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Review of: Balti kirjakultuuri ajalugu I. Keskused ja kandjad. Koostanud Liina Lukas. Autorid Vahur Aabrams, Meelis Friedenthal, Tiina-Erika Friedenthal, Katre Kaju, Tiina Kala, Kairit Kaur, Martin Klöker, Lea Leppik, L. Lukas, Anu Mänd, Pärtel Piirimäe, Ulrike Plath, Aivar Põldvee, Tiiu Reimo, Aiga Šemeta, Jaan Undusk, Kristi Viiding. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2021. 304 lk.
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The aim of the article is to examine what the Estonians’ idea of their own nationality was in the late 19th century. The empirical evidence comes from Estonian sailors’ travelogues from Japan, published in Estonian language press. Those travelogues, comparing own and other cultures, enable an analysis of how Estonians would depict and construct the Estonian nation, doing it from a considerable distance and against the background of another nation. The sailors could be relied on as people with a wide horizon and rich experience, while Japan is distant enough, both geographically and culturally, to provide a relatively neutral frame of reference. Earlier studies on the emergence of Estonian national identity and the national movement used to focus first and foremost either on the leaders of the movement or on its social aspects, practically neglecting the personal level. The Estonian press of the time did a good job mediating the seafarers’ experience of an exotic country to the Estonian readership. In describing their contacts with other ethnic groups they had, on the one hand, to make sense of being Estonian and, on the other hand, to render their experience in a language understandable to folks at home, resorting to a metaphor now and then. The article is based on altogether 30 travelogues of three Estonian seamen, published in the press from 1867-1900.
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According to statistics, over the last decade, and especially during the last five years, the importance of lyrical poetry as an art form in Western culture has started to grow again. The increasing popularity of both written and oral poetry is associated with the emergence of new media. Here, the platforms of the written poetry are text, photo or/and video sharing social networking services (at first Tumblr, now primarily Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), and of the oral poetry audio and video distribution media services (SoundCloud, Spotify, YouTube). Therefore, written poetry is no longer only traditional bookish poetry, and oral poetry is no longer confined to folklore. The aim of this article is to examine some attitudes and issues related to the emergence of this digital era poetry and to outline its main features and mechanisms of meaning. The analysis focuses on Estonian Insta-poetry and rap, studying how these subtypes of poetry, which originate from English-speaking cultures, have emerged after a time gap in a smaller literature and how they have changed the audience, the authors, and the meaning-making of poetry. Here, nine more or less intertwined levels that help to understand this turn in poetry are distinguished: (a) the primacy of a single poem, (b) two-way communication, (c) instant emotive communities, (d) the new lyrical self, (e) the intention of genuineness, (f) ephemerality, (g) brevity, (h) new textual relations, (i) visuality/intonation.
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Peeter Sauter’s novel “Indigo” was at the time of its publication in 1990 intuitively perceived (the core example is given here by the literary critic Maimu Berg) as a profound analysis of an individual, of a certain era or some phenomenon. This article opens up on these intuitions, taking special interest in the third part – Sauter’s writing as a symptom of a certain phenomenon in literary discourse that was not yet clearly distinguishable at the time. That phenomenon was the rapid change in literature’s public position in the 1990s, which is here described in terms of the proliferation of a democratic concept of literature. During this process a new, individual literary norm emerged according to which literature is the space of (maybe even radical) freedom: a new kind of “institution” which allows one to say anything, in any way, and which in Sauter’s case manifests itself most prominently in the disputes over obscene language. In this process of “democratization” of the literary field – where in the instance of evaluating the texts there occurs a shift from institution to reader – it is interesting to observe how attacks on aesthetic innovations become at times interpreted as attacks on newly gained political freedoms and vice versa, so that the notion of aesthetic democracy becomes indistinguishable from the notion of democracy in its juridico-political meaning. However, our ability to properly navigate between these different senses of democracy makes it possible to determine what is really at stake in these literary discussions – which are nothing less than a public struggle for meaning – during these abrupt changes.
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Review of: Marju Lepajõe. Pastorid ja kirjakultuur: kristliku humanismi variatsioonidest Eesti- ja Liivimaal XVII sajandi esimesel poolel. (Dissertationes theologiae Universitatis Tartuensis 34.) Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2018. 330 lk.
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Et sellise nimega asutus nagu Eesti Keele ja Kirjanduse Instituut on olnud olemas Stockholmis, tuleb kindlasti nii mõnelegi üllatusena. Nime põhjal pole raske arvata, et instituut tegeles eesti keele ja kirjandusega, aga vaid vähesed on oletatavasti kursis sellega, millega selle nime all Läänemere teisel kaldal tegeldi ja kes selle tegevuse taga seisid.
