Cultural Fennomania of the 1830s

The chapter is devoted to the development of the Finnish national movement in the intermediate decade between the first period of national awakening of the Finnish people in the 1810s–1820s associated with the activities of the Turku Romantics and the second period of national awakening of the Finns in the 1840s, when the philosopher J.V. Snellman formulated the ideology of the Finnish national movement in his articles and letters. The chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of cultural Fennoman movement of the 1830s, little studied in historiography, it is based on sources—the works of figures of the cultural stage of the Fennoman movement, folklore collector E. Lönnrot and the first national poet of Finland J.L. Runeberg. The idea that language and culture played a decisive role in the formation of the Finnish nation formed the basis for the activities of the cultural Fennomans of the first half of the nineteenth century, who saw their primary tasks in the creation of a modern literary Finnish language, the collection of Finnish folklore, the development of a modern Finnish national literature, and the organization of publications that would help to awaken the national consciousness of the Finnish people. In the 1830s, the Fennoman movement continued to develop in the direction of national romanticism, based on the foundation laid during the first period of Finland’s national awakening. Thanks to the work of J.L. Runeberg, the educated circles of Finnish society began to develop an idea of Finland’s nature and Finnish national character. The emergence of the national epic Kalevala helped Finns to realize the originality and richness of their ancient history and culture. The creator of the epic, E. Lönnrot, continued the work on the development and improvement of the Finnish literary language begun by his predecessors in the 1810s–1820s. An important role in the formation of the Fennoman movement was played by the emergence of the first associations of its figures—the “Saturday Society” and the “Society of Finnish Literature”, the latter of which began to coordinate the activities of the patriotic forces of Finland. On the whole, the majority of the early Fennomans considered Finns to be a “non-political nation” with no political interests and interested only in the development of national culture and language. The analysis made it possible to present a complete picture of the development of the cultural stage of the Fennoman movement in the 1830s.