The Kalevala is picking up speed again, first with Lemminkainen’s decision to wage war on North Farm and how Jack Frost stops him (the character of Jack Frost might be a bit of a stretch for the translator since I don’t think the text means that exact figure from Norse mythology but, hey, it’s fun), and now I’ve started the Kullervo episode.

The Kullervo episode is about revenge, incest, and suicide so what’s not to like? Tolkien modeled the section of Túrin Turambar in “The Silmarillion” after this portion of the Kalevala.

I’m also starting a paper on Tolkien’s use of northern myth in his work that, if it’s any good, will be part of my submission package for graduate school when I apply this fall. I wrote a piece entitled “Echoes of Echoes” that was short–about 1500 words–that described how Tolkien uses the structure of “Beowulf” to add depth and a sense of antiquity and sorrow to “Lord of the Rings.” I need to expand it considerably and will discuss more of the little-known sources Tolkien used (it annoys me to no end that most critics point only to the origin of the dwarf names in the Hobbit (which Tolkien lifted directly from the Old Icelandic poem “Voluspa”) and that the “Kalevala” has singing, dueling wizards similar to Gandalf and Saruman in LOTR, and then quickly move on; while both statements are certainly true it does a disservice to the whole of northern European literature Tolkien drew from and isn’t very insightful) as well as using the “but those are lost stories” backdrop Tolkien uses liberally in LOTR, something he found most moving in “Beowulf.”

I finally read the entire “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” by Tolkien the other day. Considering how highly it’s regarded as criticism of the poem it’s damn hard to find other than excerpts. The Norton and other annotated editions have pared down versions. Turns out I’d read probably 85% of it in various places. [sarcasm]The last 15% only had to do with uninteresting things–things like the nature of the Greek gods, the Norse gods, and the Christian God. And who really cares about that?[end sarcasm]