Original scientific paper

Cultural Heritage in Picturebooks: Mauri Kunnas’s Doghill and The Canine Kalevala

Merja Leppälahti ; University of Turku, Finland

Abstract

Some of Mauri Kunnas’s picturebooks are examined as bearers of Finnish cultural heritage. His Doghill series conveys heritage by describing country life in 19th-century western Finland. Kunnas’s The Canine Kalevala is an adaptation of the Finnish epic The Kalevala and also includes several adaptations of Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s Kalevala paintings. Both The Kalevala and the paintings of Gallen-Kallela, held in high esteem in Finland, are adapted for child readers by Kunnas, who retells the story by using animal characters, omits problematic issues and adds humour to make it more appropriate for children. An informed adult reader reads The Canine Kalevala as an adaptation of The Kalevala, with an understanding of complex cultural and literary references, while a child reader sees the book as a new, exciting story.

Keywords

adaptation; Doghill series; Akseli Gallen-Kallela; heritage; Kalevala; Mauri Kunnas; picturebooks

Hrčak ID:

149062

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/149062

Publication date:

26.10.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian german

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