Wikmani poisid

Wikmani poisid (Estonian, German translation: Wikmans Zöglinge , 2017) is the title of a novel by the Estonian writer Jaan Kross (1920–2007).

Origin and publication history

After Jaan Kross had dealt with the genre of the historical novel by then, he turned to his own history in the phase of the Singing Revolution . In 1987 the novel Das Gegenwindschiff was published, which takes place for the most part in the 20th century and deals with the life of the optician Bernhard Schmidt (1879-1935). While Kross was working on this novel in the mid-1980s and, among other things, traveling to Hamburg-Bergedorf for a longer study visit, he learned that a nephew of his protagonist was still alive and living on Mallorca. He would have liked to visit and interview him, but did not get permission from the authorities. Disappointed, Kross put the Schmidt novel aside for a while and turned to a topic on which he could rely on his own memory and not have to go abroad: his own school days.

Nevertheless, he only completed the Schmidt novel and published Wikman's pupils in 1988 , without a preprint in Looming magazine, as is often the case. The novel was published by Eesti Raamat with a print run of 50,000 copies and comprised 525 pages. A new edition appeared in 1998 as part of Kross' collected works, after which the novel was published again. There is also a CD version published by the Estonian Association of the Blind, which Aksel Küngas read and which lasts 21 hours and 23 minutes.

Novel plot

The 28 chapters of the novel are divided into a first part, entitled "Tenth Grade" and containing fourteen chapters, and a second part, the "Eleventh Grade", which includes chapters 15 to 26 and, in Estonia, the high school graduation year in the interwar period was. The last two chapters are addenda in terms of content and take place in 1943 and 1944, while the main part of the novel is set in the years 1937/1938.

The Jakob Westholmsche Gymnasium, built in 1913

The school - which still exists today and has only been renamed in the meantime - where Jaan Kross actually graduated from high school in 1938 was called the Jakob Westholmsche Gymnasium and its title is only alienated for the sake of form. The same applies to the people - pupils and teachers - who all appear under only slightly different names, but are easily recognized by contemporaries. The author himself appears as "Jaak Sirkel", as in some of the other works by Jaan Kross.

The plot begins with the reprimand of the student Juhan Pukspuu for gross nonsense - the waste paper basket exploded in religion class, and the pious and ridiculed religion teacher Mr. Tooder almost went blind. Since this was not a coincidence, but was arranged collectively by the students with the help of magnesium, a strict investigation and questioning is carried out by the school inspector. The students deny everything, Pukspuu only admits to having lit a match, which will then be fateful for him. However, the management leaves a back door open for him: if at the end of the school year he passes all of the exams for entry into the eleventh grade, he can come back. Taking up this suggestion, the classmates who feel guilty put the money together and give the money to one of them who is supposed to keep Pukspuu up to date with the help of tutoring. Richard (Riks) Laasik is chosen for this, who is one of the best students, but at the same time comes from a poor background and can therefore use the money well.

In the following, various episodes from everyday school life are described, with imaginative student pranks and serious problems and discussions of adolescents being presented. At the same time, the political situation within an authoritarian, but not totalitarian state is illuminated, which - as it has always been - is in the area of ​​tension between West and East, which in the period in question has become a field of tension between communism and fascism.

At the same time, a timidly unfolding love is at the center of the plot, which is made more complicated by the existence of a "classic" love triangle: The relegated student Juhan Pukspuu has two sisters, Aino and Virve. The older Aino is in a relationship with another classmate, while Virve attracts the attention of both the “tutor” Riks Laasik and the mediator, friend and class leader Jaak Sirkel. The competition between the two schoolmates creates an additional element of tension in the novel and remains unresolved until the end.

In a figurative sense, the book ends again with an explosion, because nothing else can be described as the Second World War , which brought about a German occupation after the Sovietization of Estonia. The final chapters take place during this time, when the boys celebrate their five-year high school graduation and the author investigates their individual fates. In the last chapter, the circle symbolically closes with the mention of the fate of Mr. Tooder: Like many Estonians, he chose the path into exile in 1944 in order to escape a renewed Soviet occupation. However, an escape in a rowboat across the Baltic Sea in the middle of a strong autumn storm is a hopeless undertaking. Tooder does it anyway, and regards it as a test of his firmness in faith. Jaak Sirkel, who was looking for Virve in a summer house on the coast and met Tooder there, refuses to help him, but lets him go, shaking his head. Back in Tallinn, he learns that Virve has also started his way into Western exile.

