Kaarle Krohn

Kaarle Krohn (10 May 1863 – 19 July 1933) was a Finnish folklorist, professor and developer of the geographic-historic method of folklore research. He was born into the influential Krohn family of Helsinki. Krohn is best known outside of Finland for his contributions to international folktale research. He devoted most of his life to the study of the epic poetry that forms the basis for the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.

Early life

Krohn was born in Helsinki. He was the son of journalist and poet Julius Krohn, and his sisters were Finnish authors Aune, Helmi and Aino Kallas. Krohn is best known outside of Finland for his contributions to international folktale research.

Krohn passed his matriculation exams in 1880, earned his candidacy degree in 1883 at University of Helsinki, and completed his doctorate in 1888. At the age of 18, he conducted field research in northern Karelia. From January 1884 to June 1885, he traveled through Finland collecting samples of Finnish folklore. During his collecting, he focused mainly on folktales because he thought they had been overlooked in the search for epic songs. His doctoral thesis, "Bär (Wolf) und Fuchs, eine nordische Tiermärchenkette [Bear (wolf) and fox: A Nordic animal-tale chain (1888)", based on his folktale collection and using his father's historical-geographical method, won him an immediate international reputation and brought him fast academic advancement.

Career

In 1888, he was named docent of Finnish and comparative literature at University of Helsinki. In 1889, he was named acting professor of Finnish and Finnish literature and in 1898, extraordinary personal professor of Finnish and comparative folklore. In 1898, Krohn became a full professor at the University of Helsinki for Finnish and comparative folklore. In 1908, when a permanent chair in Finnish and comparative folklore was established, he became its first occupant. In 1907, he created the Federation of Folklore Fellows' Communications with his friends Johannes Bolte and Axel Olrik. In 1917, he became chairman of the Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura). Krohn was a co-founder of the magazines Virittäjä (1896) and Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen together with Emil Nestor Setälä (1901). He was also famous for his 'historical-geographical' approach to comparing folklore texts.