Kaarle Krohn - Career

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. Later, 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 a chairman of the Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura). Krohn was a co-founder of the magazines Virittäjä (1896) and Finno-ugrische Forschungen (Finno-Ugric research) together with Emil Nestor Setälä (1901). He was also famous for his 'historical-geographical' approach to comparing folklore texts. In 1918, Krohn published Kalevalankysymyksia (Kalevala Questions), a two-volume hand book designed for students of Finnish Folk poetry. Eight years later, he reworked the book for a forgien audience, added folktale examples and published it as Die folkloristiche Arbeitsmethode (Folklore Methodology), which since that time has served as the standard reference work for the Finnish Method.

In 1932, a year before he died, Krohn returned once more to folklore research. He published a review of international folktale scholarship that was based largely on the methodological approach he had developed, called Übersicht über einige Resultate der Märchenforschung (A review of some results of folktale research).