Noor-Eesti ja naised. Young Estonia and Women

In the early years of the 20th century, representatives of many areas of Estonian social life were coming to the understanding that the position of Estonian women was historically, socially, and culturally undefined, that it was hedged about by various limitations, and that the role of women in public life was getting in the way of the advancement of Estonian society. Articles with titles like ”The Woman Question” and ”Why the Estonian Woman Will not Awaken” were published frequently in the Estonian press at the beginning of the 20th century. The Young Estonians were not left out of these discussions: in Young Estonia’s publications, there were both fictional and non-fictional texts, novellas and essays focused on the position of woman in society. The 1905 revolution broadened this outlook and increased women’s real prospects for getting an education. Two girls’ high schools were established with Estonian as the language of instruction: one in 1906 in Tartu, and another in 1907 in Tallinn, with the goal of furthering the inclusion of women in public life. Schools of home economics were founded, and the first women’s associations were established. Comparisons with Finland served as a stimulus to the development of Estonian education and culture. In Estonia, the highest level of education for women was limited to a private course of study in university; thus whenever they had the opportunity, women went abroad to attend university, either to Germanspeaking parts of Europe or Finland (e.g. Hella Murrik). At the beginning of the 20th century several women writers had become known through the Estonianlanguage press or poetry anthologies, but on the whole, the development of Estonian literature lagged behind. There was only one woman actively involved in the discussions on culture of the Young Estonian renewal movement – Aino Kallas, who had received her education in Finland, and who participated in the movement from the beginning. Of the scant 10 women authors represented in the Young Estonia albums and magazines, Kallas’ writings can be found in all five of Young Estonia’s albums. The other women writers are but occasional guests. Many of the Young Estonians find their ideal woman in Finland. The realm of Young Estonians’ romantic longings is revealed not only by their fictions, but by their correspondences, especially with women. The correspondences of the Young Estonians are characterized by intellectual dialogue, in which conversation percolates around literature, language, and social thought. The article concludes with a comparison of the development of two women poets who began their career in the Young Estonia period and in its publications

Eesti autobiograafilise kirjutuse kujunemisest 18. sajandist Teise maailmasõjani. The Development of Estonian Autobiographical Writing from the 18th Century to the Second World War

