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27.10.2010 Lemminkäinen • What does Lemminkäinen do in the Kalevala? • Mythological sources for the Lemminkäinen figure • Lemminkäinen’s literary cousins What Does Lemminkäinen Do? • Kyllikki cycle • First visit to North Farm • In Tuonela • Second Visit to North Farm • Exile among the Maidens • Homecoming and Vengeance • Theft of the Sampo Then they swore their oaths, made their eternal vows in the presence of illustrious God, humbly looking up at the face of the almighty Ahti will not go to war, Kyllikki not gad about (11 (67)) 1 27.10.2010 The Theft of Kyllikki, 1890, J.E. Kortman (11) Only sue for my girls Inquire about the ones with flowers in their hair after you have skied down the Demon’s Elk Beyond the Demon’s fields (13 (76)) Lemminkäinen Hunts the Demon Moose, 1902, V. Blomstedt (13-14) 2 27.10.2010 Then she anointed the weary man mended the man who had fared ill She anointed along the break in the bones along the cracks in the members annointed him below, anointed him above once gave his middle a quick rub. Then she uttered these words remarked and talked: ‘Get up from lying down arise from dreaming from those evil places from your bed of hard luck (15 (94)) Lemminkäinen’s Mother, 15, Gallen-Kallela (15) ‘The woman of North farm with moldy ears will not indeed give over her girl unless an old squaw is shot a swan hit on the river of Death’s Domain in the whirlpool of the Sacred...’ ‘Leave your wretched swans alone let the old squaws stay in Death’s dark river in the fiery whirlpool’ (15 (95)). 3 27.10.2010 The Swan of Tuonela, 1904-05, Gallen-Kallela (15) There really is a fiery river right in front of and athwart the horse. In the river a fiery rapids In the rapids a fiery islet on the islet a fiery knoll on the knoll a fiery eagle... ‘Where indeed is the man with the far-roving mind going?... ‘I was setting out for the feast at North Farm to the drinking party of the company meeting in secret. Move over a little to the side turn off the road...’ Lemminkäinen and the Fiery Eagle, 1867, R.W. Ekman (26) 4 27.10.2010 ‘Is there room on the island land on the main part of the island for me to sing my songs intone my long lays? Words melt in my mouth sprout on my gums’ (29 (209)) Lemminkäinen’s Arrival at the Island, 1899, P. Halonen (29) Lemminkäinen tried to budge it budge it, turn it he hugged the Sampo with his arms kneeling on the the ground he worked but the Sampo does not move at all its lid of many colors does not budge. (42 (282)) 5 27.10.2010 Theft of The Sampo, 1897, Väinö Blomstedt (42) Mythological Sources Main Lemminkäinen story is the second trip to North Farm, in which he navigates obstacles, which Lönnrot has developed Ahti Saarelainen (Ahti the islander) as a figure symbolizes wander lust and blood lust, an allusion the Viking age that impacted Karelia in the 7th-9th centuries A version of the Balder story? Balder-myth: Son of Odin associated with light and love. Balder is killed through an intrigue by Loki (the trickster), despite his mother’s efforts to save him. He lives in the underworld, and will return at the end of the world. Mythological Sources • Christ-myth: Christ is betrayed by his disciple Judas, and executed as a criminal by Roman authorities. After three days, he returns to his followers, and stays with them. He leaves again, but promises to return. • Osiris-myth: Osiris is killed by in an intrigue by his brother, Set, who wants to steal the throne from Osiris. He puts Osiris’s body in a trunk, which he puts in the Nile. It floats to Syria. Osiris’s wife Isis goes to find the trunk. Osiris must be buried to enter the netherworld. She gets the trunk and hides it. It is found by Set, who cuts Osiris into fourteen pieces he scatters across Egypt. Isis finds them all but one (eaten by a Fish), buries him, and Osiris becomes king of the netherworld. 6 27.10.2010 Lemminkäinen’s Literary Cousins • Don Juan as a picaresque figure • Famous versions of Don Juan myth • Moliere (Don Juan ou le festin de pierre)(1665) • Adventure and unpredictable journeys as structure to narrative • Mozart (Don Giovanni)(1787) • Anti-didactic figure because of low moral status • Byron (epic poem Don Juan) (1821) • Soeren Kierkegaard’s ‘Seducer’s Diary in Either/Or (1843) • Recurrent figure in the arts • Ethical status of the seducer • 17th-century Spanish play about a libertine • Existentialist philosophy • Interest in the picaresque, as for example Don Quixote • Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite 7 .
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