Paigallend

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Paigallend (in German about "to fly on the spot") is the title of a novel by the Estonian writer Jaan Kross (1920–2007). It was Kross' penultimate novel.

novel

The novel was published in Estonian in 1998 . In the Estonian original it has 376 pages. The book is subtitled Ullo Paeranna romaan ("Novel about Ullo Paerand").

Paigallend tells the (fictional) life story of Ullo Paerand. He belongs to the same generation as the author Jaan Kross.

Paerand's biography is closely linked to the fate of the Estonians in the first half of the 20th century. The story is told partly by Paerand as a first-person narrator, partly from the perspective of Paerand's schoolmate Jaak Sirkel. Sirkel, Kross' alter ego, is a character who appears in several works by Jaan Kross, including his novel Wikmani poisid .

action

Paerand was born as an only child under the name Ulrich Berends into a typical Estonian middle-class family. The development novel begins with a look back at Paerand on a childhood trip to Germany in the 1920s. Paerand's childhood is happy. Economic troubles begin when his father leaves the family. Lean teenage years follow. But Paerand is fighting with his mother for a better future. He graduated from one of the best schools in Tallinn .

Thanks to his quick comprehension, his good memory and his entrepreneurial skills, Paerand succeeded in advancing. He made it to a management position in the Estonian State Chancellery. But then comes the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940/41, followed by the German occupation from 1941 to 1944. Estonian independence is destroyed.

Paerand joins the Estonian nationalists who want to restore a free Estonia. At the last moment, he and his wife turned down the opportunity to flee into Western exile with the help of a representative of the Vatican.

In 1944 the second Soviet occupation of Estonia followed, which would last until the 1990s. For the next forty years until his death in the 1980s, Paerand had to work as a simple worker. An economic or social advancement is no longer possible for him under Soviet rule due to his past. In the future he will manufacture suitcases in a factory.

Paerand withdraws into self-denial and inner emigration. A fate that he had to share with many Estonians of the same age. The novel ends with a vision of Paerand: he meets his aged father again, who had fled to the West with his lover.

Translations

  • 1999: Finnish - “Paikallaanlento. Ullo Paerandin romaani "
  • 2000: Russian - “Полет на месте. Роман Улло Паэранда "
  • 2002: Latvian - "Lidojums uz vietas"
  • 2003: English - "Treading Air"
  • 2003: Lithuanian - “Sustingęs skrydis. Ullo Paerando romanas "
  • 2006: French - "Le vol immobile"
  • 2007: Swedish - "På stället flyg"
  • 2008: Dutch - "Luchtfietsen"
  • 2015: Spanish - "Vuelo estático"

A complete translation into German is not yet available.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.ohtuleht.ee/19912
  2. ↑ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Paigallend.-a059329975