In this article I examine the development of Estonian autobiographical writing from its first manifestations to published memoirs, and the development of life writing and its diversification. The beginnings of life writing can be traced back to Estonian folk song and Estonian incidental poetry. The Moravian Brethren movement in Estonia in the 18th century promoted the spread of canonical autobiography. The Moravian Brethren offered alternative opportunities for self-realisation for Estonians who were serfs, and were therefore popular with the people. The practice of the Moravian Brethren made use of retelling and writing about the life of the congregation members, which sometimes became suitable biographies in print, especially stories of awakening. Several manuscript biographies have survived from the Brethren times, such as the biographies of Mäletu Jaan and Mihkel Sarapuu. In addition to the history of the Moravian Brethren movement, these biographies give information about the educational situation and living conditions of the people of the time. The Estonian life writing tradition emerged within the reigning Baltic German cultural space thanks to the Estophiles among the Baltic Germans (J. H. Rosenplänter) and the first Estonian men of letters; from the early 19th century we have the diary by Rosenplänter, an estophile pastor from Pärnu, and the diary by the Estonian poet, the then-student Kristjan Jaak Peterson, both in the Estonian language. Johann Voldemar Jannsen, the founder of Estonian-language journalism, kept a diary in the German language for a longer period of time; it was usual that the first Estonian intellectuals (Lilli Suburg, and others) in the late 19th century wrote in German. Admittedly, the first Estonian-language life history was written by a forward-looking 19th century peasant named Märt Mitt (1833-1912), who was conscious of himself as a historical subject and gave his memoirs, begun in the 1880s, a memorable title: “Märt Mitt`s life story, told in a manner connected with history”. Other recollections of Estonian peasants appeared at the very end of the 19th century, including Gustav Malts’ stories about Estonian settlers in the Crimea. Autobiographical writing oriented toward documenting somebody’s life was regarded merely as “material” and distinct from literary or fictional writing. With little persuasion, Gustav Malts handed over the first version of his memoirs to a writer; relying heavily on Malts’ manuscript, Eduard Vilde composed his historical novel Prophet Maltsvet in 1905–1908. Among the recollections of the peasants, the so-called Jaan Kuldkepp Chronicle is one of the most original. Jaan Kuldkepp uses folk history and family heritage, attempting in his Chronicle to combine fictional and documentary material. The first Estonian-language memoirs were published in the early 20th century, mainly at the end of 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s; by that time the generation who had received their education in the 19th century reached an age during which memoirs are traditionally written. Two writers who blazed the path were August Kitzberg (An Old Windhover’s Memories of Youth, 1924-25) and Lilli Suburg (The Suburg Family, 1923-24). They do not limit themselves to local historical events or the family history style of ‘what life was like in the old times’, but instead strive to give an overview of the characteristic socio-cultural processes of the period. The number of printed memoirs increased year by year, and by the end of the 1930s it amounted to ten books per year. The authors were mostly journalists and writers. There were few women writers, but their memoirs attracted attention. Lilli Suburg was one of the first autobiography writers, Marta Lepp was a legendary female revolutionary, and Mari Raamot was the founder of the Defence League’s women’s corps’ “Women’s Home Defence”. In the 1930s many of the prominent Estonian writers began to put down their memories: they were Oskar Luts, Karl August Hindrey, and at the end of the 1930s, Friedebert Tuglas. The precondition for the writing of memoirs is the existence of leaders and a developed society. These conditions were fulfilled in the Republic of Estonia, although it should be added that many prominent social figures postponed the writing of their memoirs, which in the end remained unwritten.<br /

Omaeluloolisus nullindatel / Estonian Life Writing of the 2000s as a Continuity Over the Post-Soviet Period

A distinctive feature of the (literary) culture of the 2000s is a sudden increase in the publication of works of life writing in different genres. Although life writing as a phenomenon has received considerably more critical attention in recent years, it has not yet settled within the literary canon, and theoretical debates concerning its diverse textual practises are still in initial phases. The current article provides an overview of Estonian life writing of the 2000s, viewing the emergence of new forms, themes and perspectives as a continuity within the wider framework of the post-Soviet period and in comparison with some recent developments and theoretical foci of life writing studies in general.The processes of the construction of subjectivity and identity in a number of autobiographical writings published in the first half of the 2000s can be traced back to the emergence of Estonian “memorial culture” in the late 1980s and 1990s, where oral and written testimonial accounts of personal experience focusing on the period of the Soviet occupation played an important role in the process of dismantling the official Soviet discourses of history and contributed to the process of regaining independence. A number of life writing texts by well-known Estonian literary figures published in the mid-2000s employ modes of collective and individual self-conception and self-reflection similar to those prevalent in the texts of life stories. No longer employed for the purposes of implementing socio-political change, these works confirm and consolidate such modes of identification and self-representation within the framework of (literary) culture. Another important trend of Estonian life writing of the 2000s involves “textual games”, where lived experience and the construction of fictional worlds are intertwined in a complex and self-conscious manner. Visible most strongly in the work of Tõnu Õnnepalu and Madis Kõiv, this feature of Estonian life writing also emerged in the second half of the 1990s and early 2000s and is not immediately related to the “life writing boom” of the second half of the 2000s.Although the distinctive features of post-Soviet Estonian life writing did not emerge in the 2000s, the considerable increase in the publication of life writing works during that period has given rise to critical debates on its role and implications in (literary) culture, as the borders and limits of literature where life writing has had an influence cannot be strictly defined.  The mapping and positioning processes of new emergent forms and practices of life writing and life writing as a realm with a strong affiliation not only with literature but also with history and cultural history is an on-going process where only the first markers have been delineated