Betti Alver

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Betti Alver. 1930

Betti Alver (born November 10 . Jul / 23. November  1906 greg. In Jõgeva ; † 19th June 1989 in Tartu ) was an Estonian poet and writer . Her official name was Elisabet Alver, since 1937 Elisabet Talvik and since 1956 Elisabet Lepik.

Life

Betti Alver attended the girls' school in Tartu named after Pushkin from 1914 to 1917 and passed her Abitur in Tartu in 1924. From 1924 to 1927 she studied Estonian language and literature at the University of Tartu . After graduating, she settled in Tartu as a writer.

Alvers literary career began with the novella Vaene väike . Her first novel Tuulearmuke (1927) won 2nd prize in an important literary competition shortly after it was published. From 1931 she also published poems, which soon earned her great recognition in the Estonian literary scene. In addition, she mainly translated from Russian .

From 1934 Betti Alver was a member of the Estonian Writers' Union . At the end of the 1930s she shaped the Arbujad group of writers (German for example shamans ), who felt obliged to neoclassicism with their philosophical-ethical poetry .

Betti Alver received numerous literary awards, including the Juhan Liiv Poetry Prize in 1967 and 1987 and the Literature Prize donated to Friedebert Tuglas in 1977 .

Betti Alver was married twice, first to the poet Heiti Talvik (died in 1947 during the Soviet deportation in Siberia ), from 1956 to Mart Lepik.

In 1989 Betti Alver died in Tartu. In her hometown of Jõgeva, the Betti Alveri Museum was established in 2006 in her memory .

Poetry sample

(Written in 1939 when there was censorship in Estonia, published in 1940, but destroyed or banned after publication.)

Once praised the spirit by the fire,
honored, valued
the ox roasted on a spit. And this year?
And now?

The philistines are reverently silent
and - paradoxically:
the spirit, the spirit is now on the spit,
but the ox is turning.

(German adaptation by Jaan Kross .)

Works

Poetry

  • Lugu valgest varesest, 1931
  • Tolm ja tuli, 1936
  • Luuletused ja poeemid, 1956
  • Mõrane peegel, 1962
  • Tähetund, 1966
  • Uued luuletused ja poeemid, 1968
  • Eluhelbed, 1971
  • Tuju, 1976
  • Lendav Linn, 1979
  • Korallid Emajões, 1986
  • Works, Volume 1: Üle aegade Assamalla; Luuletusi ja poeeme 1931–1988, 1989
  • Üle sõnade serva, 2004

prose

  • Tuulearmuke, 1927 (novel)
  • Invaliidid, 1930 (novel)
  • Viletsuse komöödia, 1935 (prose poem)
  • Works, Volume 2: Tuulearmuke; Invalidid; Viletsuse komöödia; Kõmpa; Proosa 1927-1976, 1992

German translations

Betti Alver has not published a separate book in German, but her poems have been included in various anthologies .

Ants Oras published a first larger selection (15 poems) in 1964 in his anthology Eight Estonian Poets (Stockholm: Verlag Vaba Eesti). After that , samples of poems occasionally appeared in the magazine Soviet literature (8/1972, 6/1980, 1/1989). In 1992 Gisbert Jänicke's anthology Das Leben ist noch neu (Karlsruhe: INFO Verlagsgesellschaft) brought eight translated poems, some of which were republished in the magazine Estonia (1/1992).

literature

  • Betti Alver. Personnel nimestics. Koostanud V. Kabur. Eessõna E. Lõhmus. Tallinn: Eesti NSV Ministry of Culture. Ms. R. Kreutzwaldi nim. Eesti NSV Riiklik Raamatukogu 1981.
  • Betti Alver. Usutlused. Kirjad. Päevikukatked. Mälestusi. Lisandusi tundmiseks. Koostanud yes toimetanud Enn Lillemets yes Kristi Metste. Tallinn: Tänapäev 2007.
  • Katiliina Gielen: "Writing Alver, Writing Smith: Everyday in a Poet's Biography." In: interlitteraria 14/1 (2009), pp. 174-181.
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt : "Betti Alver." In: Estonia 1/1992, pp. 42–43.
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt: “Betti Alver. The lyric work. ”In: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon . 3rd, completely revised edition. Edited by Heinz Ludwig Arnold. 18 volumes. Stuttgart, Weimar: Verlag JB Metzler 2009, Volume 1, pp. 319-320.
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian Literature in German 1784-2003. Bibliography of primary and secondary literature. Bremen: Hempen Verlag 2004, pp. 29-30.
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. From the beginning to the present. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 2006, pp. 510-514.
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian literature in German translation. A reception story from the 19th to the 21st century. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2011.
  • Karl Muru: Betti Alver. Elu ja loomingu lugu. Tartu: Ilmamaa 2003. (Eesti kirjanikke)
  • Katrin Puik: Iroonia Heiti Talviku yes Betti Alveri luules. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus 2009. (Dissertationes litterarum et contemplationis comparativae Universitatis Tartuensis. 8)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jaan Kross : "Spirit and Power." In: Estonia 1/1992, pp. 5–9.
  2. ↑ Estonia 1/1992, p. 5.
  3. ^ Individual references from Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian literature in German language 1784–2003. Bibliography of primary and secondary literature. Bremen: Hempen Verlag 2004, pp. 29-30.
personal data
SURNAME Alver, Betti
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian poet and writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Jõgeva
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1989
Place of death Tartu