I do think much of it is justified, it's extremely disheartening to see just how easily attempts at conversation are shot down by both finns and karelians, and how quick people are to completely disregard and shun other cultures and peoples involved... and for what? I understand the anger, but it won't take us anywhere. It’s detrimental to push down others when attempting to uplift one’s own culture.

 I truly wish people did more research on this subject and started to actually respect and acknowledge the cultures involved - and I mean all of them. The ignorance and staggering lack of research concerning this topic is unbelieveable.. and of course extremely saddening. 

Footnotes:

 He explained this in the foreword of old Kalevala. (X)

Karjalan sivistysseura - website’s History section on the settlement of Viena. (X)

I find these two sources the most important to the conversation; however everything I’ve just said is quite easy to research, especially if you speak finnish and swedish. These are not the only sources either, and everyone familiar with this topic knows how skewed this conversation is online, especially on tumblr and twitter.

[secretlyofthefeywild]

february book review

books read: 12

Pick The Lock

Author: A.S. King

Genre: fiction, young adult

Summary:

Jane's mother is an artist constantly on tour to earn a living and support the family. While her mother is away, Jane lives in a Victorian mansion with her younger brother and their controlling, mendacious father and aunt, both of whom have conspired to confine Jane and Henry’s mother to a system of pneumatic tubes whenever she’s at home. Pick the Lock follows Jane’s bizarre and brilliant journey to rediscover and reconnect with her mother through punk rock and opera.

Thoughts: at no point in this book did i truly understand what the fuck was happening. which i do think was by design. That being said, i had a wonderful time and thought it was a lot of fun. i loved the growth of all of the characters and the twists and turns in the plot.

Index, A History Of The

Author: Dennis Duncan

Genre: non-fiction, history, literary criticism

Summary:

Most of us give little thought to the back of the book—it’s just where you go to look things up. But here is the secret world of the index: an unsung but extraordinary everyday tool, with an illustrious but little-known history. Charting its curious path from the monasteries and universities of thirteenth-century Europe to Silicon Valley in the twenty-first, Dennis Duncan reveals how the index has saved heretics from the stake, kept politicians from high office, and made us all into the readers we are today. We follow it through German print shops and Enlightenment coffee houses, novelists’ living rooms and university laboratories, encountering emperors and popes, philosophers and prime ministers, poets, librarians, and—of course—indexers along the way. Duncan reveals the vast role of the index in our evolving literary and intellectual culture, and he shows that in the Age of Search we are all index-rakers at heart.

Thoughts: i have not stopped talking abt this book. i learned so many fun facts abt history and i will not stop sharing them w my friends. in the top five nonfiction books of the year for sure.

i highly recommend this book if you like history, esp history pertaining to literature.

Sailing The Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter

Author: Thomas Cahill

Genre: non-fiction, history, philosophy

Summary:

The Greeks invented everything from Western warfare to mystical prayer, from logic to statecraft. Many of their achievements, particularly in art & philosophy, are widely celebrated. Other innovations & accomplishments, however, are underappreciated. Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea explores the legacy, good & bad, of the ancient Greeks. From the origins of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European tribes into Attica & the Peloponnesian peninsula, to the formation of the poleis, to the birth of Western literature, poetry, drama, philosophy, art & architecture, Cahill makes the distant past relevant. Greek society is one of the two primeval influences on the Western world. While Jews gave us a value system, the Greeks set the foundation & framework for our intellectual lives. They're responsible for our vocabulary, logic & categorization system. They provided the intellectual tools brought to bear on problems in philosophy, mathematics, medicine, physics etc. Their modes of thinking, considered in classical times to be the pinnacle of achievement, are largely responsible for the shape Xianity took. They left a less appealing bequest as well. They created Western militarism &, in making warriors the ultimate ideal, perpetrated the assumption that only males could be entrusted with citizenship. The consequences of their exclusion of women from the political sphere & the social segregation of the sexes continue to reverberate. Full of surprising, often controversial, insights, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea is a remarkable intellectual adventure—conducted by the most companionable guide imaginable. Cahill’s knowledge of his sources is so intimate that he's made fresh translations of the Greek lyric poets.

