Lauri Honko

Armas Otto Väisänen

Anne Vabarna

Anneli Honko

Paul Hagu

Anne Vabarna's Oral Twin Epic Written Down by A.O. Väisänen

The Maiden's Death Song & the Great Wedding

The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems– both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.

The Kalevala and its Predecessors

Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World's Epics

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the (New) Kalevala, thirty experts on comparative epic research from 12 countries met in Turku, Finland in August 1999 to debate the role of the Finnish national epic and its scientific significance. As material for comparison they used textualised epics from Europe and epic traditions, some of them still preserved in oral form, from America, Africa, Central and Southern Asia. A special look was taken at the Baltic-Finnish and Baltic epics, the Kalevala, the Kalevipoeg, the setu Peko and the Lativan Lacplesis, which all share certain ideological strands. The cooperation between fieldworkers documenting living oral epics and textual analysts utilizing old texts and archive sources sets the tone of the articles of this volume, which brings the singer of epics and his/her cultural world closer to the modern editors and publishers of epics. The paradox of oral performance in writing is brought one step nearer to its optimal solution.

The Kalevala and the World's Traditional Epics

The Problem of Defining Myth

Tradition and Cultural Identity

Michael Branch

Senni Timonen

This book is a tribute to the poetic voice of past singers who, in many languages, gave form to fragile oral 'texts' and created a natural poetry based on tradition, human experience and sentiment.

A Thematic Anthology of Oral Poetry in the Finno-Ugrian Languages

The Great Bear

How does an illiterate singer produce a long oral epic? What is the origin of his "text", available only for a fleeting moment at its performance? How can a multifaceted oral performance be transformed into a book? The primary oral textualization and the secondary written codification of the Siri epic, 15,683 lines, are described in detail in the present volume on the basis of recent fieldwork among the speakers of Tulu, a Dravidian language, in southern Karnataka, India. The "oral author", Mr Gopala Naika, is one of the many talented singers of oral epics in Tulunaadu and a possession priest in rituals which use oral epics as their mythical charter and a source of mental therapy.

Textualising the Siri Epic

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

Lauri Honko

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