Erni crusts

Erni crusts (actually Ernst Krustein ) (born April 17 ^{. Jul} / 30th April 1900 ^greg. In Muraste ; † 16th June 1984 in Tallinn ) was an Estonian writer.

Life

Erni Krusten was born in 1900 as the son of a gardener and was a gardener himself for several years from 1915. He soon tried, who had made his debut in 1927, to live as a freelance writer, but only succeeded intermittently. After the Sovietization of Estonia in June 1940, he worked for the short-lived literature, art and culture magazine Viisnurk ('Soviet Star') from January 1941 . During the German occupation of Estonia (1941-1944) he was an editor for a newspaper in Rakvere . After the war he worked as a gardener again for a short time, and from 1950 he was able to live as a freelance writer in Rakvere. Since 1991 a plaque on the former house has been commemorating him. Krusten lived in Tallinn since 1957.

plant

Krusten made his debut with short prose and has published the most in this genre. More important, however, were his novels, at least one of which achieved greater fame.

However, most of them are now forgotten. This certainly applies to his pre-war work, but also to the novel Pekside raamat ('Das Buch der Peksis', 1946), which was published immediately after the war and which still bore clear traces of the pre-war period and therefore found no favor in socialist eyes. As a result, the book was completely forgotten. But the novel, which is a kind of family saga that stretches from the late 1920s to the Second World War, is by no means boring - because it is not socialist-stereotyped. This comes from some unexpected twists and turns, for example the treatment of the topic of 'having children', which one of the main characters suddenly has and is fulfilled in an unconventional way.

The best-known and at the same time most extensive novel by Erni Krusten was published in two volumes in 1954 and 1956 (as well as in later reprints) after a preprint in the magazine Looming . In Noorte südamed ('The hearts of young people'), Krusten deals in detail with the history of the 1905 revolution in Estonia. The focus is on the description of the living conditions in Northeast Estonia in the years 1903 and 1904. The main topic is the conflict between the generations who are looking for different ways to escape the oppressive situation between landlord arbitrariness and tsarist power. The book is written in a novella style and contains many individual episodes that are only loosely interwoven. In many passages, anti-German, anti-clerical, anti-Russian or anti-Kazarian moods are formulated, but the novel does not rely on cheap black and white painting. Viewed in this way, the author succeeds in depicting the complexity of society at that time without pretending to be able to offer patent solutions.

Books

Novels

Mineviku jahil (' Chasing the Past', 1929)

Org Mägedi armastus ('Die Liebe des Org Mägedi', 1939)

Pekside raamat ('The Book of Peksis', 1946)

Nagu piisake meres ('Like a drop in the sea', 1962)

Noorte südamed ('The hearts of young people', 1954, 1956)

Short prose collections

Kanarbik ('heather', 1927)

100 halli juust ('100 gray hairs', 1928)

Pime armastus ('Blinde Liebe', 1941)

Pöördpunktid ('turning points', 1946)

Rahu nimel ('In the Name of Peace', 1951)

Piitsa matused ('The Burial of the Whip', 1957)

Õnnetu armastus ('Unhappy Love', 1957)

Kevadet otsimas ('In Search of Spring', 1960)

Vana võrukael ('The old rascal ', 1966)

Väga half hinne ('Very bad grade', 1967)

Viis lugu ('Five Stories', 1968)

Okupatsioon ('Occupation', 1969)

Rõõmunäljane ('Hungry for Joy', 1973)

Vurriluu ('Schwirrbochen', 1980)

Hull pääsuke ('The Crazy Seagull', 1981)

Metalliotsija ('The Metal Seeker', 1984)

Hellus ('Tender', 1985)

Children's books

Sinisulg depoost ('The blue feather from the depot', 1948)
Kolm pähklit ('Three Nuts', 1955)
Hilised võililled ('The Late Buttercups', 1958)
Piibar (1968)
Ühe tehiskoera seiklused ('The Adventures of an Artificial Dog', 1975)
Kus kuu oli? ('Where was the moon', 1985)

Other texts

Mina elan ('I live', play, 1956)

Juka ('Juka', miniatures and poems, 1963)

Ameeriklased tulid ('The Americans Have Come ', play, 1959)

Lemmiktoit ('Favorite Food ', Humoresken, 1967)

Peegel tänaval ('The mirror on the street', poems 1978)

Prices

Honored Writer of the Estonian SSR 1959
Popular writer of the Estonian SSR 1972
Friedebert Tuglas Novella Prize 1984

Reception in Germany

Krusten is only little known in German-speaking countries, although his novel Like a Drop in the Sea even made it into Kindler's Literature Lexicon for a while. However, it is no longer included in the third edition (2009).

