Literary Trolleybus-21, Ulyanovsk. V. Kamenskikh, an actress of the Youth Theater, reads "Kalevala"
Kuhmo UNESCO City of Literature, Finland Elias Lönnrot (9.4.1802-19.3.1884) worked as a district physician in Kajaani, Kuhmo from 1833 to 1853. During this time he made several trips to the Karelia of the White Sea region to collect old poems – a specific type of oral tradition of tales, myths, and spells that the Finns and Karelian peoples would refer to as runosongs. Oftentimes his trips took Lönnrot to Kuhmo – and although most of the poems came from the Viena Karelia region, Lönnrot collected some of the poems from the Kainuu district. Based on these runosongs he collected, Elias Lönnrot wrote his book the Kalevala. The first version, Vanha Kalevala (the Old Kalevala) was published in 1835, and the augmented edition was published in 1849. The Kalevala became very popular, and nowadays it is regarded as Finland`s national epos. To this day, Elias Lönnrot remains one of the most respected and best-known authors of Finnish literary history. Kiuru & Mishkin translation Eino Kiuru (18.1.1929-25.1.2015) and Armas Mishin 15.2.1935-9.10.2018), two translators from an Ingrian Finn background, translated the Kalevala epos into Russian in 1998. The version that we used is an augmented edition published in 2007 by the Juminkeko Center for Kalevala and Karelian culture. Kiuru`s and Mishin`s translation has raised much discussion, and it is widely regarded as one, if not the most accurate Russian translation of the Kalevala epos.
Kuhmo UNESCO City of Literature, Finland Elias Lönnrot (9.4.1802-19.3.1884) worked as a district physician in Kajaani, Kuhmo from 1833 to 1853. During this time he made several trips to the Karelia of the White Sea region to collect old poems – a specific type of oral tradition of tales, myths, and spells that the Finns and Karelian peoples would refer to as runosongs. Oftentimes his trips took Lönnrot to Kuhmo – and although most of the poems came from the Viena Karelia region, Lönnrot collected some of the poems from the Kainuu district. Based on these runosongs he collected, Elias Lönnrot wrote his book the Kalevala. The first version, Vanha Kalevala (the Old Kalevala) was published in 1835, and the augmented edition was published in 1849. The Kalevala became very popular, and nowadays it is regarded as Finland`s national epos. To this day, Elias Lönnrot remains one of the most respected and best-known authors of Finnish literary history. Kiuru & Mishkin translation Eino Kiuru (18.1.1929-25.1.2015) and Armas Mishin 15.2.1935-9.10.2018), two translators from an Ingrian Finn background, translated the Kalevala epos into Russian in 1998. The version that we used is an augmented edition published in 2007 by the Juminkeko Center for Kalevala and Karelian culture. Kiuru`s and Mishin`s translation has raised much discussion, and it is widely regarded as one, if not the most accurate Russian translation of the Kalevala epos.