Matti Kuusi
Encyclopedia
Matti Kuusi was a Finnish
folklorist, paremiographer and paremiologist. He wrote several books and a number of articles on Finnish folklore. He was the first to have introduced the type system of proverbs à la AT System of folklore, the Matti Kuusi international type system of proverbs. He founded the journal Proverbium: Bulletin d'Information sur les Recherches Parémiologiques, published from 1965 to 1975 by the Society for Finnish Literature, which was later restarted as Proverbium: International Yearbook of Proverb Scholarship
. He was a member of the noble family Granfelt, but his father had fennicized his original Swedish surname to express his political sympathies.
During his study period in the 1930s, Matti Kuusi was involved with nationalist political organizations. In the 1950s, he was appointed as the Professor of Folklore in the University of Helsinki, and later as the member of the Academy of Finland, becoming a nationally celebrated intellectual. Although his personal research specialties were Finnish epic poetry
and proverbs, he developed the folklore studies in Finland by encouraging research of urban legends and pop-lore. He took also interest in African folklore.
Among the scientific achievements of Matti Kuusi, one of the most influential has been the rough chronology he established for the various layers of Finnish epics, based on stylistic analysis, motifs and comparisons with Old Scandinavian and Russian epics.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
folklorist, paremiographer and paremiologist. He wrote several books and a number of articles on Finnish folklore. He was the first to have introduced the type system of proverbs à la AT System of folklore, the Matti Kuusi international type system of proverbs. He founded the journal Proverbium: Bulletin d'Information sur les Recherches Parémiologiques, published from 1965 to 1975 by the Society for Finnish Literature, which was later restarted as Proverbium: International Yearbook of Proverb Scholarship
Proverbium (journal)
Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship is an academic journal devoted to paremiology, the study of proverbs. It is published annually by the University of Vermont and has been edited by Wolfgang Mieder, professor of German and folklore at the university, since the journal's...
. He was a member of the noble family Granfelt, but his father had fennicized his original Swedish surname to express his political sympathies.
During his study period in the 1930s, Matti Kuusi was involved with nationalist political organizations. In the 1950s, he was appointed as the Professor of Folklore in the University of Helsinki, and later as the member of the Academy of Finland, becoming a nationally celebrated intellectual. Although his personal research specialties were Finnish epic poetry
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
and proverbs, he developed the folklore studies in Finland by encouraging research of urban legends and pop-lore. He took also interest in African folklore.
Among the scientific achievements of Matti Kuusi, one of the most influential has been the rough chronology he established for the various layers of Finnish epics, based on stylistic analysis, motifs and comparisons with Old Scandinavian and Russian epics.