Jaak Järv

Jaak Järv (born April 17, 1852 on the Roni farm, Kivilõppe village, today Tarvastu municipality , Viljandi district / Estonia ; † spring 1920 on the Djoma river , Ufa governorate / Soviet Russia ) was an Estonian writer at the time of the National Awakening.

Early years

Jaak Järv came from a humble background. The father died early. He spent his childhood in the villages of Soe (now Tarvastu Parish) and Rõhu (now Tähtvere Parish) . Largely self-taught, he managed the teacher's exam and was then from 1871 to 1875 at a school in Vastse-Nõo (then parish Nõo active).

After he had given up his teaching activity, he lived from 1876 as a freelance publicist and journalist in Viljandi and Tallinn . Among other things, he worked closely with Carl Robert Jakobson and the radical pro-Estonian newspaper Sakala from 1878 to 1880 .

Virulane newspaper

In 1881 Järv bought the newspaper Tartu Eesti Seitung , which he published from 1882 to 1888 under the name Virulane . It found a large readership especially in northern Estonia and was one of the most influential papers of the time. Jaak Järv was particularly committed to the Estonian self-confidence and against Russification , to the use of the Estonian language also towards authorities and to the formation of an Estonian cultural nation .

In 1888 the newspaper was banned by the Russian authorities. Because of the propagation of socialist ideas, Järv was banned from the Baltic States from 1888 to 1890 .

After returning to Estonia, Järv became involved in the fish trade. Järv re-founded a newspaper in 1905, which, however, could not build on the commercial and journalistic success of Virulane .

In 1912 he moved to Moscow for professional reasons , and in 1919 to Samara . He drowned in a disaster on the Djoma River in Ufa Governorate in March or April 1920 .

Literary work

Jaak Järv is considered to be one of the founding fathers of nationally-minded Estonian literature. His novel Vallimäe neitsi (1885) is considered to be the very first Estonian novel. Järv mainly deals with historical topics that were of great importance to the Estonians during the Russification and National Awakening era.

In the second half of his life, Järv turned more and more to mysticism and spiritism . During this time he devoted himself more to journalism and church criticism as well as the propagation of the Estonian language than to fiction .

Most important works

• Lillekimbukene (poems, 1873)
• Itaalia tõetunnistaja Filoteo Giordano Bruno (anti-clerical polemic , 1883)
• Vallimäe neitsi (novel, 1885)
• Mehised mehed (narrative, 1889)
• Ristitütar (story, 1891)
• Karolus (story, 1892)

Web links

• Life and Work (Estonian)