Thoughts: this was very interesting to me. i learned a lot abt the greeks and their lives. i was fascinated the entire time, which can be difficult in nonfiction, but Cahill does it well.

Lie To Me

Author: Kaitlin Ward

Genre: fiction, mystery, thriller, young adult

Summary:

Ever since Amelia woke up in the hospital, recovering from a near-death fall she has no memory of, she's been suspicious. Her friends, family, and doctors insist it was an accident, but Amelia is sure she remembers being pushed. Then another girl is found nearby -- one who fell, but didn't survive. Amelia's fears suddenly feel very real, and with the help of her new boyfriend, Liam, she tries to investigate her own horrific ordeal. But what is she looking for, exactly? And how can she tell who's trustworthy, and who might be -- must be -- lying to her? The closer Amelia gets to the truth, the more terrifying her once orderly, safe world becomes. She's determined to know what happened, but if she doesn't act fast, her next accident might be her last.

Thoughts: oh god. i was so incredibly nauseous the entire time i read this book. i saw the plot twist coming from a mile away, but it still managed to make me have to put the book down and breathe for a few minutes. im not sure if this book has any sort of following, but it needs one.

Chain Of Gold

Author: Cassandra Claire

Genre: fiction, fantasy, historical, young adult

Summary:

Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations, and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James, who is sworn to marry someone else. But Cordelia’s new life is blown apart when a shocking series of demon attacks devastate London. These monsters are nothing like those Shadowhunters have fought before—these demons walk in daylight, strike down the unwary with incurable poison, and seem impossible to kill. London is immediately quarantined. Trapped in the city, Cordelia's friends discover that a dark legacy has gifted them with incredible powers—and forced a brutal choice that will reveal the true cruel price of being a hero.

Thoughts: its a really good book, and i love the cast (esp anna lightwood<3), but i did find that i wanted more content abt their parents lol. i just love the tid cast so much, and ik this series is abt their kids but gahh. the beginnings of all the diff love arcs were entertaining too.

HappyHead

Author: Josh Silver

Genre: fiction, dystopian, lgbtq+, thriller, young adult

Summary:

We are in an epidemic. An epidemic of unhappiness.  Friends, here is the good news: HappyHead has the answer.  When Seb is offered a place on a radical retreat designed to solve the national crisis of teenage unhappiness, he is determined to change how people see him and make his parents proud. But as he finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Finn, Seb starts to question the true nature of the challenges they must undergo. The deeper into the programme the boys get, the more disturbing the assessments become, until it’s clear there may be no escape...

Thoughts: oh my god. i love love love a good dystopian book. a dystopian book that takes place in a mental health treatment facility was something i didn't know i needed. i have not stopped recommending this book to literally everyone. god it's so good.

The Kalevala

Author: Elais Lonnrot

Genre: mythology, classics, poetry

Summary:

The Kalevala is the great Finnish epic which, like the Iliad and Odyssey, grew out of a rich oral tradition with prehistoric roots. During the first millennium of our era, speakers of Uralic languages (outside the Indo-European group) who had settled in the Baltic region developed an oral poetry that was to last into the nineteenth century. This poetry provided the basis of the Kalevala, assembled by the Finnish scholar Elias Lonnrot and published in its final form in 1849. It played a central role in the process towards Finnish independence and inspired some of the greatest music of Sibelius.

Thoughts: i thought the epic was a lot of fun. it's much different than other epics (which is to be expected when talking abt the Finnish) but i liked it a lot. the language confused me at a few points, but again that is to be expected.

