Maailmakirjanduse retseptsiooniplahvatus Eestis. Lisandusi Noor-Eesti mõistmiseks
Explosive Reception of World Literature in Estonia:Addenda to a Better Understanding of the "Noor-Eesti"Movement

Summary/Abstract: The "Noor-Eesti" ("Young Estonian") cultural movement of 1905–1915, embracing literary almanacs, art exhibitions, the beginning of a linguistic reform, and a theatre reform, all with Gustav Suits, Friedebert Tuglas and Johannes Aavik as the main ideologues, laid the foundation to the whole cultural discourse of the 20th-century Estonia. This was also an "explosion" – if we may borrow the term from Juri Lotman – in the reception of world culture, incl. world literature. Owing to the activities of the Young Estonians, the Estonian literary culture, that had previously been based mainly on adaptations from German, first acquired the European perspective taken for granted today. The "Noor-Eesti" motto "More of European culture!" could as well be interpreted as a challenge presented by periphery to centre. Indeed, the early 20th-century Estonian culture represented even double periphery, as the Baltic German culture of Estonia was still trying to find its identity, while the vernacular culture had stagnated in national romanticist clichés. At the same time, there was a positive touch to the periphery: here, local semiosis could develop much more intensely than was characteristic of bigger European centres, while it was free from many a suppressive norm. It is truly remarkable how quickly (explosively!) the Estonian literature found its way in world literary movements and tendencies. Besides intensive translation of literature from Russian, the Scandinavian languages, and English, the early 20th century was important for metaliterary loans from Europe (literary and art theoretical, as well as philosophical discussions) reaching Estonia. All this can be followed, e.g. in the works of Anton Hansen Tammsaare, which make an intensive progress from impressionist over symbolist and expressionist phases, only to culminate in his synthetical pentalogy Tõde ja õigus ("Truth and Justice", 1926–1933), a symbolic work for Estonians throughout the 20th century. In addition, the explosion set off by the Young Estonians in the reception of world literature, lay the foundation to a new generation of writers, translators and critics (A. Annist, A. Oras, A. Aspel, J. Semper) who matured in the 1920s and 1930s. Owing to their systematic translation of literature as well as research done for writing afterwords and monographs, world literature became a natural part of the Estonian literary culture. As a result, the Estonian literary culture, too, became conscious of itself as a part of world literature.

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