None of his novels has been translated into German, only a few short stories are included in anthologies:

The bride - master saddler Maalut - the ash , in: The last beach robber . Estonian stories from seven decades. Selected by Alexander Baer, Welta Ehlert, Nikolai Sillat. Berlin: Verlag Volk und Welt 1975, pp. 91–118.

In search of spring - The white duck , in: The benevolent protector of the ship's people '. Short Estonian prose from four decades. Selected by August Eelmäe. Tallinn: Perioodika 1984, pp. 48-55.

Private life

Erni Krusten was married to Jetta Alice Krusten (born Kobin, 1913–1964). The couple had two children. He was u. a. the brother of the cartoonist Otto Krusten (pseudonym Raudnõges , 1888–1937) and the journalist and writer Pedro Krusten (1897–1987).

Erni Krusten is buried in the Tallinn Forest Cemetery.

Web links

Photos by Erni Krusten in the digital holdings of the Estonian National Archives.

Individual evidence

↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt : The Fairy Tale of Socialism: How 'Socialist' was the 'New' Literature in Soviet Estonia ?, in: The Sovietization of the Baltic States, 1940-1956. Ed. by Olaf Mertelsmann . Tartu: KLEIO ajalookirjanduse sihtasutus 2003, pp. 227-236.
↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. From the beginning to the present. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter 2006, pp. 553–554.
↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: 1905 in the Estonian novel. In: Norbert Angermann , Michael Garleff , Wilhelm Lenz (eds.): Baltic provinces, Baltic states and the national. Festschrift for Gert von Pistohlkors on his 70th birthday. Lit, Münster 2005, pp. 321–342 ( Writings of the Baltic Historical Commission. 14).
↑ Renata Blodow: Nagu piisake meres ('Like a drop in the sea'), in: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon. Volume 5. Zurich: Kindler 1969, Sp. 183-184; again in: Kindlers New Literature Lexicon. Volume 9. Munich: Kindler 1990, pp. 813-814.
↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian Literature in the German Language 1784-2003. Bibliography of primary and secondary literature. Bremen: Hempen Verlag 2004, pp. 81–82.

personal data
SURNAME	Crusts, Erni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Krustein, Ernst (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Estonian writer
DATE OF BIRTH	April 30, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH	Muraste
DATE OF DEATH	June 16, 1984
Place of death	Tallinn

[1] Cornelius Hasselblatt : The Fairy Tale of Socialism: How 'Socialist' was the 'New' Literature in Soviet Estonia ?, in: The Sovietization of the Baltic States, 1940-1956. Ed. by Olaf Mertelsmann . Tartu: KLEIO ajalookirjanduse sihtasutus 2003, pp. 227-236.

[2] Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. From the beginning to the present. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter 2006, pp. 553–554.

[3] Cornelius Hasselblatt: 1905 in the Estonian novel. In: Norbert Angermann , Michael Garleff , Wilhelm Lenz (eds.): Baltic provinces, Baltic states and the national. Festschrift for Gert von Pistohlkors on his 70th birthday. Lit, Münster 2005, pp. 321–342 ( Writings of the Baltic Historical Commission. 14).

[4] Renata Blodow: Nagu piisake meres ('Like a drop in the sea'), in: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon. Volume 5. Zurich: Kindler 1969, Sp. 183-184; again in: Kindlers New Literature Lexicon. Volume 9. Munich: Kindler 1990, pp. 813-814.

[5] Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian Literature in the German Language 1784-2003. Bibliography of primary and secondary literature. Bremen: Hempen Verlag 2004, pp. 81–82.