Kaarle Krohn
Kaarle Krohn was a Finnish folklorist, professor and developer of the geographichistoric method of folklore research. He was born in Helsinki. He was the son of journalist and poet Julius Krohn, and his sister was Aino Kallas, a Finnish author. Krohn is best known outside of Finland for his contributions to international folktale research. He devoted most of his life to the study of the epic poetry that forms the basis for the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.
In 1918, Krohn published Kalevalankysymyksia , a twovolume hand book designed for students of Finnish Folk poetry. In Kalevala Questions Krohn completely reworked his position on the historicity of the Kalevala. Krohn had previously argued that the Kalevala evolved from small poetic germ cells that merged to form a heroic epic. In Kalevala Questions he instead took the position that the poems were born as complete works, and had fragmented over time. Krohn argued that the poems were composed at the same time as the Scandinavian Viking Age, and were accounts of real historical events. This was in stark contrast to his previous view of the Kalevala as a work of Medieval origin that borrowed significantly from hagiography. While Krohn attributed his change in opinion to his further analysis of observed facts, he also admitted the influence of the political climate that had emerged following Russification and the Finnish Declaration of Independence. Writing for the nationalist paper Uusi S
Source: Wikipedia