Kullervo

About

Kivi's Kullervo (1864) draws on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, to dramatize the story of Kullervo — a doomed hero who lives under a curse from birth, commits an unknowing act of incest, and is ultimately destroyed by fate. The play is Finland's closest equivalent to Greek tragedy, and Sibelius's Kullervo Symphony (1892) was composed in direct response to it. Kivi's verse is extraordinarily powerful; the play established tragedy as a legitimate form for Finnish-language literature and remains the most ambitious work he completed.