Murder chants and other sorrow

Emotions and emotional communities in oral-written sources

Authors

• Anna Huhtala Tampereen yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3446-9299
• Niina Hämäläinen Kalevalaseura / Helsingin yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8788-9065
• Hanna Karhu Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4693-9382

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.121513

Keywords:

tunteet, tunneyhteisö suullis-kirjalliset aineistot

Abstract

The article examines what kind of emotional expressions of sorrow and worry appeared in broadsides, the Kanteletar as well as rhyme couplets and written poetry based on them in the long 19^th century. The analysis is particularly targeted to the emotional community and its formation in oral-written sources. One of the main questions of the article is of what kind of shared emotions or emotional communities can be specified from the sources in question. Further, whose emotions are present and how emotional behavior of the peasant is evident or to what extent literary representations repeat or – as it might be – disclaim established perceptions of Finnish emotional culture.

In respect of broadsides the focus is on experience of emotion in which content, music, and performance itself play a crucial role. Besides, the emotional community based on writers and consumers of the broadsides are scrutinized as well as what role the community had on expression of emotions. In analyzing the Kanteletar by Elias Lönnrot the question is of manipulation of oral sources into written form: how the oral songs of sorrow and worry and their emotional atmosphere are modified to create literary representation and how Lönnrot generated a specific emotional community for the readers. The ideals of the 19^th century are of importance to the analysis. Rhymed couplets and written art poetry based on them of the late 19^th century are examined by focusing on the contradiction of the emotional expression by the singer of the poetry and community. The unity of the emotional community is questioned in these texts.

The analysis of different kinds of oral-written texts illuminates not only the expressions of emotions and emotional community in literature and by the elite but by the peasant. The idea of shared emotions varies and is present more clearly in some of the analyzed texts than the others. The article brings new perspectives on textualization processes of emotions and deepens our understanding of the emotional communities of the peasant by emphasizing silenced emotions and incongruity of emotional experiences.