The Beast Is An Animal

Author: Peternelle Van Arsdale

Genre: fiction, mythology, folklore, horror, young adult

Summary:

Alys was seven the first time she saw the soul eaters. These soul eaters are twin sisters who were abandoned by their father and slowly grew into something not quite human. And they feed off of human souls. When her village was attacked, Alys was spared and sent to live in a neighboring village. There the devout people created a strict world where fear of the soul eaters—and of the Beast they believe guides them—rule village life. But the Beast is not what they think he is. And neither is Alys. Inside, Alys feels connected to the soul eaters, and maybe even to the Beast itself. As she grows from a child to a teenager, she longs for the freedom of the forest. And she has a gift she can tell no one, for fear they will call her a witch. When disaster strikes, Alys finds herself on a journey to heal herself and her world. A journey that will take her through the darkest parts of the forest, where danger threatens her from the outside—and from within her own heart and soul.

Thoughts: oouughhh. i liked this book a lot. i rly liked all of the character arcs and growth over time. i liked that i had conflicting feelings abt a lot of the characters and the situations, it made it feel a lot more real. i love the beast so much.

Chain of Iron

Author: Cassandra Claire

Genre: fiction, fantasy, historical, young adult

Summary:

Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted. She’s engaged to marry James Herondale, the boy she has loved since childhood. She has a new life in London with her best friend Lucie Herondale and James’s charming companions, the Merry Thieves. She is about to be reunited with her beloved father. And she bears the sword Cortana, a legendary hero’s blade. But the truth is far grimmer. James and Cordelia’s marriage is a lie, arranged to save Cordelia’s reputation. James is in love with the mysterious Grace Blackthorn whose brother, Jesse, died years ago in a terrible accident. Cortana burns Cordelia’s hand when she touches it, while her father has grown bitter and angry. And a serial murderer is targeting the Shadowhunters of London, killing under cover of darkness, then vanishing without a trace. Together with the Merry Thieves, Cordelia, James, and Lucie must follow the trail of the knife-wielding killer through the city’s most dangerous streets. All the while, each is keeping a shocking secret: Lucie, that she plans to raise Jesse from the dead; Cordelia, that she has sworn a dangerous oath of loyalty to a mysterious power; and James, that he is being drawn further each night into the dark web of his grandfather, the arch-demon Belial. And that he himself may be the killer they seek.

Thoughts: i was thoroughly hooked into the plot in this one. i still wanted more parents & magnus content, but i enjoyed the thieves & co plot threads a lot. reading so much abt malcom while knowing everything from tda was wild. there were a few moments where i got rly strong sense of deja vu, so im curious if i read these books in middle school and just completely forgot abt them. regardless, i had a fun time.

Dear Monster Claus

Author: Maeve Black

Genre: fiction, erotica, fantasy, romance

Summary:

Her entire life, Xo has brought others happiness and love, complete with endings tied in pretty little bows. This year, she wants that for herself. Love. Romance. A happy ending. And there's a grumpy Santa who's more than willing to grant her this wish in exchange for finding his love for Christmas again. Where there are candy canes, there are happily ever afters... and they're both about to find theirs.

Thoughts: i read this as a joke for one of my friends, but it actually wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. it was abt 97% smut and 3% plot, but it wasn't terrible. i've definitely read much worse smut. there was a large emphasis of consent and there was no dubcon. i feel like the experienced x virgin tropes can often have a lot of dubcon elements, but this didn't. (not that there's anything wrong w dubcon in literature obvi, this is just an observation). i do have questions abt the nature of santa's penis though.

All Boys Aren't Blue

Author: George M. Johnson

Genre: non-fiction, lgbtq+, memoir, race, young adult

Summary:

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

Thoughts: i finally got around to reading the infamous book. i liked it a lot. obviously, i don't relate to everything Johnson talked abt, but i found i could relate to his experiences a lot more than i thought i would. i think this is a book that a lot more ppl should read.

How To Be Black

Author: Baratunde R. Thurston

Genre: non-fiction, essays, memoir, race

Summary:

Baratunde Thurston shares his 30-plus years of expertise in being black, with helpful essays like “How to Be the Black Friend,” “How to Speak for All Black People,” “How To Celebrate Black History Month,” and more, in this satirical guide to race issues—written for black people and those who love them. Audacious, cunning, and razor-sharp, How to Be Black exposes the mass-media’s insidiously racist, monochromatic portrayal of black culture’s richness and variety. Fans of Stuff White People Like , This Week in Blackness , and Ending Racism in About an Hour will be captivated, uplifted, incensed, and inspired by this hilarious and powerful attack on America’s blacklisting of black Baratunde Thurston’s How to Be Black.

