Selma Borg 1882
Selma Borg (1838–1921?), who was born in Kokkola, was a very important, but nearly forgotten, Finnish cultural ambassador in the United States. There is not much written about her, but Borg’s merits were known both in her home country and in the United States.
Ernest John Moyne wrote the following about her in his comprehensive article ”Kalevalan käännökset Amerikassa” (in English: “The translations of the Kalevala in America”).
Several new translations of Finnish and Swedish literature emerged in the United States during the 1870’s. The translations were made by Selma Borg and Marie A. Brown. Selma Borg was an intellectual Finnish woman, who was well educated. She arrived in America in 1864. Her work aimed at raising the awareness in the United States of the Kalevala and Finnish culture. Even though she worked as a translator she gained more acclaim within music than within literature.
Selma Borg was related to the mother of the world-renowned composer Jean Sibelius and she presented Finnish music to the American people through her publication Lays of Sweden and Finland, Svenska och Finska Sånger, which was a book comprising the lyrics and music to 30 songs. The book was published in 1876.
In 1878–1882 Selma Borg lived in Boston where she was an active participant in the cultural life of the city. For example, in 1882 she gave four lectures in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the benefit of the city hospital. Her lectures were on the topics ”Kalevala, the Epic of the Finnic Race”, ”History of Finland and Northern Europe”, ”Travel Around the Baltic” and ”Russia, her People, and her Czar”. A magnificent concert, that was conducted by Selma Borg herself, performed Finnish music and was a tremendous finale to the series of lectures.
Selma Borg was praised as a brilliant writer, lecturer and musical persona by the American newspapers, and for her series of lectures in Cambridge, Selma Borg prepared a translation of the first poem in the Kalevala. This translation was published in 1882 and its name was Kalevala, The Finnish National Epic.
In her introduction, Selma Borg wrote some verses in the first part of the Kalevala in Finnish and she also gave her readers a short presentation of the contents of the epic. She was not aware of other translations of the Kalevala in the United States, because she regarded her own as the first one that had been published. She also started to translate the whole epic into English, but this was never published and it is believed that Selma Borg died before she had completed the work.
From: Ernest John Moyne: “Kalevalan käännökset Amerikassa” – Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 29. Helsinki: WSOY. 1949.