Category
Topic
Year
Biographies and generational patterns
Keywords: biographical agency, pivotal time, generation of the 1970s, narrative patterns
The article scrutinises the autobiographical stories told by people born in the 1970s. The chosen group spent their adolescent formative years in the whirlwind of the social changes characteristic of Estonia in the 1990s and they found themselves in high positions at an unusually early age, enjoying upward social mobility. The analysis is based on stories elicited from qualitative interviews (biographical, focus-group and in-depth interviews). Specifically, the analysis focused on how the interviewees saw their own role, or agency, and to what extent they referenced the developments in their lives…
The article scrutinises the autobiographical stories told by people born in the 1970s. The chosen group spent their adolescent formative years in the whirlwind of the social changes characteristic of Estonia in the 1990s and they found themselves in high positions at an unusually early age, enjoying upward social mobility. The analysis is based on stories elicited from qualitative interviews (biographical, focus-group and in-depth interviews). Specifically, the analysis focused on how the interviewees saw their own role, or agency, and to what extent they referenced the developments in their lives…
The possibilities of autotheory between theory and life writing
Keywords: life writing, embodied theory, affect theory
The article focuses on texts that can be classified as autotheoretical, that is, they are autobiographical texts that simultaneously interrogate theoretical issues and, by their genre liminality, seek to articulate otherwise muted phenomena. The autotheoretical practice of the 2000s can be seen as a continuation of feminist personal criticism of the 1970s–1980s, such as the work of Jane Tompkins and Nancy K. Miller, and an attempt to develop forms of writing outside the prevalent academic hermeneutics of suspicion. Proceeding from the work of Mieke Bal, Roland Barthes and Adriana Cavarero, the article aims to…
The article focuses on texts that can be classified as autotheoretical, that is, they are autobiographical texts that simultaneously interrogate theoretical issues and, by their genre liminality, seek to articulate otherwise muted phenomena. The autotheoretical practice of the 2000s can be seen as a continuation of feminist personal criticism of the 1970s–1980s, such as the work of Jane Tompkins and Nancy K. Miller, and an attempt to develop forms of writing outside the prevalent academic hermeneutics of suspicion. Proceeding from the work of Mieke Bal, Roland Barthes and Adriana Cavarero, the article aims to…
Peter Pilsky’s life-creation strategies
Keywords: life-creation, Russian Silver Age, pseudonyms, Peter Pilsky
The article deals with the problem of life-creation (zhiznetvorchestvo) on the example of Peter Pilsky’s biography. Life-creation was one of the most significant phenomena of the Russian Silver Age, where being an artist meant absolutely no separation between the person and the author (tvorets ’creator’) in him, i.e. between one’s personal and artistic lives. The article shows how the literary and theatre critic Peter Pilsky formed his „external” biography according to the requirements of the time. In conformity with the credo of life-creation Pilsky pursued his own aesthetic canon: to be an educated…
The article deals with the problem of life-creation (zhiznetvorchestvo) on the example of Peter Pilsky’s biography. Life-creation was one of the most significant phenomena of the Russian Silver Age, where being an artist meant absolutely no separation between the person and the author (tvorets ’creator’) in him, i.e. between one’s personal and artistic lives. The article shows how the literary and theatre critic Peter Pilsky formed his „external” biography according to the requirements of the time. In conformity with the credo of life-creation Pilsky pursued his own aesthetic canon: to be an educated…
An unfinished life – the biography of Aino Kallas
Keywords: Aino Kallas, biography, literary relations between Finland and Estonia
In the 21st century, Aino Kallas has become one of the most famous female authors in Finnish literary studies. A traditional biography of Kallas had not, however, been published until now.
An artist biography is nowadays a popular nonfiction genre. In recent years, various kinds of biographical questions and aspects have also become more popular in humanities research.
In the new biography (called Aino Kallas. Maailman sydämessä, 2017), Aino Kallas is described as a Finnish-Estonian author, whose authorial figure is very different in Finland and in Estonia. Completely different literary works and themes…
In the 21st century, Aino Kallas has become one of the most famous female authors in Finnish literary studies. A traditional biography of Kallas had not, however, been published until now.
An artist biography is nowadays a popular nonfiction genre. In recent years, various kinds of biographical questions and aspects have also become more popular in humanities research.