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Reviews of: Maarja Hollo. Kõik, mis oli, on suurem ja suurem. Artikleid eksiilist, traumast ja mälust. (EKLA töid kirjandusest ja kultuuriloost 10.) Tartu: EKM Teaduskirjastus, 2019. 221 lk. Sirly Hiiemäe. Kirjanik kübaraga. Lilli Prometi lugu. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 2019. 201 lk. Pildi sisse minek. Artikleid välitööde alalt. (Tänapäeva folkloorist 11.) Koostanud ja toimetanud Eda Kalmre. Tartu: EKM Teaduskirjastus, 2019. 224 lk.
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Reviews of: Valda Raud. Üks elu. Päevaraamat. Kirjad. Tõlked. Koostanud Ela Tomson. Saatetekstid Anu Raud ja Jaan Tammsalu. Tallinn: SE&JS, 2020. 360 lk. Mihkel Mutt. Töö ja armastus. Tammsaaret tuulates. [Tallinn:] Fabian, 2019. 207 lk. Rein Veidemann. Kui sõna on su saatus. Valitud esseid, pihtimusi, lausungeid. [Tallinn:] EKSA, 2019. 236 lk. Kanteletar. Soome kangelaslugusid, ballaade, tundelaule ja nõidusluulet. Koostanud ja tõlkinud August Annist. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2020. 624 lk.
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Review of: Andrus Kasemaa. Minu lõhn. Luuletusi 2015-2021. Tallinn: Tuum, 2021. 80 lk. Vana Kannel XIV. Peetri regilaulud. (Monumenta Estoniae antiquae I. Carmina popularia XIV.) Koost Ottilie Kõiva, Janika Oras. Tartu: EKM Teaduskirjastus, 2021. 997 lk. Eda Kalmre. Kriimani kriimud lood. Mõis ja saja-aastane küla. Kaasautorid Vahur Kalmre ja Aare Kasemets. Tartu: Kriimani Küla Selts, EKM Teaduskirjastus, 2022. 288 lk. Siirdeajastu kultuurimuutused. Cultural Changes of the Transition Period. (Philologia Estonica Tallinnensis 6.) Tallinn: Tallinna Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2021. 160 lk.
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8. oktoobrit 1922 peetakse Eesti Kirjanikkude Liidu asutamise daatumiks. Friedebert Tuglasest ei saa eesti kirjanduselu institutsionaliseerumise juures kuidagi mööda, seetõttu lugegem tema „Eluloolistest märkmetest” selle päeva sissekannet: „Kolmas kirjanike kongress Tallinna raekoja saalis. Koos 26 kirjanikku ja arvustajat. Kongressi avasin mina, juhatas Metsanurk. Andsin aru keskkomitee tegevusest. Otsustati senise keskkomitee volitused lõpetada, EKL kirjanike keskedustuseks tunnistada ja temale keskkomitee volitused ning varandused üle anda. Tegin ettepaneku EKL-u ajakirja asutamiseks ja, teiseks, kirjandusnädalate korraldamiseks.” Samal päeval toimus raekojas liidu 16 hääleõigusliku liikmega üldkoosolek ja juhatuse valimine, seejärel juhatuse koosolek. Tuglase märkus „Olin sedapuhku EKL-u esimeheks 8. X 1922 - 7. III 1923” sealsamas tõendab, et trükiversiooni aluseks võetud päevamärkmeid on Tuglas hiljem ja vahest korduvalt redigeerinud ja täiendanud. Nagu talle omane oli.
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Review of: Dr. Bertram. Balti visandid. Värvikaid lugusid 19. sajandi Eesti- ja Liivimaalt. Saksa keelest tõlkinud, kommentaarid ja järelsõna Pille Toompere. [Püünsi:] Kirjastus Bertram, 2022. 359 lk.
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Review of: Ello Kirsi Setomaal kogutud lood 1938-1940. (Monumenta Estoniae Antiquae VIII. Maailmade vahel I.) Tartu: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi folkloristika osakond, 2022. 565 lk.
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The focus of the article is on the depiction of oil shale mining, which had intensified after the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union in 1940, in Looming magazine during the first decades of the occupation. It also provides a brief overview of the coverage of the extraction of this natural resource during the Republic of Estonia: from the second half of the 1930, in particular, literature, art, film and photography began to be urged to cover topics deemed to be of national importance, while the exports of shale oil increased as a result of the armament of Nazi Germany.To the modern reader, the post-war Soviet Estonian propagandist literature on oil shale mining reads like a form of colonial violence or a consequence thereof, distorting both the object depicted and those who depicted it. The so-called oil shale literature of the time is meant to convey a message (Stalin’s socialist-realist writer as an engineer of human souls), while making concessions to form. The description of conditions emerges as a new genre. The authors published in Looming during that era often had a similar background: they had served in the Red Army or spent time in the Soviet home front or came from Russia, hence they had had time to acquire the main principles of socialist realism. Novice writers also began to produce texts. Both writers and artists were sent to cover the oil shale basin, and Looming makes up only a portion of the whole coverage (which includes film and news media). Texts in various genres that are dedicated to the extraction of natural resources come in waves after guidance and calls to depict the industry in connection with national economic planning and five-year periods. On the other hand, there are periods where whole issues go by without a word on Estonia’s most important industry. The oil shale narrative centres on a grand industry and the wondrous Stalinist mining town(s) built for it, reframing the local history of the extraction of this resource from the perspective of the occupying power.
