This article examines some possibilities of comparative interpretation of literary texts and performance, as a means to expand anthropology’s thematic repertoire. The inquirys located in the borders among anthropology, history and comparative literature. Understanding interpretation as a kind of dialogue, take in account the reflexive dimension of the works of art, the notion of performance as both act and way of utilizing language, and the problems of context – including the relations among the context of the situation, history and culture – at the analysis of the relationship between romanticist literature and peasant oral tradition, in the specific context of Fnnish epic poetry.
context; dialogue; epic; literature; oral tradition; performance