Elu yes armastus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elu ja armastus ( Life and Love ) is the title of a novel by the Estonian writer Anton Hansen Tammsaare (1878–1940). The book was published in the Estonian original in 1934 .

Appear

Anton Hansen Tammsaare was a widely read and renowned writer in his home country at the time. Life and Love was his third from last novel and appeared immediately after his main work, the five-part novel Tõde ja õigus ( Truth and Law ).

The book is one of the most important works of psychological realism in Estonian literature and is also one of the author's most philosophical. After the first edition in 1934, new editions followed in 1951 (Toronto: ORTO), 1966 (Tallinn: Eesti Raamat) and 1984 as part of the author's collected works. The novel has so far been translated into seven languages ​​(see below).

action

The main character of the novel is Irma Vainu, a country girl who, after graduating from school, goes to town to try her luck there. H. to find a job and receive further training. Irma is happy to escape the poor and cramped world in the country and the stalking of her admirer Eedi there, and initially finds shelter with her aunt and her daughter. She soon found a job as a housekeeper for a sibling couple, but found out on the first day at work that she ended up there, as she was warned about: with a single man, because his supposed sister was just one of his lovers, with theirs Help himself a new "victim", d. H. had chosen a young woman as a lover.

Irma's first impulse is to give up the job immediately. On the other hand, she knows how difficult it is to find work in the city at all, and at the same time she cannot resist the subliminal tingling charm of the situation. So she took precautionary measures and agreed with Rudolf Ikka, the wealthy single businessman's name, strictest distance. That goes well for a while, but Rudolf makes systematic advances that are initially nipped in the bud by Irma, but later end in a scandal, so that Irma moves back to her aunt.

Rudolf Ikka shows up there a few days later and officially asks for Irma's hand. And Irma, who at first spontaneously refuses, suddenly notices that she has fallen in love with this man and agrees. Now follows a happy time in which Irma is showered with gifts and the soon to be newlyweds begin their life together. For Irma it is the fulfillment of a dream, for Rudolf it should be - as it soon turns out - the healing of his inability to bond. Because so far his affairs have only been short-lived, now he wants to try more. An old farm in the country is also bought.

But Rudolf soon notices that he cannot break away from his old life, but Irma's love for Rudolf is growing more and more total. She is ready to make all concessions: renouncing children - because Rudolf cannot father children - renouncing the husband's loyalty, even renouncing the expression of his own love. Nevertheless, Rudolf's decision is irrevocable and he abandons it. Irma can only be happy without him, while Irma thinks the other way round and wants to end her life after the last farewell.

The suicide attempt fails, however, because Eedi, who had followed her to the city, discovers her in time and takes her to the hospital. Eedi still loves Irma idolatrously and blames Rudolf for her misfortune. Furious with rage, he goes to Rudolf and shoots him. When he dies, Rudolf can also write a note in which he asks that no one is suspected of murdering him. To accept this gift from his adversary, whom he blames for the misfortune of his beloved, is a difficult test for Eedi, even if Irma asks him to do so.

reception

The reception of the book in Estonia was initially reluctant. One critic found that society was drawn “in the style of a pale caricature” and deplored the lengthy discussions, the “50% reduction of which would have only benefited the novel.” Another wrote that “the solution in the end is not natural ... and sufficiently justified ", but" too cinematic ". As if that weren't enough, the competing “Loodus” publishing house even tried to blacken the novel by the censorship that had existed in Estonia since the establishment of the authoritarian regime of Konstantin Päts in March 1934. The background to this was that with “Loodus” three titles had recently been confiscated because of immoral content and the competition was viewed with envy. But the slightly erotic passages, which were actually new for the time, could not discredit the novel in the eyes of the judiciary, so that the attempt came to nothing.

The Estonian literary scholar Endel Nirk later came to the conclusion that contemporary critics simply did not understand the novel because it was too modern. In fact, Tammsaare violates some rules that were part of a supposedly good novel at the time: There is no omniscient narrator, rather a certain polyphony of voices dominates. Nobody is holding the strings, the author's sympathy is not clearly distributed, and the various voices are constantly contradicting each other.