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The Stalin Prize (established in 1939) was awarded in two broad fields: for (1) groundbreaking scientific achievements and inventions, and (2) outstanding literary and artistic achievements. The procedure for selecting and nominating the candidates and making the final decision was overseen by the party apparatus and by Joseph Stalin personally. The prize was an instrument of exerting control over intellectual life as well as an important link in the system of social etiquette (recognition, perks and privilege) of the time. Especially noteworthy was the prize’s role in the introduction of the creative mode (so-called socialist realism) favoured by the regime. The prize bestowed for literary and artistic achievements received particular attention across the society. In the Estonian SSR, the Stalin Prize was awarded 55 times (to 42 people in total) between 1946 and 1952. In the field of literature, August Jakobson (1947, 1948), Hans Leberecht (1949) and Juhan Smuul (1952) received the prize. On 18 January 1949, the leaders of the Baltic Soviet Republics met with Stalin in the Kremlin, where a decision was made to carry out a large-scale deportation. The work notebook of the Estonian SSR party leader Nikolai Karotamm reveals that during the meeting Stalin heaped praise on Hans Leberecht’s recently published novella “Light in Koordi” (Valgus Koordis) (1948): “The man can see! Can write!” For Stalin, what mattered was not the literary value of the work, but its ideological suitability, in this case given the context of the fracture awaiting Estonian villages and the society as a whole – the deportation and mass collectivization. Stalin’s endorsement changed the fate of Leberecht as a Soviet writer – the novella was awarded the Stalin Prize and overnight he became one of the Estonian SSR’s most prestigious regime-friendly authors. The article analyzes the working principles of the Stalin Prize at the Soviet Republic level on the example of Leberecht’s case. It discusses, among other things, the backstory, the institutional framework (the procedure for candidate submission, the role of the creative union and the party apparatus, and the later penitence), the intrigues arising in the literary circle from the nomination of candidates, the discovery of Leberecht’s literary “talent”, as well as the hurried translation and publication of his novella.
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This article looks at the meaning of the term nomenklatura, the positions within the Soviet Estonian literary life that were included in the Communist Party nomenkla¬tura, the day-to-day practices used when dealing with “nomenklatural writers,” and the most prominent “nomenklatural writers” during the post-Stalin era. The term nomenklatura has a number of meanings in the Soviet context. Firstly, it was a (secret) list of key positions to which people were appointed and from which they were removed by a decision of a specific party committee; secondly, it was a set of bureaucratic procedures; and thirdly, the people who filled these positions. As a specific instrument of power, the nomenklatura ensured the Communist Party a control over the leading cadres in whatever sphere of activity they operated while their position belonged to the list of the party nomenklatura. Thus, the party had at every administrative level their own nomenklatura list. The Central Committee of the Estonian Communist Party (hereafter CC ECP) had roughly 2000 positions included in the nomenklatura that were considered important at the national level. Furthermore, the nomenklatura at this level was subdivided into the Bureau, Secretariat and “accounting” lists. These individual lists, as well the CC ECP nomenklatura as a whole, were never fixed; instead, the composition of the lists and the number of the positions changed frequently. In the field of literature, the CC ECP nomenklatura included about twenty positions that were more or less tied to the Writers’ Union of the Estonian SSR; these included positions at the Writers’ Union itself, at the journals Looming and Keel ja Kirjandus, and at the newspaper Sirp ja Vasar. The role of the CC ECP mostly, but not exclusively, involved formal procedures, such as the approval of decisions or nomenklatura appointments, but also the activities that preceded it. This article demonstrates that the involvement of the CC ECP was evident in scouting and selecting suitable candidates for certain positions, as well as in seeking support for their appointment from a circle of leading writers. However, this varied greatly depending on the subdivision to which the position belonged. Especial attention was paid by Communist Party functionaries to the positions which belonged to the Bureau list and to the Chairman of the Writers’ Union, in particular. The three most important literary leaders of the post-Stalin era – Juhan Smuul, Paul Kuusberg and Vladimir Beekman – were also hand-selected by the CC ECP. In addition to being members of the Communist Party, they had a number of desirable qualities that made them suitable to be promoted to the Chairman of the Writers’ Union. Their strengths, such as Smuul’s personality and talent as a writer, Kuusberg’s administrative capability, and Beekman’s poise and good education, could be shaped to produce an ideal – or at least close to ideal – literary leader for Soviet Estonia.
