Book– The Story of Kullervo

Book - The Story of Kullervo

By: J.R.R Tolkien, 

Also : Verlyn Flieger (edit and comments)

Score: 10/10

Year: 2015

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN 978-0-00-813138-8

Pages : XXIII-168 

Language: English

For a change, it's not Christopher Tolkien who brings our attention to a previously unknown work of fantasy by his J.R.R. Tolkien. This one comes from Verylyn Flieger, editing and commenting The Story of Kullervo. 

As she tells us about the process, JRR had read the 1907 English translation of the Kalevala during his last year at King Edwards School in Birmingham, in 1910-11. Shortly thereafter - in 1911 - he burrowed a book on Finnish Grammar, wishing to read the story in its original language - and arrived at the conclusion that W.F Kirby's translation was poor - though Tolkien would confess that he also had difficulties learning Finnish.

Nonetheless, he understood the connection between story and language, and deeply influenced his inspiration both in inventing/creating his own languages and towards storytelling.

As Verlyn Flieger points out, it's very difficult to pin-point this story's composition, set between 1912 at the earliest possible (following the sequence just mentioned), and finishing no later than 1916, when Tolkien was posted in France for his military service in WW1.

Perhaps the core composition can be ascertained in 1914 - as per his letter to his then-fiancé Edith Bratt in October of that year might suggest. 

In a way, this (short) Story of Kullervo is a fanfic and re-writing attempt. Indeed, this character from the Kalevala where, in Elias Lönnrot 1835 compilation of Finnish stories (that he read in the translation), and which seems to have mixed-up several sources, is already a sad tale, but in Tolkien's hand, takes a darker, even tragic, turn for absolute doom. 

Kullervo son of Kalervo is a couple generations down from a swan (animism influences in the original story). He is orphaned after his father's murdered and his mother's abducted ; he is also sold into slavery, hated by his new family, grows in ill-temper and on a quest of vengeance... 

On the other hand, he has some abilities and protections : he learns magic from his guardian, the black dog Musti. He inherited a knife from his father, and though he's generally alone, the love from his twin sister, Wanona, helps sooth his life - only for a bit. 

Tolkien said this story was ‘the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own’, and ‘a major matter in the legends of the First Age’. Tolkien’s hapless Kullervo is a luckless, orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny ; he can easily be seen as a clear ancestor of Túrin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion, also told in fuller in the Children of Hurin. 

The Story of Kullervo – published for the first time with the author’s drafts, notes and lecture-essays on its source-work, The Kalevala – is a foundational stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world and what would become what is known as his Legendarium. 

In reading it, we see the shift from a retelling and combining stories into a single narrative (instead of the mixed-up Lönnrot version), first using the original names, into his own, newly invented - on the spot? - names for these characters, as they interact and grow, as the mixture of epic story and long stretches of poems unravels this tale - before it is abruptly cut, only followed by draft plot synopses (see pages 45-47 in this book), his ideas on how he wanted to pursue and finish the story - much in the image of many unfinished pieces in History of Middle-Earth would have. 

Because of the accidental incest and some material, Kullervo is by no means a happy or easy tale to read - in fact, its epic doom looms from start to the abrupt un-finished-end, makes it a tough pill and may have some triggers (I'll share them bellow the following table of content and my comments about them).

P. vi has a list of plates (there are 6 of them)

p. vii is a forward, and ix to xxii the introduction. Both by Verlyn Flieger, giving the backstory of Kullervo and Tolkien's first experiences of the Kalevala, but also the earliest influenced it had on the Qenya, which would give, eventually, birth to the fuller elvish language, Quenya. 

The tale itself, Kullervo, runs from p.1 - 40. 

Followed by List of Names p. 41-44 (including plates) ; Draft plot synopses (45-47) ; Notes and commentary (again by V. Flieger), giving references to the pages and lines she explains, instead of using numbers, she felt would interrupt the flow of reading. 

Introduction to the essays, p. 63-65. 

The essays themselves are both by Tolkien, and used for talks (conferences) he'd give later on, in November 1914, February 1915 for the first essay, and a less determined date for the second, but post WW1 Armistice of November 1918 must be assumed - based on a reference  'the late war' within the text.

Thus, 

• the first essay is On the Kalevala, or Land of Heroes (p.67-89) + Verlyn's  notes and commentary (p.91-98)
• and the second is simply called The Kalevala (p.99-125) + Verlyn's notes and commentary (p.127-131), I find most of the texts in these two essays to be very similar, and I was able to hasten my pace because of all the identical portions. 

The book ends with Tolkien, Kalevala and the Story of Kullervo, by Verlyn Flieger (p. 133-164) and Bibliography (p.165-168)

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I end this review with the trigger topics:

Besides accidental incest, mentions of murder and suicide