August Mälk

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Restored birth house of August Mälk (2010)

August Mälk (born October 4, 1900 in Kipi-Koovi , today rural municipality Saaremaa , Estonia governorate , † December 19, 1987 in Stockholm ) was an Estonian writer.

Life

August Mälk was born the son of a farmer on the island of Saaremaa . From 1910 to 1915 he attended the village school in Koovi, the ministerial school in Lümanda and the city school in the island's capital Kuressaare . He then worked from 1916 to 1935 as a teacher and headmaster in Torgu, Mõntu and Lümanda. From 1923 to 1925 he studied English and education at the University of Tartu . In 1926, August Mälk made his literary debut with the novella Hindu surm in the anthology Aktsioon , which introduced young Estonian writers. In the same year his first novel Kesaliblik appearedwhich, however, received little attention. In 1929 Mälk became a member of the Estonian Writers' Union . From 1936 he devoted himself entirely to literature as a freelance writer. In 1933 Mälk married the teacher Pauline Triipan (1904–1986). In 1936 the couple's only child, daughter Elna-Halliki, was born. In the 1930s August Mälk was also politically active. In 1937 he was a member of the Estonian National Assembly ( Rahvuskogu ), which was supposed to draw up a new Estonian constitution . From 1938 until the first Soviet occupation of Estonia in June 1940, Mälk was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ( Riigivolikogu ) of the Estonian Parliament. In 1937 he received the Lagle farm on the outskirts of Tallinn from the Estonian head of state Konstantin Päts for his literary services . In 1944 August Mälk fled the Red Army to Sweden, where he lived in exile until the end of his life . From 1945 to 1982 he was chairman of the Estonian Association of Writers ( Välismaine Eesti Kirjanike Liit ), which was founded in Stockholm in 1945 . Mälk remained its honorary chairman until his death.

From 1948 to 1972 Mälk worked as a librarian at the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm. There he died at the age of 87. He was buried on Skogskyrkogården .

Literary work

August Mälk became one of the most respected Estonian writers from the mid-1930s. He achieved his breakthrough in 1935 with the novel Õitsev meri (1935; German Das blooming Meer , 1949), the first part of a trilogy that starred Taeva palge all (1937; German Im Visicht des Himmels , 1940) and Hea sadam (1942; German The good harbor , 1947) continued.

August Mälk is particularly famous for his descriptions of life by the sea and his portrayals of the population of Saaremaa. Even in exile, Mälk remained loyal to Estonian literature .

Works

Novels

  • "Kesaliblik" (1926)
  • "Õnnepagulane" (1928)
  • "Hukkumine" (1928)
  • "Läbi öö" (1929)
  • "Kivine pesa" (1932)
  • "Üks neistsinastest" (1933)
  • "Aghud majad "(1934)
  • "Õitsev meri" (1935; German The blooming sea , 1949, translated by Erik Thomson )
  • "Läänemere isandad" (1936)
  • "Taeva palge all" (1937; German In the face of the sky , 1940)
  • "Kivid tules" (1939)
  • "Hea sadam" (1942; German The good harbor , 1947)
  • "Öised linnud" (1945)
  • "Kodumaata" (1947)
  • "Tee kaevule" (two volumes, 1952–1953)
  • "Päike küla kohal" (1957)
  • "Toomas Tamm" (1959)
  • "Kevadine maa" (1963)

Stories and short stories

  • "Sumu Surm" (1926)
  • "Anne-Marie" (six novellas, 1927)
  • "Aghud elu "(1929)
  • "Jutte lindudest" (six youth stories, 1934)
  • "Rannajutud" (five short stories, 1936)
  • “Avatud värav. Lugu minevikust "(1937)
  • "Mere tuultes" (four novels, 1938)
  • “Kadunud päike. Jutte minevikust "(five stories, 1943)
  • “Jumala tuultes. Viis jutustust "(1949)
  • "Tuli sinu käes" (seven novellas, 1955)
  • "Jumalaga, meri!" (1967)
  • “Project Victoria. Kuus lugu "(1978)
  • "Tere, meri!" (Selection collection, posthumously edited by Aarne Vinkel, 1991)

Plays

  • "Moodne Cain" (1930)
  • "Vaese mehe ututall" (comedy, 1932)
  • "Neitsid lampidega" (Comedy, 1933)
  • "Isade tee" (1934)
  • "Mees merelt" (1935)
  • "Õitsev meri" (dramatization by Andres Särev, 1936)
  • "Vanakurja vokk" (dramatization by Paul Sepp, 1936)
  • "Häda õnnega" (comedy, under the pseudonym Juhan Kihulane, 1937)
  • "Sikud kaevul" (Comedy, 1938)
  • "Taeva palge all" (dramatization by Andres Särev, 1938)

memories

  • “Hommikust keskpäevani. Elupilte ja mälestusi "(1972)
  • “Peale päevapööret. Mõtteid ja mälestusi "(1976)

literature

  • Aarne Vinkel: August Mälk. Tartu 1997
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. Berlin, New York 2006 ( ISBN 3-11-018025-1 ), pp. 482-487

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.immi.se/kultur/authors/ester/malk.htm
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from April 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Mälk, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kihulane, Juhan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian writer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th October 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Kipi-Koovi , Estonia Governorate
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 1987
Place of death Stockholm