h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*floating in, in her usual vague, elf-like manner*

I'm trying for the Xth time (X=very big number) to make sense of the *huge* pile of research I've gathered about Kalevala and *finally* write that entry on it... I've started on it I don't know how many times, but each time I've been overwhelmed by the enormous amounts of information...

...so today I tried searching for 'Kalevala' on h2g2, and found your 'Links Outside' A830864, created pretty recently (in September this year) with a link to a Kalevala index...

Does this mean that you are interested in the subject and possibly sitting on a lot of knowledge/information? Could I interest you in a co-writing project?

Hello Titania!
Well, I'm actually reading it at the moment, at least when I'm not buried deep in linguistic papers. It's part of preparing an Erasmus trip I want to do in Turku/Abo. Unregarding how recent it is, I managed to learn many things on the subject, especially linguistic facts about the period when the various texts were created (I don't mean Lonnrot, I mean the origins). You must know far more than I do, but if anything interests you, I'll be glad to help. I can do some research too, and post it to you. But (and I'm really sorry for this), don't count on me for writing anything. I have a rather complex problem with writing, and I *can't* do anything exept trying to cure it first. I know it sounds , and that's because it really is, but it's true. You see, you'd be disappointed, just like NexusSeven (F32906?thread=121393) with whom I was supposed to write an entry on the Mabinogion. I was so ashamed I never got myself to answering him. And, mind you, that was a field I knew far more about than the Kalevala.
Nevertheless looking forward to help the way I can do it.

it should have read 'how recent it is _for me_'...

... and rereading the post, I saw it sounded really pathetic. It's not that bad, you know.

How about just being available for feedback rather than write? And double-checking facts, providing interesting info and so on...

It's soooo difficult to write on your own without having any other ways of feedback than the Writing Workshop or Peer Review - and it's far too early for either of those...

I'm not so sure I know more than you - I was born and grew up in Sweden (but both parents Finnish), I have never read more than a few quotations from Kalevala - although I recently bought a Swedish translation that is supposed to be pretty good (my Finnish isn't good enough to read it in Finnish)...

...but all through my childhood and adult life, references to Kalevala have been popping up here and there, in names of persons or companies, cities or streets, in art and music... I've always liked Akseli Gallen-Kalela's paintings - especially this one:
http://www.niksula.cs.hut.fi/~xyu/kale-gb/pics/gallen/lemminkainens_mother.jpg


...and when I started doing some research, I was absolutely fascinated - it was so much more than I had imagined! And the impact and influence that Kalevala has had in Finland is pretty amazing...

Feedback and info! That's great. Exactly what I wanted to do. I'll do a bit of research next week, and shall certainly tell you about it here.

OK, I'm making a renewed attempt to write an entry on Kalevala - and I've made a h2g2 University Project of it to put some pressure on myself to actually finish it...

Would you like to be a Contributing Researcher? A1026712

And no, no writing expected, just like I said before - feedback and info!

Considering the massive amount of research material that I've got, I've decided to split it up into at least two entries - one about just the author - when I started reading more about Elias Lönnrot I realized what a terribly energetic and productive person he must have been!

You'll find a link to the Lönnrot entry on my Project page, in case you'd have time/interest to have a look - but it's still under construction...

OK, I made a new attempt on the author entry, latest version found here: A1133173

Any comments?

In case you'd happen to get online again, I thought I'd mention that the h2g2 University of Life has been revived again - which probably means that I'll eventually get around to writing those entries on Kalevala...

*sound of years passing*

Errr, what's this university of Life? Sounds like something I should have attended too

Are you still interested in these old things anyway? I'm rather better at doing things now! So I was looking at your entries about Kalevala and Lönnrot, and they're already quite interesting... Maybe you can make an edited entry yet? I'm willing to help.

The h2g2 University: A339059

What it does, basically, is allowing you to compile several entries on one subject/area that will all be linked together and presented as a package.

Here's an example:
A435737

You need to have at least five entries, and I'm still thinking about that one. What I've got so far is, roughly:

The Author
How Kalevala was written, sources, runosingers
The Story
Influences of Kalevala - this might be split in two:
Influences on the works of authors
Influences in other areas (nationalism etc, bringing back Finnish as Finland's official language, etc).

Possibly a separate entry on the Kalevala meter; trochaic tetrameter, with several quotes from Kalevala, comparing the Finnish orginal text with one in English. I've found one translation that I like, by W.F. Kirby from 1907.

Here's an early rough outline, but I think I've changed my mind how to split things up after I wrote it: A433388

However, I don't really have much time right now to put too much work into this, so I've put it on hold, so to speak.

And to think you managed to find your way back to h2g2 - welcome back!