Meelis Friedenthal

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meelis Friedenthal 2012
Photo: Lauri Kulpsoo

Meelis Friedenthal (born October 24, 1973 in Viljandi ) is an Estonian theologian and writer .

Life

Meelis Friedenthal graduated from high school in Tartu in 1992 and studied theology at the University of Tartu from 1992 to 1996 . After completing his bachelor's degree, he spent the 1996/1997 academic year at Heidelberg University . He then took a master's degree in Tartu. After completing his master's degree in 2001, he went on to study for a doctorate, which he completed in 2008 with the Dr. theol. completed.

From 2002 to 2008 he held various teaching positions at the University of Tartu. Since 2008 he has been employed as a researcher at the Tartu University Library . In the 2014/2015 academic year he was a postdoc at the Lichtenberg-Kolleg at the University of Göttingen .

Meelis Friedenthal has been a member of the Estonian Writers' Union since 2012 . He lives in Tartu.

plant

Friedenthal's debut novel won third prize in the 2004 novel competition and was published in 2005. This novel, Goldene Zeit , is a dystopia that is set after an unspecified global catastrophe in which the (remaining) people are trying to organize their lives again. The fact that all people have to be vaccinated once a year - exactly what is not disclosed - caused one critic to ask the rhetorical question: “Are we not the ones who need a constant vaccine to maintain our identity and not openly Eyes to sleep? ”Another reviewer compared George Orwell to find the novel“ so oppressive that [he] had to put it aside a few times. ”

His second novel, The Bees , won the European Union Literature Prize in 2013 . This is a historical novel set in the 17th century when Estonia was part of Sweden . It was praised as a work with powerful language, which "carries on the best traditions of the Estonian historical novel and fits worthily among the series of university novels". The latter refers to the fact that the action takes place in the university city of Tartu. The main character, whose nationality has not been determined, completed a medical degree in Leiden , the Netherlands , and is now trying to apply and deepen his knowledge in another university town. At the same time he fights against his own melancholy, which the author aptly describes in the epilogue as the "disease of the 17th century". The main character, on the other hand, argues that she has a university education, "because if there is any cure for melancholy, it is art and science." The latter is also used against witchcraft, which is another subject of the book that takes place at a time when when the last witch trials took place. It is therefore no coincidence that the novel has been compared to Arthur Miller's witch hunt .

Like the novels by Jaan Kross , which often deal with a certain period in Estonian history and to which parallels have also been drawn in reviews, Friedenthal's compact novel throws a spotlight on the end of the 17th century in Estonia. On the threshold of the Age of Enlightenment , there is still the fight against the dark - embodied by witchcraft and illustrated by a (historically documented) famine due to poor harvests and consistently bad weather. “It was raining all the time,” is the first sentence of the book, which despite everything is by no means depressing, which is mainly due to the “beautiful and cultivated language”.

The novel The Bees has so far been translated into Albanian (2017), Bulgarian (2018), Danish (2018), English (2017), Dutch (2015), Italian (2015), Croatian (2018), Latvian (2015), Lithuanian (2020 ), Macedonian (2018), Norwegian (2016), Serbian (2018), Czech (2016) and Hungarian (2016).

Awards

Fonts

  • Kuldne aeg ("Golden Age"). Tuum, Tallinn 2005. 190 pp.
  • Mesilased ("The Bees"). Varrak, Tallinn 2012 (2nd edition 2013). 214 pp.
  • Inglite keel ("The language of angels"). Varrak, Tallinn 2016. 207 pp.

literature

  • Jaak Tomberg: Mis toimub lahtiste silmadega magava inimese peas . In: Looming 3/2006, pp. 470-472.
  • Marju Lepajõe: Võilille surm . In: Vikerkaar , 9/2012, pp. 88-93.
  • Pill-Riin Larm: Mesilastest, yes mid-kangelastest . In: Keel ja Kirjandus , 4/2013, pp. 296–298.
  • Meelis Friedenthal, Sven Vabar: Ajalugu tekitab ängi, segadust. Arusaamatust. Hirmu . In: Looming , 1/2007, pp. 77-85.
  • Tiit Aleksejev : The Bees . In: Estonian Literary Magazine , 38, spring 2014

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jaak Tomberg: Mis toimub lahtiste silmadega magava inimese peas . In: Looming , 3/2006, p. 472.
  2. ^ Peeter artist. In: Eesti Ekspress , areen, January 18, 2006.
  3. ↑ a b Pille-Riin Larm: Mesilastest yes middle kangelastest . In: Keel ja Kirjandus , 4/2013, p. 296.
  4. ↑ Meelis Friedenthal: Mesilased . Varrak, Tallinn 2012, p. 207.
  5. ↑ Marju Lepajõe: Võilille surm . In: Vikerkaar , 9/2012, pp. 90-91.
  6. ↑ Pille-Riin Larm: Mesilastest yes middle kangelastest . In: Keel ja Kirjandus , 4/2013, p. 297.
  7. ^ Tiit Aleksejev: The Bees . In: Estonian Literary Magazine , 38, spring 2014, p. 26.
  8. ↑ [1]
personal data
SURNAME Friedenthal, Meelis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Viljandi