Venue: University of Tartu History Museum (Toome Hill, Lossi 25)
Organisers: The Centre of Excellence in Cultural Theory, the Estonian Literary Museum and the Institute for Cultural Research and Fine Arts, University of Tartu.
Tuesday 29.11.2011
10.15–10.30 Symposium opening (University of Tartu History Museum, White Hall)
10.30–11.15 Plenary lecture: David Elton Gay (Bloomington, IN, USA) The Idea of an Epic: Some Problems of Genre Definition
11.15–11.45 Coffee/tea break
11.45–12.30 Plenary lecture: Dmitry Funk (Moscow, Russia) The Last Shor Epic Singer
12.30–14.00 Lunch
14.00–15.30 Two parallel sessions
White Hall
Chair: Ergo-Hart Västrik
Lotte Tarkka (Helsinki, Finland) The Dialogue of Genres in Kalevala-Metre Oral Epics
Tiina Kirss (Tallinn, Estonia) Core and Trunk: The Textuality of the Kalevipoeg in Estonian Culture
Frog (Helsinki, Finland) Traditional Epic as Genre: Definition as a Foundation for Comparative Research
Conference Hall
Chair: Cornelius Hasselblatt
Niina Hämäläinen (Turku, Finland) Emotions and Authenticity. Reflections on the Epoch in the Kalevala
Liina Lukas (Tartu, Estonia) The Baltic-German Sagendichtung around the Kalevipoeg
Aldis Pūtelis (Riga, Latvia) The Epic Need for an Epic: Latvian Literary Epics of the Late 19th Century
15.30–16.00 Coffee/tea break
16.00–17.30 Two parallel sessions
White Hall
Chair: Frog
Mari Sarv (Tartu, Estonia) The Success Story of a Verse Form
Madis Arukask (Tartu, Estonia) Lamenting Kalevipoeg
Rein Veidemann (Tallinn, Estonia) The Epic Kalevipoeg as a Source of Principal Clauses of the Estonian Narrative
Conference Hall
Chair: Aldis Pūtelis
Hasso Krull (Tallinn, Estonia) The Mystified Landscape: The Kalevipoeg and the Reversal of Tradition
Marin Laak (Tartu, Estonia) Traces and Threads: The Kalevipoeg in Modern Estonian Culture
Kärt Summatavet (Tartu, Estonia) Mythology and the Artist’s Imagination
18.00 Reception by the City of Tartu in the Town Hall (for registered participants)
Wednesday 30.11.2011
10.00–11.30 Two parallel sessions
White Hall
Chair: Lotte Tarkka
Mare Kõiva (Tartu, Estonia) Kalevipoeg as the Basis of New Narrative Forms
Ülo Valk (Tartu, Estonia) The Kalevipoeg, Mediumship and Discursive Authority of the Other World
Mihály Hoppál (Budapest, Hungary) Heroic Epics of the World – Research History and Future Tasks
Conference Hall
Chair: Mari Sarv
Ranibala Khumukcham (Imphal, India): Folk Epic: A Study on KhambaThoibi of Manipur
Paul Hagu (Tartu, Estonia) A wave of Epics in Setomaa (1920–1930)
Sonja Petrović (Belgrade, Serbia) Oral Epic Tradition about the Battle of Kosovo 1389: Story Models, Forms, Ideologies
11.30–12.00 Coffee/tea break
12.00–13.30 Two parallel sessions
White Hall
Chair: Liina Lukas
Eve Pormeister (Tartu, Estonia) Das estnische Epos "Kalevipoeg" in der Spannung zwischen Nationalem und Menschheitlich-Universellem am Beispiel der Höllenfahrtszenen
Risto Järv (Tartu, Estonia) Construction of ‘Pre-Kalevipoeg’: K. Ganander/K. J. Peterson's Finnische Mythologie
Cornelius Hasselblatt (Groningen, Netherlands) German Rewritings of the Estonian Kalevipoeg. On the German Reception of the Estonian Epic in the 19th Century
Conference Hall
Chair: Jonathan Roper
Tatiana Bulgakova (St. Petersburg, Russia) The Motif of Competition in Siberian Shamanic Tales
Nina Yurchenkova (Saransk, Russia) From Mythology to Heroic Consciousness (Based on the Example of the Mordovian Epos)
Margaret Lyngdoh (Tartu, Estonia) Elements of Epic in Ritual among the Khasis
13.30–15.00 Lunch
15.00–16.30 Two parallel sessions
White Hall
Chair: Madis Arukask
Arne Merilai (Tartu, Estonia) The Kalevipoeg: Aspects of Authorship
Katre Kikas (Tartu, Estonia) "Dr. Kreutzwald Has Been Blamed…" A Village Tailor H. A. Schults Defending the Authenticity of Kreutzwald’s Kalevipoeg
Conference Hall
Chair: Mihály Hoppál
Jouni Hyvönen (Helsinki, Finland) Elias Lönnrot’s Ethno-historical View of the Finnish Mythology in the Kalevala
Pille-Riin Larm (Tartu, Estonia) Estonian Mythopoeia. Myths, Epics and Identity
Ott Heinapuu (Tartu, Estonia) Estonian Civil Religion: The Kalevipoeg and Sacred Oak Groves of Taara
16.30–17.00 Coffee/tea break
The abstracts can be downloaded here,
The symposium committee: Risto Järv (Estonian Literary Museum), Mare Kõiva (Estonian Literary Museum), Marin Laak (Estonian Literary Museum) and Ülo Valk (University of Tartu)
More information from the symposium secretaries: Mare Kalda ( kalda@folklore.ee; tel. +372 5340 4517) and Pihla Siim (pihla.siim@ut.ee; tel. +372 527 7927)
The symposium is supported by European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Cultural Theory).