In the new biography (called Aino Kallas. Maailman sydämessä, 2017), Aino Kallas is described as a Finnish-Estonian author, whose authorial figure is very different in Finland and in Estonia. Completely different literary works and themes…
A singer telling the story of a singer’s life
Keywords: life writing, vernacular literacy, folkloristics, oral song tradition, singers, performance
The first part of the article discusses the models and examples of vernacular life writing, including the copious material written down for the archives by Marie Sepp (1862–1943), a country woman from Kolga-Jaani in Central Estonia. Marie Sepp also wrote her own life history based on folklorists’ instructions. Her life history reflects the relational self, considered characteristic of a communal agrarian society and of female writers. The rest of her biographical materials represent the oral tradition of (auto)biographical narration, while many of the small stories can be categorised under genres…
The first part of the article discusses the models and examples of vernacular life writing, including the copious material written down for the archives by Marie Sepp (1862–1943), a country woman from Kolga-Jaani in Central Estonia. Marie Sepp also wrote her own life history based on folklorists’ instructions. Her life history reflects the relational self, considered characteristic of a communal agrarian society and of female writers. The rest of her biographical materials represent the oral tradition of (auto)biographical narration, while many of the small stories can be categorised under genres…
Life stories of Jakob Hurt’s folklore correspondents
Keywords: folklore collecting, life writing, Jakob Hurt
The focus of this article is on the life writing practices of the members of Jakob Hurt’s folklore collecting network. Jakob Hurt’s campaign of folklore collecting started in 1888. About a year later he felt that the process of collecting was as important as the collected texts and so he asked his correspondents to send him some details about their lives. Hurt’s aim was to publish a special book about the history of the campaign and the people who participated. Though Hurt never wrote the book, the results of his plea are still interesting…
The focus of this article is on the life writing practices of the members of Jakob Hurt’s folklore collecting network. Jakob Hurt’s campaign of folklore collecting started in 1888. About a year later he felt that the process of collecting was as important as the collected texts and so he asked his correspondents to send him some details about their lives. Hurt’s aim was to publish a special book about the history of the campaign and the people who participated. Though Hurt never wrote the book, the results of his plea are still interesting…
Baltic-German autobiographies as a valuable source material
Keywords: Baltic Germans, translation history, memoirs, memory places
The article addresses Baltic-German autobiographical texts as an organic part of Estonian cultural history and memory literature, which is, however, a severed and forgotten part of the collective historical memory. First, the article introduces the volume of the survived Baltic-German textual heritage, and analyses, in a historical perspective, how, why and on what grounds Baltic-German autobiographies have been collected and published. Secondly, the article examines the available Estonian translations of and the present state of research into Baltic-German autobiographies. Thirdly, some concrete biographies are used to exemplify the variety of possible study approaches.…
The article addresses Baltic-German autobiographical texts as an organic part of Estonian cultural history and memory literature, which is, however, a severed and forgotten part of the collective historical memory. First, the article introduces the volume of the survived Baltic-German textual heritage, and analyses, in a historical perspective, how, why and on what grounds Baltic-German autobiographies have been collected and published. Secondly, the article examines the available Estonian translations of and the present state of research into Baltic-German autobiographies. Thirdly, some concrete biographies are used to exemplify the variety of possible study approaches.…
Stupid Mulks
Keywords: Latvian-Estonian linguistic contact, etymology, microethnonyms, onomastics
The short study „Are Mulks really stupid?” published in the magazine Keel ja Kirjandus (2017/6, pp. 434–452) by Taavi Pae and Kersti Lust attempts to argue that the microethnonym mul´k does not originate in the Latvian common noun muļ΄ķis ‘fool, idiot, softhead’. The present article takes a closer look at the arguments presented by Pae and Lust, concluding that their own conclusions would have been more convincing if based on true knowledge of language history, in particular, of historical derivation, and on better orientation in Baltic materials, all anchored in sound methodological expertise, as the declared aim of their study…
The short study „Are Mulks really stupid?” published in the magazine Keel ja Kirjandus (2017/6, pp. 434–452) by Taavi Pae and Kersti Lust attempts to argue that the microethnonym mul´k does not originate in the Latvian common noun muļ΄ķis ‘fool, idiot, softhead’. The present article takes a closer look at the arguments presented by Pae and Lust, concluding that their own conclusions would have been more convincing if based on true knowledge of language history, in particular, of historical derivation, and on better orientation in Baltic materials, all anchored in sound methodological expertise, as the declared aim of their study…
Estonian adolescent speech I
Keywords: speech corpus, speaking fundamental frequency, voice mutation, age and gender related variations, F0 statistics
The paper introduces the Estonian Adolescent Speech Corpus and reports cross-sectional data on speaking fundamental frequency characteristics of Estonian adolescents. 175 girls and 134 boys in the age range from 9 to 18 years were recorded while reading a text corpus containing linguistically diverse material such as digits, phone numbers, time expressions, IT terms, sentences with name entities, phonetically rich sentences. The corpus also includes several samples of spontaneous speech elicited with pictures to be described and with topics for storytelling. In total, 70 items (ca…