Thoughts: i thought this book was hilarious, which i am aware was by design. i rly enjoyed the was Thurston was able to walk the line between humor and seriousness. since this came out in 2012, i did often find myself wondering how some of the passages would be different in our current political and societal climates.

[zyxthstuff]

I read Death and the Compass original short story in English and Spanish.... I guess the movie adaptation was pretty good? It stayed pretty much true to the story.

Only that the original was more compact... And the journalist part was different.

Treviranus did not whine as much either.... Honestly the weak part of the film. Shouldn't have added it lol.

Red Scharlach became much more interesting in the film though.

Also yeah I now got why the movie felt too long, because the original story was so short... It felt like it was trying a bit too hard to extend it.

[stari-hun]

The Girl Who Was Forced by Her Stepsister to Marry the Cursed Duke

The summary for the story is our MC named Militia was sent away by her family to go marry the cursed Duke Lonnrot in order to settle her family's debt.

After her mother died, her father remarried her step mother who brought in her step sister. However after his death shortly after she became the only child in the family with the original noble blood. So they sent her away to marry the cursed Duke in the hope they could settle their debts, once she got there Duke Lonnrot told her to eat a creature that spawned from his curse. Luckily, his curse makes him produce seafood, and Militia's barony was by the seaside. After having no other options as a child, she knows many ways to prepare seafood.

✦ There's a promotional manga too that's 6 chapters long!

// Spoilers start here!

This series is soooo good cause he's so grumpy and she's not exactly a sunshine she just can't be bothered to deal with his grumpy.

Our two main characters for vast majority of the series are Militia and Maricle Lonnrot. Militia is our protagonist, she’s very brave and keeps a calm attitude in anything within her comfort zone. She comes form a long line of mages within her family, but her family has long since suffered financial issues. Due to her mother dying and father following, she was left with her step family. She had to learn to cook on her own from a young age. Luckily the chef in their house told her too and he knew how to prepare all kinds of seafood which nobles in this series aren’t used to. Maricle on the other hand is the arch mage of the kingdom and a part of the heroes party who defeated the demon king. After his defeat the demon king spat out a curse at him for being the biggest contributor, and even the Saintess in their party couldn’t overpower and break it.

The series kicks off after the prologue with Maricle tells her to cook with whatever creature grabs her first off of his body. Funny enough the creature ends up being an octopus when his curse in the manga has him look like a Cthulhu type of creature! The kitchen scene after is really beautiful and Militia has a nice time looking at all the tools and appliances in his house that even someone without magic like her can use. There’s tons of magic tool worldbuilding here so if that’s your style this series is especially good for you!

The main niche’s of this series are food content and magic tool/items.

Despite Maricle’s hate for his curse, Militia doesn’t see it that way. After making frankly more octopus dishes than what a single one could supply, he tries kicking her out. Unfortunately for him, it’s staying or death. So Militia being Militia decides I’ll just work as a maid here for what the automata’s can’t manage.

After dinner we meet Bhadra, Maricle’s immortal mentor and confidante, the man in charge of all the automatas within the estate. Maricle starts complaining about how weird Militia is and Bhadra explains how he really likes her and thinks she’s a good fit based on how she values his curse as a food source instead of any actual curse.

The series is so nice and there’s so many good moments between them. If you’re willing to read a light novel and like rofan heavy on world building then definitely give this a shot!