Translations

translation to German

For a long time this novel by Tammsaare was the only one that had not been translated into German, although efforts were made in this regard. The translator Adolf Graf, who lives in the GDR, offered it to three publishers, but all of them refused it. One even with the argument that it was "easy entertainment reading".

In 2016 the first German translation was published by Guggolz Verlag, founded in 2014 :

Translations into other languages

  • In 1938 the novel was translated into Latvian: Viena lauliba ;. ar autora atlauju tulkojusi Elina Zālite.
  • Russian (1975): Жизнь и любовь ; перевод с эстонского Ромуальда Минны.
  • Armenian (1978): Կյանք և սեր ; Ս. Սաֆյան.
  • Bulgarian (1978): Живот и любов ; перевела от руски Недялка Христова.
  • Lithuanian (1978): Gyvenimas ir meile ; iš estu kalbos verte Aldona Kalm.
  • Czech (1981): Nenasytné lásky ; z estonského originálu přeložila Naděžda Slabihoudová.

Quotes

  • “Love is something that requires ability…. "(P. 111 of the German edition, to which all other page references also refer)
  • “I used to think the same way as you, but I chose to change my mind instead of suicide, it was easier. Opinions are not worth living because too often opinions go astray. ”(P. 113)
  • “As long as we love, as long as we are able to love, life lasts, beyond love there is nothing. If love ends, then life also ends. "(P. 257)
  • "Men are only nice under twenty-five and over thirty-five." (P. 311)

literature

  • Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. Berlin, New York 2006 ( ISBN 3-11-018025-1 ), p. 464f.
  • Maire Jaanus: Tammsaare and Love , in: interlitteraria 10/2005, pp. 179-195.
  • Jaan Kaplinski : Tammsaare and Hemingway , in: Trajekt 1/1981, pp. 128–135.
  • Endla Köst: AH Tammsaare romaani "Elu ja armastus" retseptsiooni vaatlusi. , in: Sõna mõte inimene. AHTammsaare 100th juubelile pühendatud lühiuurimusi. Koost. Heino Puhvel. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat 1977, pp. 98-127.
  • Mihkel Mutt : Tamjevski ja Dostosaare , in: Looming 1/2014, pp. 72–89.
  • Endel Nirk : Ühe ammu aegunud mõrvaloo järeljuurdluskatse , in: Keel ja Kirjandus 4/1983, pp. 172–188.
  • Erna Siirak: AH Tammsaare in Estonian Literature . Tallinn: Perioodika 1978.
  • Eerik Teder: Lisapudemeid biograafia ja tõlketegevuse kohta , in: Keel ja Kirjandus 12/1981, pp. 739–740.
  • Ilmar Vene: Tammsaare yes Dostojevski. Maailmapiltide kõrvutus , in: Keel ja Kirjandus 5/2007, pp. 345–356.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Catalog search at the Estonian National Library (Estonian)
  2. ↑ H. Paukson: AH Tammsaare: Elu ja armastus, in: Looming 9/1934, pp. 1072-1073.
  3. ↑ Jaan Roos, in: Eesti Kirjandus 11/1934, p. 516.
  4. ↑ Endla Köst: AH Tammsaare romaani "Elu ja armastus" retseptsiooni vaatlusi. , in: Sõna mõte inimene. AHTammsaare 100th juubelile pühendatud lühiuurimusi. Koost. Heino Puhvel. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat 1977, p. 109.
  5. ↑ Endel Nirk: Ühe ammu aegunud mõrvaloo järeljuurdluskatse , in: Keel ja Kirjandus 4/1983, p. 177.
  6. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. From the beginning to the present. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter 2006, p. 464.
  7. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian literature in German translation. A reception story from the 19th to the 21st century. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2011, p. 167.
  8. ↑ Eerik Teder: Lisapudemeid biograafia ja tõlketegevuse kohta , in: Keel ja Kirjandus 12/1981, p. 740.