Raamat ja lugeja
The book and the reader

Summary/Abstract: The main purposes of literature can be divided into three: literature for benefit (being useful, beneficial to life according to Horace), literature for entertainment, and literature for its own sake (l’art pour l’art). The relationship between writers and literature and political power can be divided into five: indifference, cooperation and collaboration with power, resistance to power, and resilience for the preservation of literature. I argue that the purposes of reading and its relations with power can also be analyzed in the same terms. In my essay, I examine the changes in the purposes of Estonian literature and reading, and in their relations with power, from the beginning of Estonian-language literature to the present day. The analysis reveals six major periods: from the beginning of Estonian literature to the establishment of the Young-Estonia movement in 1905; from Young-Estonia to the authoritarian rule of Konstantin Päts in the Estonian Republic in the 1930s; the Päts era until World War II; the post-war Stalin period until 1956; the later Soviet era until perestroika; and the contemporary era. Before Young-Estonia, beneficial literature and beneficial reading were the only variants. During the Russification period of the late 1880s, the authorities of Tsarist Russia banned national historical prose but were generally indifferent to literature. In the subsequent periods, beneficial literature also remained central. The Young Estonians introduced literature for its own sake, which became another significant trend and disappeared only during the Stalinist ban. Entertainment literature existed in Estonia in the form of popular fiction, but international genre fiction (crime, sci-fi et al.) became a real trend only in the 1990s. Since then, the role of fiction as entertainment has increased. The attitude of political power towards literature has shifted between indifference, prohibition and guidance. The Tsarist period was marked by occasional prohibitions; the Päts era by guidance; the Stalinist era by guidance, prohibition, and command; and the later Soviet period by relatively limited prohibition. In the last 30 years, indifference has predominated. At the same time, writers and literature themselves have followed their own rhythm. The Young Estonians distanced themselves from power; the avant-garde of the early 1920s constituted a literature of resistance and was critical of authority. During Päts’s rule, both cooperation with and resistance to power could be found. The Stalinist era was characterized by the collaboration of writers with the regime; from the 1960s onward collaboration disappeared and was replaced by resistance and resilience. The post-Soviet period, however, has been characterized primarily by distancing from power. At the same time, it seems that resilience has been a characteristic feature of literature throughout the entire period. In the case of reading, a distinction must be made between voluntary reading at home and compulsory reading, represented primarily by schools. School reading has always been focused on benefit and has avoided entertainment. It has also maintained a limited focus on literary form, except during the Stalinist period, when this aspect was eliminated. School reading has mostly supported the resilience of literature, except during the Stalinist era. Outside of school, entertainment reading has been dominant. Reading for its own sake and reading for benefit have remained small branches, associated primarily with more educated readers. Reading at home has generally been indifferent to power, except during the post-Stalin Soviet period, when it was largely characterized by resilience and resistance. Reading became a unifying force for Estonians as a nation at the end of the nineteenth century and during the Soviet era and functioned primarily as a dividing factor in the first half of the twentieth century and in the contemporary era. At the same time, the differentiating role of reading has become stronger today than it was before, and the voluntary reading of Estonian literature in the Estonian language is becoming an important means of cultural resilience and linguistic resistance. In the contemporary period, three new forces have emerged that influence Estonian literature and reading in Estonian: the English language, AI, and audiobooks. One result of this is the rise of entertainment reading; another result is the cooperation of many readers with new powers and the abandonment of ensuring the resilience of Estonian literature.

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