| Marjatta Jauhiainen: The Type and Motif Index of Finnish Belief Legends and Memorates. Revised and enlarged edition of Lauri Simonsuuri’s Typen- und Motivverzeichnis der finnischen mythischen Sagen (FFC No. 182). Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia (Academia Scientiarum Fennica). 1998. 362 pp. ISBN 051-41-0834-5 (hardback) 31 euros (hardback) |
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| Lauri Simonsuuri’s Typen- und Motivverzeichnis der finnischen mythischen Sagen (FFC 182), published in 1961 and reprinted in 1987, became a classic among the national legend catalogues. Marjatta Jauhiainen’s work not only updates and brings into English the catalogue, it is a thorough revision and enlargement of the classification system itself. In the introduction she surveys the history of collecting and the progress of belief-legend cataloguing on the international scene providing a concordance with Reidar Th. Christiansen’s The Migratory Legends (FFC 175, 1958/1992). A clarification of key terms, a subject directory and a map displaying tradition areas in Finland help the reader to orientate in the exceptionally rich store of belief legends and memorates.
MARJATTA JAUHIAINEN, M.A., is Special Researcher at the Folklore Archive of the Finnish Literature Society. She has done fieldwork in Finland and among the old Finnish population around St. Petersburg in Russia. Her publications include works on local and profession-oriented traditions, the history of collecting, the techniques of archiving, and the analysis of belief legends. |
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