Probably in no other country has the marriage of folklore studies and nationalism produced such dramatic results as in Finland. The turning point in the struggle for independence was the intensifying nationalistic sentiment produced by the publication, in 1835, of Elias Lonnrot’s Kalevala, an epic based on folk poetry. In the following decades a small band of Finnish scholar-patriots dug into Finnish folklore to forge a literary language, create a national culture, and reconstruct the prehistoric period of the nation’s past independence. Folklore and Nationalism in Modern Finland traces the crucial impact of folklore studies on three periods in Finnish history: the era of Swedish and Russian rule; the tense decades between the winning of Finnish independence and the end of World War II; and the postwar period. By studying the increasingly propagandistic application of folklore by both the political right and left and by showing how respected folklore scholars allowed themselves to be swayed by political issues, Wilson raises important questions about the proper use of folklore—and indeed of all the humanities.

民俗学和民族主义的结合可能在其他任何国家都没有像芬兰那样产生如此戏剧性的结果。1835 年，《卡勒瓦拉》的出版引发民族主义情绪日益高涨，这是一部以民间诗歌为基础的史诗。在接下来的几十年里，一小群芬兰学者带着爱国情怀挖掘芬兰民间传说，力图创造民族文化，重建民族曾经独立的过往。《现代芬兰的民俗学与民族主义》追溯了民俗研究对芬兰历史上三个时期的重要影响：瑞典和俄罗斯统治时期，从芬兰独立到第二次世界大战结束之间的紧张几十年，和战后时期。通过研究政治对民俗学越来越多的宣传应用，以及通过揭示受人尊敬的民俗学学者如何受政治问题的影响，威尔逊提出了关于正确使用民俗学——甚至所有人文学科的重要问题。

Preface

1. The Road to Independence

Swedes or Finns: The Growth of Finnish National Consciousness under Swedish Rule

Russians or Finns: The Growth of Finnish National Consciousness under Russian Rule

Finns at Last: Folklore and National Aspirations in Independent Finland

2. Folklore Scholarship in Independent Finland

Krohn’s School

Setälä’s School

Jalmari Jaakkola

Martti Haavio

3. Folklore as Propaganda in Independent Finland

From Independence to Dreams of Grandeur: Folklore and the Political Right

The Counterattack: Folklore and the Political Left

The Rise and Fall of Greater Finland

Afterword

Bibliography

Notes

Index