[iliiuan]

Epic Fantasy through the Ages

A Chronology of Story

This is a work in progress, but here is my list as of 6 July 2023. Please feel free to send me additions or corrections. I have focused on epic (works that are long and took a long time to create) and fantasy (works that include an element of magic, the supernatural, or superpowers). Some of the list could be categorized as myth, some as Literature™️, some as science fiction, but beyond these categories are the two main criteria of epic and fantasy. I also don't fully know what all of the ancient to modern works encompass, but that's the fun of read and find out. I probably have added some things that don't properly meet my criteria, and that's fine with me. 🌺

Works by Mesopotamian Bards (3100 BC - 539 BC)

Enumah Elish (Epic of Creation)

Atrahasis (The Flood)

Epic of Gilgamesh

Descent of Ishtar

Epic of Erra

Etana

Adapa

Anzu

Nergel and Ereshkigal

Avesta by Zoroastrian Bards (1500 BC)

Ramayana by Valmiki (750+ BC)

Mahabharata by Vayasa (750+ BC)

The Illiad and the Odyssey by Homer (650+ BC)

Thoegeny; Works and Days by Hesiod (650+ BC)

Popol Vuh (4th century BC)

The Torah and other Jewish stories (4th century BC)

Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes (270 BC)

Bellum Punicam by Gnaeus Naevius (200 BC)

Annales by Ennius (170 BC)

De Rerum Natura by Lucretius (50 BC)

Poem 64 by Catullus (50 BC)

The Aenid by Virgil (19 BC)

Metamorphoses by Ovid (2 AD)

Punica by Silius Italicus (50 AD)

Satyrica by Petronius (60 AD)

Pharsalia or Bellum Civile by Lucan (62 AD)

Argonautica by Valerius Flaccus (70 AD)

Thebaid by Statius (90 AD)

The Irish Myth Cycles: Mythological, Ulster, Fenian, and Kings (3rd Century AD)

The Bible and other Christian stories (5th century AD)

Dionysiaca by Nonnus of Panopolis (500 AD)

The Quran and other Muslim stories (7th century AD)

Arabian Nights (7th century AD)

Hildebrandslied and other German heroic lays by Bards (830 AD)

Shahnameh by Ferdowsi (977 or 1010 AD)

Chanson de Roland (1125 AD)

Cantar de Mio Sid (1200 AD)

The Dietrich Cycle (1230 AD)

Poetic Edda and Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson and others (1270 AD)

Beowulf by Old English Bards (11th century AD)

Nibelungenlied by Middle High German Bards (1200)

Amadís de Gaula (13th century AD)

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alghieri (1308)

Teseida by Bocaccio (1340 AD)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Middle English Bards (14th century)

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1392)

Morgante by Luigi Pulci (1483)

Le morte d'Arthur by Thomas Mallory (1485)

Orlando Innamorato by Boiardo (1495)

Orlando Furioso by Ariosto (1516)

Os Lusiadas by Camoes (1572)

Gerusalemme Liberata by Tasso (1581)

Plays and Poems by William Shakespeare (1589)

The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spencer (1590)

Discourses on the Heroic Poem by Tasso (1594)

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1614)

L'Adone by Marino (1623)

Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained by Milton (1667)

Le Lutrin by Boileau (1674)

Order and Disorder by Lucy Hutchinson (1679)

Mac Flecknoe; Aenid English translation by Dryden (1682)

The Dispensary bu Samuel Garth (1699)

The Battle of the Books; A Tale of a Tub by Swift (1704)

The Rape of the Lock; Illiad and Odyssey English translations; Dunciad by Pope (1714)

The Vanity of Human Wishes by Samuel Johnson (1749)

Scribleriad by Richard Owen Cambridge (1751)

Faust by Goethe (1772)

The Triumphs of Temper; Essay on Epic Poetry by William Hayley (1782)

The Task by William Cowper (1785)

Joan of Arc; Thalaba the Destroyer; Madoc; The Curse of Kehama by Southey (1796)

The Prelude; The Execution by Wordsworth (1799)

Jerusalem by Blake (1804)

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge (1817)

Laon and Cythna; Peter Bell the Third; Prometheus Unbound by Shelley (1817)

Hyperion: A Fragment; The Fall of Hyperion by Keats (1818)