The paper introduces the Estonian Adolescent Speech Corpus and reports cross-sectional data on speaking fundamental frequency characteristics of Estonian adolescents. 175 girls and 134 boys in the age range from 9 to 18 years were recorded while reading a text corpus containing linguistically diverse material such as digits, phone numbers, time expressions, IT terms, sentences with name entities, phonetically rich sentences. The corpus also includes several samples of spontaneous speech elicited with pictures to be described and with topics for storytelling. In total, 70 items (ca…
Harold Bloom’s and Paul de Man’s complementary rhetorical misreadings
Keywords: Estonian literature, anxiety of influence, rhetorics, tropes, irony, misreading
The broader aim of this article is to give an overview of Harold Bloom’s theory of the anxiety of influence and its applicability to analyse Estonian literature. A further objective is to develop a synchronic and diachronic method of literary analysis by confronting Bloom’s theory with the writings of its main contemporary critic Paul de Man. In my opinion, both critics’ different views on rhetoric (de Man: a system of tropes; Bloom: persuasion) are mutually complementary, which I illustrate by using them to analyse two Estonian decadence novels with a similar…
The broader aim of this article is to give an overview of Harold Bloom’s theory of the anxiety of influence and its applicability to analyse Estonian literature. A further objective is to develop a synchronic and diachronic method of literary analysis by confronting Bloom’s theory with the writings of its main contemporary critic Paul de Man. In my opinion, both critics’ different views on rhetoric (de Man: a system of tropes; Bloom: persuasion) are mutually complementary, which I illustrate by using them to analyse two Estonian decadence novels with a similar…
The position and function of locative demonstrative adverbs in Estonian
Keywords: locative demonstrative adverbs, reference, spatial semantics, syntax, motion, Estonian
Demonstratives are extremely important in all languages due to them having various pragmatic, semantic, and syntactic functions. For this reason, they are frequently studied and our current knowledge of demonstratives is also comparatively rich. However, research into demonstratives tends to concentrate mainly on demonstrative pronouns, while demonstrative adverbs have received much less attention. The same applies to Estonian linguistic tradition in that demonstrative pronouns are much more exhaustively investigated than demonstrative adverbs. The current study aims to fill this gap by analysing the use and function of locative demonstrative adverbs in…
Demonstratives are extremely important in all languages due to them having various pragmatic, semantic, and syntactic functions. For this reason, they are frequently studied and our current knowledge of demonstratives is also comparatively rich. However, research into demonstratives tends to concentrate mainly on demonstrative pronouns, while demonstrative adverbs have received much less attention. The same applies to Estonian linguistic tradition in that demonstrative pronouns are much more exhaustively investigated than demonstrative adverbs. The current study aims to fill this gap by analysing the use and function of locative demonstrative adverbs in…
The body and soul of a sportswoman as seen in Johannes Semper’s short story collection „Ellinor”
Keywords: Johannes Semper, body studies, sports, New Woman, homosexuality
The article explores the depiction of the body of a sporting woman, especially of one playing tennis or swimming, in Johannes Semper’s short story collection„Ellinor” (1927). There are three reasons why „Ellinor” has a radical meaning in the Estonian literature of the time. Firstly, the activities are consistently portrayed through the female point of view; secondly, the stories are permeated by an enthusiastic and luxuriant sense of life, which defies the book culture as remote from life; and thirdly, both a sporting „new woman” and homosexuality were certainly novel subjects in the…
The article explores the depiction of the body of a sporting woman, especially of one playing tennis or swimming, in Johannes Semper’s short story collection„Ellinor” (1927). There are three reasons why „Ellinor” has a radical meaning in the Estonian literature of the time. Firstly, the activities are consistently portrayed through the female point of view; secondly, the stories are permeated by an enthusiastic and luxuriant sense of life, which defies the book culture as remote from life; and thirdly, both a sporting „new woman” and homosexuality were certainly novel subjects in the…
Etymology of the folk name Mulks
Keywords: etymology of folk names, migration, oral history
The article explores whether the widespread belief that the folk name Mulks and the region name Mulgimaa derive from the Latvian word muļķis, muļķe ‘stupid, fool’ is based on evidence and possibly justified. Phonetic similarity between the words mulk and muļķis is evident indeed, but we lack convincing evidence that the word mulk is of Latvian origin. By tracing the emergence and use of the folk name Mulks, the authors explore its social, historical and cultural context. By combining contemporary fiction, polemics in media, memorates and other forms of oral tradition, sources on settlement and migration, it appears that the folk name Mulks was most probably used by…
The article explores whether the widespread belief that the folk name Mulks and the region name Mulgimaa derive from the Latvian word muļķis, muļķe ‘stupid, fool’ is based on evidence and possibly justified. Phonetic similarity between the words mulk and muļķis is evident indeed, but we lack convincing evidence that the word mulk is of Latvian origin. By tracing the emergence and use of the folk name Mulks, the authors explore its social, historical and cultural context. By combining contemporary fiction, polemics in media, memorates and other forms of oral tradition, sources on settlement and migration, it appears that the folk name Mulks was most probably used by…