PhD Thesis Defence of Hasso Krull

On 9 December at 14:00 Hasso Krull will defend his thesis “Cosmic Trickster in Estonian Mythology” (“Kosmiline trikster eesti mütoloogias”).

The public defence will be held in EKA (Põhja pst 7), room A501.
The defence will be broadcast on EKA TV.
The defence is in Estonian.

Supervisors: Prof. Virve Sarapik, (Estonian Academy of Arts), Dr. Margus Ott (Estonian University of Life Sciences)
External reviewers: Prof. Ülo Valk (University of Tartu), Dr. Jaan Undusk (Member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Under and Tuglas Literature Centre)
Opponents: Prof. Ülo Valk, Dr. Jaan Undusk

An Estonian mythology, does it really exist? Yes, but only on one condition: it exists, if the Estonian landscape equally exists. Cosmic trickster is the creator of the Estonian landscape. Therefore, the Estonian landscape is a mythical landscape, appearing and becoming visible to us after we have acquired the mythical narrative.

Until today, the Estonian mythology has been described either following a taxonomic or a concentric model. Neither of them should be underestimated. I propose a new concentric model focusing on the cosmic trickster. He often acts as one pole of a creator pair.

Trickster was already active in a primordial creation time, when everything was still in flux and even the stones were soft. Landscape carries many visual signes of his activity: rocks and stones, sources, rivers and lakes, mountains and valleys. This landscape is different from the modern landscape, that is dominated by a homogenuous space without any mythical dimension.

The treatise is divided into four parts. First part analyzes the concept of the trickster. Second part describes the course of mythologial studies in the 19th Century. Third part explores the creation myth, where the central protagonist is the trickster. Fourth part observes the return of the trickster in literature. Finally there is an exodus, outlining a project of a mythical ecology.

The thesis is available HERE.

Defence Committee: Prof. Andres Kurg, Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Krista Kodres, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Hilkka Hiiop, Prof. Aigi Rahi-Tamm, Prof. Eneken Laanes