Toomas Nipernaadi

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Toomas Nipernaadi (German translation Nippernaht und die Jahreszeiten ) is the title of a novel by the Estonian writer August Gailit from 1928.

Frequency of publication

August Gailit had published over ten books since 1910, most of which were in the short prose genre. In 1925 and 1926, three short stories by Gailit appeared in Looming magazine , the common main character of which was a certain Toomas Nipernaadi . The book Toomas Nipernaadi was then published in 1928, combined with four other texts . A novel in short stories , and in the rest of the work the work has always been received as a novel. The second edition was published in 1935 by Noor-Eesti-Verlag, the third in 1944 during the German occupation of Estonia. The next edition was published in 1947 by the exile publishing house ORTO in Vadstena, in 1967 the only edition was printed in Soviet Estonia, and since the restoration of Estonian independence, new editions have appeared regularly in Tallinn (AVITA 1996, Varrak 2001, Eesti Päevaleht 2006, Hea Lugu 2014).

In 2009 an audio book was released that contains a CD with 15 hours and 20 minutes of text.

action

The main character named in the title is a writer who wanders through Estonia's forests and villages every summer in search of topics and inspiration . Sometimes he pretends to be a casual worker, sometimes a scientist, sometimes a landowner, and every time he gets to know a young woman whom he charms with his charm. He succeeds above all because the women themselves are usually in a predicament and are looking for happiness or simply a better life. However, the resulting relationship always remains on the platonic-romantic level, as the hero always leaves the dust before a concrete action takes place.

On the face of it, Nipernaadi would be an impostor who, with his imagination, love of tales and whispering, brings women to the point that they fall in love with him before he disappears from their lives again. But in the end, the women left behind are by no means the duped ones, because the enthusiastic poet opened their eyes to another world, to alternatives and dreams. Ultimately, he gave them hope to make something - more - of their lives. In the end, the impostor himself is melancholy when he has to return to his home stove when winter sets in.

reception

Gailit's novel can be considered the first Estonian picaresque novel and has been compared to Don Quixote , for example . To this day, it has a special place in Estonian cultural awareness and ranks fifth on a list of the 50 best Estonian novels compiled by experts. The name of the hero of the novel became a symbol of a romantic way of life. In Estonian, the adjective nipernaadilik was formed, which means roughly 'in the manner of a Nipernaadi'. It has found its way into the modern monolingual Estonian dictionary.

Tallinn Public Library book bus

In 1983 Toomas Nipernaadi was made into a film by Tallinnfilm . The script was by Juhan Viiding , directed by Kaljo Kiisk , and the music was by Raimo Kangro . The feature film was very successful and has also made it to the big screen abroad. The Tallinn Public Library's book bus is named "Katariina Jee" after a fictional aunt of Nipernaadi mentioned in the last novella.

Reception in Germany

Gailit had the novel translated at his own expense in Estonia by Arthur Behrsing, who lived there, and then turned to the Russian journalist Ilya Trotsky for mediation. His efforts were crowned with success in 1931, so that after a preprint in the entertainment sheet of the Vossische Zeitung, the book was published by Propylaen, which belongs to Ullstein-Verlag :

  • Nippernaht and the seasons . Translated from Estonian by IM Trotsky. Berlin: Propylaea = Verlag 1931. 246 pp.

At the same time, an edition was published in the Gutenberg Book Guild , and in 1943 a second edition in the Propylaen publishing house.

Compared to the Estonian original, the novel has been shortened by approx. 30–40%, but this has not been reported anywhere. The statement of the translator as IM Trotsky (which is still contained in the DNB today ) is also incorrect, since he only acted as a mediator. The actual translator was Arthur Behrsing.