Don Juan by Byron (1819)

The Kalevala by Elias Lonnrot (1835)

Sohrah and Rustum by Matthew Arnold (1853)

Hiawatha by Longfellow (1855)

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1855)

Idylls of the King by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1859)

Cantos by Ezra Pound (1917)

The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot (1922)

Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)

The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion etc. by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (1946)

The White Goddess by Robert Graves (1948)

Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (1949)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (1950)

Anathemata by David Jones (1952)

Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)

The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper (1965)

Briggflatts by Basil Bunting (1965)

Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin (1968)

Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (1968)

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny (1970)

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (1976)

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson (1977)

The Magic of Xanth by Piers Anthony (1977)

Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolf (1980)

The Dark Tower by Stephen King (1982)

Belgariad and Mellorean by David Eddings (1982)

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1982)

Shannara by Terry Brooks (1982)

The Riftwar Cycle by Raymond E. Feist (1982)

Discworld by Terry Pratchett (1983)

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (1984)

Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)

The Black Company (1984)

Redwall by Brian Jaques (1986)

Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey (1987)

Memory, Sorrow, Thorn by Tad Williams (1988)

Sandman by Neil Gaimon (1989)

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (1990)

Queen of Angels by Greg Bear (1990)

Newford by Charles de Lint (1990)

Omeros by Derek Walcott (1990)

The Saga of Recluse by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (1991)

The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski (1993)

Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind (1994)

Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb (1995)

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (1995)

Old Kingdom by Garth Nix (1995)

A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (1996)

Animorphs by H.A. Applegate (1996)

Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott (1997)

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (1997)

The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steve Erickson (1999)

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (2000)

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (2002)

Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker (2003)

Bartimaeus by Jonathan Stroud (2003)

The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch (2004)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (2005)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan (2005)

Temeraire by Naomi Novik (2006)

The First Law by Joe Abercrombie (2006)

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (2006)

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss (2007)

Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2008)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)

Graceling by Kristin Cashore (2008)

Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan (2008)

Night Angel by Brent Weeks (2008)

The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett (2008)

Inheritance by N.K. Jemisin (2010)

The Lightbringer by Brent Weeks (2010)

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (2010)

The Expanse by James S.A. Corey (2011)

The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence (2011)

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (2012)

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (2012)

Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo (2012)

The Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron (2012)

Worm by Wildbow (2013)

The Powder Mage by Brian McClellan (2013)

The Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin (2015)

Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston (2015)

The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee (2017)

The Band Series by Nicholas Eames (2017)

Winternight by Katherine Arden (2017)

The Folk of the Air by Holly Black (2018)

The Founders by Robert Jackson Bennett (2018)

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir (2019)

Grave of Empires by Sam Sykes (2019)

Djeliya by Juni Ba (2021)

[fcb4]

The Music of Deep Origins: which not all children sing

“Singing his tales

singing, practicing his craft.

He sang day by day night by night

he recited ancient memories

those deep Origins

which not all the children sing...”

-The Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot

You’ll have to dig deep into the internet to discover that Elias Lönnrot was a Christian. That a Christian is given such a title as someone responsible for the “birth of a nation” is amazing to me. That a Christian is responsible for gathering, honoring, crafting and saving the folk tales of a pre-christian people is also fascinating.

The pagans are in our debt.

Deep homage to those faithful Christians who could see the treasures of tale and truth within pagan peoples made in the image of god.

Elias Lönnrot and the Kantele instrument.

“Professor Heikki Laitinen (Sibelius Academy, Helsinki) spoke about the “Inventor of the kantele”, the traditional Finnish harp-like stringed instrument. Remarkable changes occurred in the kantele in the 19th century, although usually musical instruments do not tolerate much pressure to change. The kantele grew in size: its resonating body had until then been carved out of one piece of wood but now kanteles with a body made of boards started to appear, and the number of strings was raised from five to as many as 30.

