22 research outputs found
IX. Internationales Symposium zur baltischen literarischen Kultur: Medien der AufklÀrung. AufklÀrung der Medien
Das IX. Internationale Symposium zur baltischen literarischen Kultur fand vom 4.â6. September 2017 in Tartu statt. Veranstaltet im Zusammenarbeit der Institute fĂŒr Kulturwissenschaften und KĂŒnste sowie fĂŒr Fremdsprachen und Kulturen der UniversitĂ€t Tartu
Zweisprachigkeit in den Literaturen Estlands
Bilingualism in the Literatures of Estonia. In a multilingual cultural space such as the (former and contemporary) Baltic region, bilingualism, both oral and written, has been rather normality than exception. This also finds an expression in the literatures of this region. In the following I will examine the phenomenon of bilingualism and multilingualism in the literatures of Estonia in history and today. First, I will examine the historical forms of bilingualism before the foundation of the Republic of Estonia, against the background of the complicated oral and written language relations throughout history. Then I explore their topicality in the interwar and Soviet periods, and today. I also ask about the motivation of the authors to change or mix languages in their work, whether to reach a wider audience or a new poetic quality. Examples are from the work of Paul Fleming, Reiner Brockmann, Jacob Johann Malm, August Kitzberg, Ivar Ivask, Jaan Kaplinski, Igor Kotjuh, Ăyvind RangĂžy and Veronika Kivisilla.
 
Lyrical Poetry as a Factor in the Formation of Literary Cultures
Lyrical Poetry as a Factor in the Formation of Literary Culture
Lesen unter der Diktatur. Die estnische Spielart des Totalitarismus
The Poetics and Reception of Hidden Resistance: the Estonian Game of Totalitarianism. Where, with whom or with what does totalitarianism begin? An answer in the spirit of Hannah Arendt would be: at the moment when people stop thinking; at the moment when they allow themselves to be turned into instruments of a totalitarian regime. By what means does a totalitarian society achieve that moment?What means does a person have to fight against such an instrumentalization at that moment? What are the means of writers, whose essential nature should be that they never stop thinking? How does a writer working in a totalitarian society manage to create a free space, a place to think, in a situation governed by a single way of thinking that can only be expressed in one language: that of totalitarianism? How does a reader create his or her free space for thinking? What do reading and writing mean in a society that prohibits or hinders free expression and thought for authors and readers?Totalitarianism does not work everywhere in the same way. European history alone has seen different forms of totalitarian power, its ways of ruling depend on the socio-historical development of the society. Literary reactions to totalitarian power are also different: totalitarianism in Nazi Germany was different from that of DDR, which, in turn, was different from practices in Soviet Estonia.In my article, I approach these questions from a very personal perspective, remembering my own reading experiences in the totalitarian society of Soviet Estonia. I can only discuss the years from 1983 to 1985, because earlier I read childrenâs literature, and afterwards the Soviet regime was already falling apart.I will study communication between readers and authors in the totalitarian society and thereby determine the main difference between the factors that shaped the reading situation in Estonia and the DDR. In Estonia, readers and authors were able to outsmart the totalitarian rule thanks to the cultural continuity based on a symbolic language (rooted in cultural memory), which owes its existence to the fact that totalitarianism was perceived as something foreign, something speaking another language. In the DDR, the poetics of resistance had to be built on a different foundation, since the national culture of the past as a source of identity had been devalued by recent history and was not a suitable basis
âIn a Miracle Wellspringâ of Goetheâs Poetry: Comments on the Role of Translated Poetry in a Small Literature
In 1944, on the cusp of one occupying power replacing another in Estonia, the beloved Estonian poet Heiti Talvik translated Goetheâs poetry and was filled with admiration: âWhat a youthful abundance of life in every detail! Yes, to delve into Goetheâs work is to rinse your eyes in a miracle wellspring capable of renewing your fading vision.â By then, the Estonian language and Estonian poetry had already been drawing from this miracle wellspring for more than a century. In this presentation, I will be discussing the significance of Goetheâs poetry in Estonian literature and comparing it to that of small and large literatures of neighbouring countries. Based on research, I conducted with my co-authors Vahur Aabrams and Susanna Rennik for our recently published book Goetheâs Poetry in Estonian (University of Tartu Press, 2021), I will show the dynamics of the reception and translation of Goetheâs poetry in Estonia and in the wider Baltic cultural space, and I will explore the local socio-cultural and more general aesthetic and ideological factors that influenced this reception