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After World War II, the free communication of Estonia, now under Soviet occupation, was closed off by the Iron Curtain. However, despite the strict censorship, correspondence with the West could still be maintained under the Stalinist regime up until the deportation of 1949. The Iron Curtain began to be lifted by Stalin’s death in 1953 and the denunciation of his personal cult in 1956. Unlike ordinary people, a number of cultural figures, including writers, enjoyed open borders already in 1956. This article draws light on the history of the first trips abroad by following the most widely travelled writers (Ralf Parve, Lilli Promet, Vladimir and Aimée Beekman, Johannes Semper), using sources available in the National Archives (case files on writers’ trips, documents of the Estonian branch of the Soviet-Finnish Society and other organizations, etc.), as well as relevant periodicals. Particular attention is given to trips between Finland and Estonia (1955–1956), Estonian writers’ trips to Sweden (1956), the writers’ collaboration with the Soviet security agencies as a precondition for travel during the 1950s, and the first travelogues by Soviet writers (1958–1960) in service of Soviet propaganda. By the late 1950s, the main requirements to Soviet tourists – to extol the achievements and peace policy of the Soviet Union abroad – had taken shape. The special task of Estonian writers – to influence the Estonian writers in exile – remained inessential during the second half of the 1950s. The situation changed in 1960 as Estonians living in exile began to visit Estonia more actively. In order to better control and regulate relations with the Estonian diaspora, the KGB-affiliated Society for Advancement of Cultural Relations with the Estonian Diaspora was founded in 1960, opening up a new chapter in the foreign relations of Soviet Estonia.
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2. detsembril 2022 peeti Tallinna Kirjanduskeskuse Tammsaare muuseumi 17. sügiskonverents „Kui seda metsa ees ei oleks? Metsa kuvand eesti kirjanduses”. 2. detsembril toimus Tallinna Ülikoolis VIII teaduskeele konverents. 6.–7. detsembril toimus Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumis 15. meditsiiniantropoloogia konverents „Üksindus ja selle varjundid”. 9. detsembril peeti Tartus Eesti Akadeemilise Usundiloo Seltsi aastakonverents. 9. detsembril toimus Kodavere Pärimuskeskuses Palal seminar „Moenasjutuss pajatusseni Kodavere nukan ja mõjal” („Muinasjutust pajatuseni Kodavere kandis ja mujal”) 15.–16. detsembril peeti Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumis 66. Kreutzwaldi päevade konverents „Sõda eesti kultuuris, kirjanduses ja ajaloos”. 13. detsembril toimus Pariisis UNESCO peakorteris põliskeelte dekaadi pidulik üritus. 16.–17. detsembril toimus veebinar „Udmurdi traditsiooniline kultuur kaameraläätses”. 19. detsembril korraldas Underi ja Tuglase Kirjanduskeskus seminari „Dekadentsi mõiste tähendus ja kontekst Nietzsche filosoofias”. 20. jaanuaril 2023 peeti Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumis Jaan Kaplinski päeva „Kaplinski tõlkes ja kirjades”. 25. jaanuaril toimus Tallinnas Hõimuklubi õhtu „Siiski, kes on saamid?”. 26. jaanuaril Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumis peetud Akadeemilise Rahvaluule Seltsi kõnekoosolekul esines Jüri Metssalu. 6. veebruaril esines Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi seminaril Reet Hiiemäe teemal „Kaitsemaagia tänapäeval: kogumisest ja uurimisest”. 10. veebruaril toimus Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumis rahvusvaheline konverents „Koha kultuuriline maine ja mentaalne kaart postimperiaalses vaates”. 13. veebruaril Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi seminaril pidas Aleksandr Panchenko ingliskeelse ettekande „Ökosüsteemid ja „meeleviirused” folklooriuuringutes: kas folkloristika vajab memeetikat”. 15.–16. veebruaril toimus Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumis Eesti-uuringute Tippkeskuse lõppkonverents „Dialoogid Eestiga”. 17. veebruaril tutvustati Tallinnas Eesti Keele Instituudis ÕS-i ja EKI teatmiku koostamise tegevuskava. 17.–18. veebruaril tähistati konverentsiga Tartu Ülikooli Narva kolledžis Ungari rahvusluuletaja Sándor Petőfi 200. sünniaastapäeva. 20. veebruaril anti Tallinnas Teaduste Akadeemia saalis üle 2022. aasta riiklikud preemiad. 20. veebruaril peeti Tallinna Ülikoolis emakeelte ja väikeste keelte seminar. 23. veebruaril korraldas Akadeemiline Rahvaluule Selts Tartus kõnekoosoleku. 27. veebruaril toimunud Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi seminaril esines Tartu Ülikooli vene keele kaasprofessor Anastasiia Ryko.
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