First interdisciplinary study of the Kalevala to appear in English.

"Pentikäinen's exceptional interdisciplinary study will richly reward those interested in the dynamics of artistic creation and cultural construction, ethnic emergence and political nationalism, and shamanistic belief systems." —American Anthropologist

" . . . a splendid contribution to the literature on folk epics . . . " —The Scandinavian-American Bulletin

The Kalevala, created during the 1830s and 1840s, is based on authentic folklore collected and compiled by Elias Lonnrot. It was the Kalevala that initiated the process leading to the foundation of Finnish identity during the nineteenth century and was, therefore, one of the crucial factors in the formation of Finland as a new nation in the twentieth century.