Mesmeri ring

Mesmeri ring (in German "The Mesmer Circle") is the title of a novel by the Estonian writer Jaan Kross (1920–2007).

novel

The novel was published in Estonian in 1995 . In the Estonian original of the first edition, it comprises 359 pages. The book is subtitled Romaniseeritud memuaarid nagu kõik memuaarid ja peaaegu iga romaan ("Romanized memoirs - like all memoirs and almost every novel").

The novel has strong autobiographical traits. It is the continuation of Kross' novel Wikmani poisid ("Wikmans Zöglinge"), published in 1988, which tells of the school years in an elite high school in Tallinn in the 1930s. In Mesmeri ring is about the years of study at the University of Tartu from 1938 to 1941. The focus is again the protagonist Jaak Sirkel, the tragic fate of young Estonian educated middle detailed illustrated by the example Kross at that time.

In contrast to the hopeful Wikmani posid , Mesmeri ring is rather dark. History tells of the Republic of Estonia in the last years of the authoritarian rule of President Konstantin Päts , during the so-called "Silent Period" ( Vaikiv ajastu ). In 1940 it was replaced by the Soviet occupation of Estonia. The Stalinist terror pervades the country from now on. How can an individual assert himself against the heavy millstones of history?

Translations

• 1997: Finnish - “Mesmerin piiri. Romanisoidut muistelmat - kuten kaikki muistelmat ja miltei jokainen romaani "
• 2000: Dutch - “De kring van Mesmer. Geromatiseerde memoires zoals alle memoires en bijna iedere roman "

A translation into German is not yet available.

literature

• Cornelius Hasselblatt : History of Estonian Literature . Berlin, New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018025-1 , pp. 693f.
• Theo van Lint : Franz Werfels "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh" in Jaan Kross' "The Circle of Mesmer" . estonia , issue 2004, pp. 52-59
• Liina Lukas : The memoirs made into the novel by Jaan Kross. estonia , issue 1997, pp. 58–62 (review of the novel)

Web links

• Review (Estonian Literature Information Center)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://tallinn.ester.ee/search~S1*est?/tMesmeri+ring/tmesmeri+ring/1%2C3%2C4%2CB/exact&FF=tmesmeri+ring+romaniseeritud+memuaarid+nagu+kw~aik+ memuaarid + ja + peaaegu + iga + romaan & 1% 2C2% 2C  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.