Meager meri

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Karge meri (German translation Die Insel der Seehundsjäger (1939), in a later new translation (1985) The rough sea ) is the title of a novel by the Estonian writer August Gailit (1891-1960) from 1938 .

expenditure

August Gailit had published over ten books since 1910 and had his greatest success in 1928 with the novel Toomas Nipernaadi . Karge meri appeared ten years later . The second edition came out in 1944 during the German occupation of Estonia, the next edition was published in 1949 by the exile publisher ORTO in Vadstena. In 1983 the book was printed in Tallinn as part of the series "Estonian Novels". In 2002 an audio book was released which contains a CD with 6 hours and 52 minutes of text.

content

The novel describes life on a secluded Estonian island based on a series of individual fates that are linked through shared experiences and mutual relationships. The focus is on the silent seal hunter Matt Ruhve, who took his wife Katrina from the mainland at the beginning of the novel. At the end of the book, the widowed Katrina returns to the mainland with the island's pastor's daughter, Kelli, whose love has failed.

In between, the strangely archaic life of a patriarchal community is described, which is not unaffected by the modernism of modern society. This also influences the various - real, longed for or failed - love relationships that form the basic structure of the novel. Several women, including Kelli, who has been in America for a while, have hopes for the young seal hunter Eerik Lamm, but all miss out because he is traditionally engaged to a local girl.

In the novel, realistic descriptions - such as the tragic end by Matt Ruhve - alternate with humorous dialogues from the colorful personalities. At the end, however, a slightly melancholy undertone predominates.

reception

A contemporary critic emphasized that, in contrast to August Mälk , who realistically portrayed the life of the coastal inhabitants in his novels, Gailit depicts a “fairy tale world” in which “dreams and romance” set the tone. Another critic saw parallels with Knut Hamsun and described Gailit as an "individualistic fantasy."

The later criticism, however, emphasized the difference to the fun-loving Toomas Nipernaadi and saw in the novel a rather gloomy drawing of the isolated islanders, which is why the novel seems like a "counterbalance to August Mälk's easy-going coastal novels".

In 1981 Karge meri was filmed by Tallinnfilm . The script was written by Arvo Kruusement, who also directed, and the music was written by Veljo Tormis .

Reception in Germany

The first German translation of the novel appeared a year after the original:

  • The island of the seal hunters . From Estonian by Erna Pergelbaum. Berlin: Propylaeen-Verlag 1939. 260 p .; second edition 1943.

The book was reviewed several times, as with the original, parallels to Knut Hamsun were seen again.

In 1985 a new translation was published by Maximilian Dietrich Verlag in Memmingen, this time with the literal reproduction of the original title:

  • The rough sea . Novel. Translated from Estonian by Benita Eisenschmidt. With 16 drawings by Wilhelm M. Busch . Memmingen: Maximilian Dietrich 1985. 272 ​​pp.

However, the book was largely lost on the West German literature market and was hardly reviewed. Part of this may have been due to the fact that the translation was not free of esticisms, as one of the few reviewers has already pointed out.

Not to be confused with the novel Das harte Meer , which appeared in several evening issues of the Vossische Zeitung (March 29 - April 2, 1933): This is a translation of the novella Meri (Eng. 'The Sea '). The translator is not named, according to a press release in the Estonian newspaper Päevaleht on April 5, 1933, p. 5, the translation was by Karl August Hindrey .

Translations into other languages

  • Finnish: Ankara meri . Vironkielestä suomentanut Kerttu Mustonen. Porvoo, Helsinki: Werner Söderström OY 1939. 317 pp.
  • Swedish: Människor på en ö . Från estländska av Anna-Lisa Grängberg, Elisabeth Pähn-Palm. Stockholm: Nordisk Rotogravyr 1940. 251 pp.
  • Czech: Ostrov lovců tuleňů . Přeložil Jiří Drs. Praha: Škeřík 1941. 282 p .; again: Drsné more . Přeložila Nadežda Slabihoudová. Praha: Prace 1989. 201 pp.
  • Latvian: Skarba jura . Ar autora atlauju no igaunu valodas tulkojusi Adele Soll. Riga: H. Rudziš 1942. 231 p .; New edition 1952.
  • Danish: Mennesker paa en ø . Paa dansk ved Signe Wilde. København: CA Reitzel (Axel Sandal) 1944. 226 pp.

further reading

  • Ernst Altendorff: The island of the seal hunters, in: Die Literatur XLII (1939/40), p. 300.
  • Volker Pirsich: An Estonian Poet in Germany, in: Estonia 1/1986, pp. 4–11.
  • Leenu Siimisker: August Gailiti "Karge meri" yes Ruhnu. Üks vanamoodne vaatlus ", in: Looming 7/1994, pp. 971-991.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barren meri. Kaas ja vinjetid: A. Johani. Tartu: Noor-Eesti 1938. 327 pp.
  2. ↑ See https://www.ester.ee/record=b4066468*est .
  3. ↑ Marta Sillaots : August Gailit: Karge meri, in: Looming 10/1938, pp. 1153-1154.
  4. ↑ Daniel Palgi, in: Eesti Kirjandus 12/1938, pp. 550–552.
  5. ↑ See Epp Annus, Luule Epner, Ants Järv, Sirje Olesk, Ele Süvalep, Mart Velsker: Eesti kirjanduslugu. Tallinn: Koolibri 2001, p. 307.
  6. ↑ See the IMBd entry
  7. ^ Barbara Hünerfeldt, in: Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, October 13, 1939; Ernst Altendorff: The island of the seal hunters, in: Die Literatur XLII (1939/40), p. 300.
  8. ↑ Schlesische Zeitung Breslau, December 7, 1939.
  9. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt : Estonian literature in German translation. A reception story from the 19th to the 21st century. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2011, p. 257.
  10. ↑ Volker Pirsich: An Estonian poet in Germany. In: Estonia 1/1986, pp. 4-11, here p. 10; further reviews in: Mitteilungen aus Baltic Life 3/1985, p. 24; Baltic letters 6/1986, p. 4.
  11. ↑ Meri ( Estonian ) Päevaleht. April 5, 1933. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  12. ↑ Cf. Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian literature in German translation. A reception story from the 19th to the 21st century. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2011, p. 129.