Hans Fromm and Lore Fromm

The translation in trochaic octameter by Hans Fromm (1919–2008) and Lore Fromm (1915–2013), published in 1967, was the final breakthrough for the epic tale in the German speaking regions. The new translation was initiated by the publishing company, which is something of an exception. The publishing company Carl Hanser, based in Munich, was interested in the Kalevala due to the fact that the director of the literature department at that time, professor Herbert Göpfert (1907–2007) personally liked the epic. The plan was that the translation of the Kalevala was to become the first part in a new series presenting literary classics. Already during the planning phase of the project, Göpfert wanted to add a research based commentary section to the epic. This can be seen in the correspondence between Göpfert and the academician, professor Hans Fromm (1919–2008), who was a professor of German philology and Fenno-Ugric science. At first, he planned that the Kalevala would be translated and edited by the Austrian-Israeli philosopher Martin Buber, but in the end, the contract on the translation and the commentary section was signed with Hans and Lore Fromm in 1960.

The editorial process of the Kalevala turned out to be very time consuming since “prof. Fromm had, during the course of the work, realised that the original plan, which was to correct mistakes in Schiefner’s old translation by comparing it to the Finnish original text, would not be sufficient.

The fact was that these corrections were becoming a new translation of the Kalevala from the Finnish language.

Furthermore, the commentary section written by professor Fromm, which includes an extensive overall introduction to the whole research field of the Kalewala-epic, presents a summary of all the current international research findings on this topic, and it is quite impressive, alongside the works of Lord and Bowran.”

Thus, it was not only Göpfert’s goal to do a new translation, but also to produce a commentary section that would meet international criteria and reach the same scientific level as the works by Albert B. Lord and C. M. Bowran on heroic poetry. The text and the commentary sections were published as separate books in 1967.

Marketing efforts

The New Kalevala, which for the first time had Lönnrot’s name on its cover (Kalevala. Das finnische Epos des Elias Lönnrot, The Kalevala. The Finnish epic by Elias Lönnrot), was marketed to a wide audience. At first, it was included in a catalogue of new books (distribution 120 000 catalogues) together with other novelties. A presentation booklet of the Kalevala was also made. 10 000 copies were printed of the booklet. Furthermore, 650 university bookstores that focused on religious studies, anthroposophy and theosophy received their own presentation booklets. The aim of this selection was to anticipate as wide and diverse a range of readers of the epic as possible. Also, the Kalevala was introduced, for example, in newspaper ads, through direct marketing and on the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1967.

The Kalevala sold very well in the beginning and slightly less than 900 copies of its text section were sold when it was published, 655 copies of the commentary section were sold. This can be regarded as a success. However, H. Fromm was not satisfied with the marketing of the books. Neither was he happy with the relatively high price of the books in hard cover, which made it more difficult to sell the books to, for example, students. The Hanser publishing company was not interested in a new printing of the book and, consequently, H. Fromm contacted both the Reclam and the Dtv publishers and hoped that these would publish a more affordable pocket book version. Dtv agreed to publish a pocket book edition in 1979, however, under the condition that the Kalevala would be published as one book and with a shorter commentary section. This abridged version was later published as a pocket book in 1985 by the Reclam publishing company. There was a demand for this version at that time – and the demand still exists today.

A success according to the critics

The success of the translation by Lore and Hans Fromm can also be seen in the numerous reviews of the book. The reviews can be categorised, according to where they have been published, into reviews published in scientific journals that focus on literature research, and on the other hand, into reviews in newspapers and magazines as well as on the radio. When we study and analyse reviews, we usually take notice of the internal aesthetic value of them. When we study reviews of the Kalevala from an aesthetic point of view, we can categorise them according to how the writer of the review valued the Kalevala and how factual and scientific as well as polemic the reviews were, as well as how much they aimed at forming opinions.

The purpose of the reviews that are factual and scientific is both to present facts and publish research findings – for example, linguistic and literary research findings – in journals that are mostly read by people who are academically interested in the topic. The polemic opinions that were published in newspapers led to public discussions. They focused on the comment that was printed on the inside page of the Kalevala translation that said that the book by Fromm was translated from the original book in the Finnish language (”[aus] dem finnischen Urtext”). This was also emphasised by the publishing companies in their marketing material. The purpose of this was to point out that the translation was unique and not dependent on the earlier published translations. Immediately after the Kalevala and its commentary section was published this comment evoked discussions if it was a justified comment or not, both in the newspapers and on the radio. The German author and literary critic Werner Helwig published his review of the Kalevala on the radio (Hessischer Rundfunk) and in several different newspapers. He commented on the topic as follows:

“The interested ordinary person thinks that this is something quite else than the translation by Schiefner-Buber. However, if he, in his own way, compares samples of Schiefner-Buber’s book with Fromm’s translation, he will, undoubtedly, get the impression that in this translation a surprisingly big part of the poetic presentation is a word-by-word loan from the translation by Schiefner-Buber, not only when it comes to single verses, but regarding whole sections of verses.”

Reviews of the Fromms’ translations were presented, besides on the radio, also in local and national newspapers. The Hanser publishing company arranged these news conferences for the press. The first national review was written by a colleague of H. Fromm, the Fenno-Ugric researcher Marie-Elisabeth Schmeidler (1920–2011), who pointed out the high level of quality of the translation, its uniqueness as the first version that was translated from Finnish and, particularly, the scientific value of the commentary section. These were, in fact, the aspects that the publisher and the translators wanted to be pointed out. Furthermore, the publishing company was praised for the beautiful layout of the book, which, according to Schmeidler, was compatible to the meaning of the Kalevala. These aspects were brought up in a positive manner in almost all other reviews as well.

It is interesting that also the anthroposophists found the translation by the Fromms to be very good: Andreas Neider wrote in 1985 “All things considered, the book that you really like to take into your hands and its soft linguistic rhythm make you want to dive into this great Finnish epic tale and its amazing pictorial world over and over again”. However, it was stated that the spiritual scientific research results by Rudolf Steiner, in particular regarding myths and fairy tales, should be added to the commentary section.

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Voßschmidt, Liisa: “Saksan kautta eurooppalaiselle kulttuuriareenalle” – Kalevala maailmalla. Helsinki: SKS. 2012.