Some years ago Laitinen started to investigate the history of the kantele. The kanteles constructed in the 19th century that were to be found in museums did not contain much information, but Elias Lönnrot’s name appeared on more than ten. The general belief in the 20th century was that Elias Lönnrot was not a musical man, but as Laitinen dug up 19th century sources, the picture began to change. He discovered that not only was Lönnrot highly musical, but it had been common knowledge in the 19th century that he was also the innovator of the kantele and had built many himself: chromatic kanteles with even more than 30 strings. Approximately 20 kanteles built by Lönnrot have been preserved in museums. There are kanteles of many types and sizes, each supplied with instructions on tuning and music for songs prepared by the builder – the inventor of the kantele we have today.“

https://youtu.be/2U0LPcJO1E8?si=JQD4HQy56E1FC8aS

Article link: Elias Lönnrot and the birth of a nation

https://www.folklorefellows.fi/elias-lonnrot-and-the-birth-of-a-nation/

[aqua-regia009]

Warrior Lemminkäinen abducts the great beauty Kyllikki. Rune XI of the Finnish tales of the Kalevala. Illustration by Seb McKinnon

[mythologyofblue]

For this I weep all my days and throughout my lifetime grieve that I swam from my own lands and came from familiar lands    towards these strange doors    to these foreign gates.

-Elias Lönnrot, The Kalevala

[officiallordvetinari]

For the last little while I’ve been thinking about what my ideal film adaptation of a Jorge Luis Borges work would be - not what I’d want to see made, since I don’t think anything by Borges would really benefit from being filmed, but what kind of movie the stories look like in my head. I’ve come up with this idea of an anthology of three short films, each probably with a different director, each filmed as if it was a played-straight example of the genre the story is a take on.

- “The Garden of Forking Paths”, a tense spy story with Tony Leung as Yu Tsun.

- “Death and the Compass”, a whodunnit with Ralph Fiennes as Erik Lönnrot.

-”The South” - hard to name a genre for this one, but I’m imagining something like one of the Coen Brothers’ slower, more reflective movies (I think the story is actually a lot like some of the episodes in Buster Scruggs in some ways), with Diego Luna as Juan Dahlmann.

Anyway, I just wanted to get that out of my head and into writing now that I’ve more or less settled on what I’m trying to describe. There’s several more Borges stories that I absolutely love, but that I think even in my fantasies are essentially unfilmable. He’s one of my favorite authors and I highly recommend that anyone who hasn’t done so already read his collection Ficciones.

[hobbitofgallifrey-art]

messy piece based on a passage in the Kalevala, a collection of poems/songs of Finnish mythology and hero tales compiled by Elias Lonnrot in the 19th century from bardic tradition. 

reference passage:

‘they made a head from a block // antlers from goat willow forks // feet from driftwood, legs // from stakes in a swamp // a back from fence poles // sinews from withered grasses // eyes out of pond lily buds // ears out of pond lily flowers // skin from spruce bark // other flesh from rotten wood. // The Demon advised his elk // to his reindeer spoke by mouth: // “Now run, you elk of demons // foot it, noble deer // to where the reindeer breeds, to // the grounds of Lapland’s children! // Make a man ski till he sweats - // Lemminkainen most of all!”’

[taken from my Oxford classics copy, p150; translation by Keith Bosley]

[yetibaba]

If you love Tolkien you should know this Finnish epic, The Kalevala. It is a great, compelling story, and was very influential in Tolkien’s (and Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’) work. More from Wikipedia:

The Kalevala or The Kalewala (/��kɑːləˈvɑːlə/; Finnish: [ˈkɑle̞ʋɑlɑ]) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology.

It is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. The Kalevala played an instrumental role in the development of the Finnish national identity, the intensification of Finland’s language strife and the growing sense of nationality that ultimately led to Finland’s independence from Russia in 1917.

The first version of The Kalevala (called The Old Kalevala) was published in 1835. The version most commonly known today was first published in 1849 and consists of 22,795 verses, divided into fifty songs (Finnish: runot). The title can be interpreted as “The Land of Kaleva” or “Kalevia.”