The reception of the German translation was very positive. Numerous newspapers brought reviews, some of them by well-known writers such as Hans Fallada or Hermann Hesse . The reviewer of the Vossische Zeitung, Georg von der Vring, saw the author “geographically and poetically between Hamsun and Gogol”, Hans Fallada was reminded of Till Eulenspiegel, Don Quichotte and Gösta Berling, and Manfred Hausmann simply said: “It was the first Estonian book that I got hold of in my life. Well, it won't be the last. "

Translations into other languages

  • Dutch: Toomas Nipernaadi . Vertaald door PJA boat. Amsterdam: Scheltema & Holkema 1932. 244 p .; second (revised) edition: Antwerp: NV Het kompass [1942]. 251 pp.
  • Czech: Touha ... . Z německého přeložil Jaroslav Starý. Praha: Smolík 1935. 232 pp.
  • Lithuanian: Tomas Nipernadis . Išverté H. Korsakienē. Kaunas: Spaudos fondas 1938. 315 pp.
  • Finnish: Toomas Nipernaadi . Vironkielestä suomentanut Kerttu Mustonen: Porvoo - Helsinki: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö 1942. 385 pp.
  • Latvian: Toms Nipernadijs . Ar autora atlauju tulkojusi Adele Soll. Riga: H. Rudziša apgadn. (Gramatu Draugs) 1942. 395 pp.
  • French: Toomas Nipernaadi . Traduit de l'esthonien by Olga Karma. Bruxelles: Collection estuaires aux editions la sixaine 1946. 328 pp.
  • Polish: Dziwny świat Tomasza Nipernaadiego . Przełożyła Alicja Maciejewska. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy 1988. 328 pp.
  • Russian: Тоомас Нипернаади: Pоман в новеллах. Перевод с эстонского Аугуст Гайлит. Таллинн: Александра 1993. 414 pp.
  • English: Toomas Nipernaadi . Translated by Eva Finch & Jason Finch. Sawtry: Dedalus 2018. 378 pp.

further reading

  • Hans Fallada : Nippernaht und die Jahreszeiten, in: Die Literatur 34 (1931/32), p. 236.
  • Walther von Hollander : Young poet of a young country, in: Der Cross Section XI (1931), Issue 12, pp. 857–858.
  • Wolf-Dietrich Zernecke, in: Der Romanführer. The content of the novels and short stories of world literature. Volume 12. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann 1961, pp. 168-169.
  • Renata Blodow: Toomas Nipernaadi, in: Kindlers Literatur Lexikon . Volume 6. Zurich: Kindler, 1971, pp. 2806-2807; Kindler's New Literature Lexicon. Edited by Walter Jens. Volume 6. Munich: Kindler 1989, p. 19; Kindler's literary dictionary. 3rd, completely revised edition. Stuttgart, Weimar: JB Metzler 2009, pp. 22-23.
  • Jaanus Vaiksoo: August Gailiti romaan "Toomas Nipernaadi" lugemismudelid, in: Keel ja Kirjandus 8/1994, pp. 460-475.
  • Jaanus Vaiksoo: Gailit yes Nipernaadi. Tallinn: Koolibri 1995. 95 pp.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pärlite püüdja, in: Looming 1/1925, pp. 27–42; Toomas Nipernaadi, in: Looming 1/1926, pp. 228-251; Parvepoiss, in: Looming 6/1926, pp. 641-658.
  2. ^ August Gailit: Toomas Nipernaadi. Romaan novellides. Kaas, frontispiss ja illustratsioonid: Jaan Vahtra . Tartu: Loodus 1928. 430 pp.
  3. ↑ See https://www.ester.ee/record=b4010376*est .
  4. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt : History of Estonian Literature. Berlin, New York 2006 ( ISBN 3-11-018025-1 ), pp. 474-476.
  5. ↑ See Epp Annus, Luule Epner, Ants Järv, Sirje Olesk, Ele Süvalep, Mart Velsker: Eesti kirjanduslugu. Tallinn: Koolibri 2001, p. 302.
  6. ↑ Andres Langemets : Viiskümmend paremat eesti romaani in: Luup 18/1998, p. 40
  7. ↑ (entry in the Estonian explanatory dictionary)
  8. ↑ see the IMBd entry .
  9. ↑ 28 deliveries between October 14th and November 12th 1931, No. 241-268.
  10. ↑ Cf. Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian literature in German translation. A reception story from the 19th to the 21st century. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2011, pp. 121-131.
  11. ^ Vossische Zeitung, November 29, 1931.
  12. ↑ Die Literatur 34 (1931-32), p. 236.
  13. ↑ Advertising text in Gailit's novel "The Island of the Seal Hunters", 1939.