Erich Auerbachi maailmakirjanduse filoloogia. SaatesĂ”na tĂ”lkele / Erich Auerbachâs Philology of World Literature
Maailmakirjanduse mÔÔtmisest meil ja mujal / Conceptualizations of World Literature in Estonia and Elsewhere
Teesid: Artikkel kĂ€sitleb maailmakirjanduse mĂ”iste mahu ja sisu muutumist alates selle esilekerkimisest 19. sajandi algupoolel kuni tĂ€napĂ€eva kĂ€sitlusviisideni ja dilemmadeni, mille ees seisab vĂ”rdlev kirjandusteadus â distsipliin, mis peab maailmakirjandust oma uurimisobjektiks. Juttu tuleb ka vĂ€ikese kirjanduse spetsiifilisest suhestumisest maailmakirjandusega ning maailmakirjanduse uurimisest ja Ă”petamisest Tartu ĂŒlikoolis alates selle rajamisest 1632 kuni eriala institutsionaliseerumiseni taasiseseisvunud Eestis â maailmakirjanduse Ă”ppetoolina. In the current era of globalization when the borders of national literature have become exceedingly vulnerable, cultural identities more and more hybrid and the term world literature is applied to global translations into English, a comparative literary scholar might ask a question: would it be possible to perceive of a literary world analogously to the world of music? Would it be possible that as Bach does not need to be interpreted within the context of German music or PĂ€rt within the context of Estonian music, works of literature relate to each other within the global field of literature and are no longer related to their linguistic and cultural contexts? In order to come to a âbigger pictureâ, to achieve a more extensive level of generalization, might it be possible to give up the linguistic, historical and cultural contextualization of works of literature? What would a small literature win or lose in such situation? In the present article the concept of world literature and itsâ historical conditions â as an object of comparative literary studies â will be explained using the example of Estonian literature. In order to do so, an overview of the history of comparative literary studies at the University of Tartu will be provided. At the University of Tartu, the study of comparative literature was initiated much earlier than systematic study of Estonian literature or itsâ appearance on the horizon of world literature. Thereby the âhomeâ (or âhomelessnessâ) of the history of comparative literature history and its re-positionings in different time periods will be analyzed. Having roots in the studies of rhetoric and poetics in the Academia Gustaviana founded in 1632, comparative literary history in the German-language Kayserliche UniversitĂ€t zu Dorpat (re-established in 1802) was initially a topic for professors of classical philology, while shortly after moving under the lectureship of German language and then, during the period of Russification, to the department of Russian language and literature. Beginning in 1904, comparative literature was affiliated with the chairs of Latvian and Estonian, where it developed as a modern disciple in the Estonian-language University of Tartu at the time of Professor Gustav Suits in the 1920s. The Soviet period formally maintained the position of world literature in relation to the Estonian literary canon under the label of âforeign literatureâ, but the notion of foreign literature narrowed, being limited to those works of the established literary canon of the West that were considered âprogressiveâ by the Marxist ideology. âForeign literatureâ, in particular its relationship with Estonian literature was under ideological pressure to the extent that it was more rational to deal with it as a closed phenomenon boiling in its own juices. At the same time Russian literature was pushed to the fore. Its influence and role in the development of Estonian literature had to be emphasized. However, it was precisely Russian philology where Tartu literary studies was given an impulse that gave an impetus to several disciples in Tartu as well as elsewhere, while also creating a completely new field â semiotics. The theory of periphery as an area, where semiotic processes accelerate and the creative and dialogical function of borders developed in Tartu by Juri Lotman, explains a great deal about the history of Comparative Literature in Tartu: the peripheral location of Tartu, its changing identity turns out to be the crossroad and meeting point of diverse cultures. This has facilitated comparative approach to cultures and view comparison as the only possible methodology of literary studies. At the periphery the perception of borders sharpens, and this exactly is the field of Comparative Literature