“J.R.R. Tolkien claimed The Kalevala as one of his sources for The Silmarillion. For example, Kullervo’s story is the basis of Túrin Turambar in Narn i Chîn Húrin, including the sword that speaks when the anti-hero uses it to commit suicide. Echoes of The Kalevala’s characters, Väinämöinen in particular, can be found in Tom Bombadil of The Lord of the Rings.”

“Jean Sibelius is the best-known Kalevala-influenced classical composer. Twelve of Sibelius’ best-known works are based upon or influenced by the Kalevala, including his Kullervo, a tone poem for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra that he composed in 1892. Sibelius also composed the music of Jääkärimarssi (The Jäger March) to words written by Finnish soldier and writer Heikki Nurmio. The march features the line Me nousemme kostona Kullervon ("We shall rise in vengeance like that of Kullervo’s”).“ It is a remarkable work of literature! (Pictured: Kullervo cursing, by the Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1865-1931)

[zyxthstuff]

I've been thinking about Lonnrot's last rant (?) to Scharlach in the original text and I have an interpretation but I'm not yet sure if it's a good one.

The theme of Death and the Compass is about a labyrinth and these particular sentences stuck in my head.

“In your labyrinth there are three lines too many"

“I promise you that labyrinth, consisting of a single line that is invisible and unceasing.”

I took it that it meant Lonnrot implied Scharlach doesn't necessarily have to create a complex pattern to trap Lonnrot in another life. Just create the kind of simple pattern as a straight line and he would inevitably fall for it. Go and back straight towards death. Clean and simple. Inevitable.

[lostalter]

"It's possible, but not interesting" Lonnrot answered. "You will reply that reality hasn't the slightest need to be of interest. And I'll answer you that reality may avoid the obligation to be interesting, but that hypotheses may not.

--Jorge Luis Borges

[bibliotekbibliothek]

Finnlands schwedische Literatur 1900-2012

Ekman, Michel. 2014

6 Finnland seit 14. Jh. Schwedisches Reich ab 1809 Russisch infolge der Napoleonischen Kriege Sprache der Verwaltung und Literatur: Schwedisch die Bauern sprachen im Osten finnischen Dialekt an der Küste schwedischen Dialekt 7 Finnisch wurde nicht zu einer gelehrten Schriftsprache während der schwedischen Zeit innere Selbstverwaltung de Großfürstentum Finnlands im Russischen Reich Für die finnischen Bewohner änderte sich recht wenig Russische Sprache erhielt nie eine starke Stellung  Finnisch wurde während der russischen Zeit die erste Landessprache  “Fennophilie von den russischen Eroberern akzeptiert, unter anderem weil sie einen Abstand zwischen Finnland und Schweden schuf”  8 Nationalromantik als zentrale Rolle für den Aufbau der Nation, jedoch hauptsächlich auf schwedisch geschrieben Lönnrot sammelte mündliche finnische Volkspoesie und machte daraus die Kalevala 1835 --> wichtig für das Entstehen des finnischen Nationalbewußtseins  9 Runebergs Werke mit patriotischer Bedeutung, Abbildung vom finnischen Volk, der Natur --> religiöse Vorstellung vom finnischen Volk Auf Runeberg aufbauen schafft Snellman die Fennomanie 19. Jahrhundert wird Finnisch als Schriftsprache fixiert  10 Svekomanie als “Gegen-und Verteidigungsreaktion der schwedischsprachigen FInnen”, “politischer Kampf für die Beibehaltung des Schwedischen” Jahrhundertwende um 1900 entscheidend für schwedische Identität in Finnland, politisch und kulturell  ab 1906: Schwedischsprachige Anteil der Bevölkerung sinkt drastisch von 12% auf heute 5,2%

[terence-t-park]

This is a tricky book cover to interpret. The Kavelava is a Finnish national epic. For centuries it was transmitted orally and Elias Lonnrot eventually transcribed it in the mid-nineteenth century. This penguin edition looks like it's on my To Buy list https://www.instagram.com/p/CoziREOo07t/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=