Translating iconicity from finnish into english: the case of the Kalevala

The Finnish epic poem Kalevala (18491) is a written transcription leaning mainly on a collection of ancient narrative songs of the Finnish people. This means that when trying to translate the written Kalevala into another language, the relationship between the content-text and the organization of the texture – that is, the way the particular linguistic realizations fit the goings-on as a whole – shifts from a singer’s memory-based creative process in front of a live audience to a translator’s reaction in the presence of a written product