Paavo Matsin

Paavo Matsin (born April 4, 1970 in Tallinn ) is an Estonian writer .

Life

Matsin graduated from high school in Tallinn in 1988 and then studied Estonian language and literature at the Tallinn University of Education from 1988 to 1993 . After graduating as an Estonian philologist, he studied semiotics and literary studies at the Tallinn Humanitarian Institute and from 1997 to 2003 theology at the Theological Institute of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tallinn, graduating as a graduate theologist.

Paavo Matsin lives as a high school teacher in Viljandi and has been a member of the Estonian Writers' Union since 2004 .

Literary work

Matsin made his debut in 2002 in an anthology of the experimental group "14NÜ" and published in 2011 with Doctor Schwarz. The twelve keys of alchemy presented his first book. Since then he has gained notoriety “primarily as an avant-garde and someone who is interested in occult science”. This is also supported by its use of different, i. H. Russian, or Latvian, variants of his name. His second novel, which is largely set in Riga , has been compared to the work of Teet Kallas .

Matsin's third, award-winning novel Gogol's Disko is set in Viljandi, the only Estonian city not razed to the ground after a devastating war between NATO and Russia. Estonia is again part of the Russian Empire and Estonian has more or less pushed into the underground. Russian intellectuals, including the resurrected Nikolai Gogol, are in charge . The book is not, however, a depressing vision of the future, but rather a “playful dystopia or allegorical grotesque”.

Awards

• Critique Prize of the newspaper Sirp
• 2012 Snake Fountain Pen Award ( Siugjas sulepea )
• 2016 Literature Prize of the Estonian Cultural Capital (prose)
• 2016 European Union Literature Prize for Gogoli disko

bibliography

• Doctor Black. Alkeemia 12 võtit ('Doctor Black. The twelve keys to alchemy'). Viljandi: Lepp ja Nagel 2011. 75 pp.
• [as Pāvs Matsins] Sinine kaardivägi ('The Blue Guard'). Viljandi: Lepp ja Nagel 2013. 104 pp.
• [as Paša Matšinov] Gogoli disko ('Gogol's Disko'). Viljandi: Lepp ja Nagel 2015. 144 pp.

Literature on the author

• Olev Remsu : Teispoolsus vist läbi Nähtud, in: Looming 5/2012, pp. 738-740.
• Kairi Prints: Hoolib, in: Vikerkaar 9/2012, pp. 110-113.
• Lauri Laanisto: Traditsioonid ekstaatilisel tühikäigul, in: Vikerkaar 4–5 / 2014, pp. 165–169.
• Vahur Afanasjev : Riia mu arm, in: Looming 8/2014, pp. 1183–1185.
• Mait Vaik: Disko või rock'n roll ?, in: Vikerkaar 12/2015, pp. 109–112.
• Paavo Matsin / Maarja Vaino: Vasaku käe valikud, in: Looming 1/2017, pp. 104–110.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lauri Laanisto: Traditsioonid ekstaatilisel tühikäigul, in: Vikerkaar 4–5 / 2014, p. 168.
2. ↑ Vahur Afanasjev: Riia mu arm, in: Looming 8/2014, p. 1184.
3. ↑ Janika Kronberg in Estonian Literary Magazine, Spring 2016, pp. 45–46 Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.