rating

The novel follows a tradition of “school novels” within Estonian literature: The most popular Estonian novel of all time, Kevade ('The Spring', 1912/1913) by Oskar Luts , deals with the Russified elementary school at the end of the 19th century, during the second part of Anton Hansen Tammsaare's pentalogy Tõde ja õigus (1929) describes Hugo Treffner's private school , where at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries those students who were to pave the way for Estonian independence grew up. Kross' novel describes the first generation of schoolchildren who grew up in the independent Estonian city and went through their entire educational path in Estonian alone. Until 1870, higher education in Estonia was only possible in German, which for a long time was the language of the upper class and of education there. From 1885 onwards, the entire school system in Estonia was subordinated to the Russian Ministry of Education and, as the trend towards Russification increased, teaching was gradually only given in Russian.

Against this background, it is understandable why a supposedly “simple” school novel achieved such great importance and was acclaimed by the critics: Its appearance in the years of the Singing Revolution “brought back precisely those times in front of the eyes of the readership that have long been discussed was only allowed to speak negatively and their rehabilitation or, to a certain extent, restoration was now demanded. ”Because the narrative construction of the novel, in which an omniscient narrator flashes briefly again and again, makes it clear to the readership how great the time difference between the“ Narration time and the narrated events "is.

The novel is therefore not only a “youthful carefree” work, which is also a “beautiful novel about first love”, but also the prelude to a series of prose works by Jaan Kross that deal with Estonia's recent past and thus also deal with the author's personal past. The jump from the 26th to the 27th chapter, with which five years (1938–1943) are bridged, is neither negligence nor coincidence. The events in between were so drastic that the author reserved them for another novel, Mesmeri ring ('The Mesmer Circle'), which appeared in 1995.

filming

In 1995 the novel was filmed for Estonian TV under the direction of Vilja Palm , where it was shown in twelve episodes. Participants were - in portraying the teachers - well-known actors such as Mikk Mikiver or Kaljo Kiisk, as well as young actors in the student roles such as B. Marko Matvere , Mait Malmsten , Ain Mäeots , Piret Kalda and Liina Olmaru . The review was very impressed. The total length of the series is six hours and 40 minutes, the film music for this comes from Sven Grünberg .

Foreign reception

Reception in Germany

Since after the peak of Kross reception in Germany in 1995 only one more novel was published by Hanser - Die Frauen von Wesenberg or Der Aufstand der Bürger - and the Hanser Verlag then said goodbye to Kross, initially only excerpts were made from this novel published:

• The twelfth chapter from "Wikmans Zöglinge" . Translated by Irja Grönholm , in estonia 1/1998, pp. 15-27; reprinted in: Lichtungen 2003, pp. 44–49.

• Wikman's pupils . [28. Chapter], in: Estonia 2006, pp. 101–120.

In 2017 the entire novel was published in German:

• Jaan Kross: Wikman's pupils . Novel. Translated from Estonian by Irja Grönholm. With an afterword by Cornelius Hasselblatt . Hamburg: Osburg Verlag 2017. 573 pp.

Translations into other languages

• 2001: Finnish - Wikmanin pojat (Kalervo Mettala). Turku: Kirja-Aurora. 542 pp.

Web links

(Estonian) trailer for the television series

literature

• Aino Pervik : Habent sua fata libelli , in: Sirp ja Vasar February 17, 1989.
• Pärt Lias: Kontekst ja kiri, in: Keel ja Kirjandus 3/1989, pp. 182–183.
• Oskar Kuningas: Teos oma teed otsivast noorusest, in: Kodumaa January 31, 1990.
• Olev Remsu : Oma kool omas riigis, in: Estonia 1/1990, pp. 37-39.
• Tiina Kirss: (Review), in: World Literature Today 1/1990, p. 159.
• Maie Kalda: Krossi keeleloomest. Romaanide "Kolme katku vahel" I ja "Wikmani poisid" põhjal, in: Keel ja Kirjandus 7/1995, pp. 468–474.
• Juhani Salokannel : Sivistystahto. Jaan Kross, we have teoksensa yes virolaisuus. Helsinki: WSOY 2008. 506 pp.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Cornelius Hasselblatt : I loved an Estonian. Autobiographical Forays. Husum: ihleo Verlag 2012, pp. 213–215
2. ↑ Jaan Kross: Omaeluloolisus yes alltekst. 1998. a. Tartu Ülikooli filosoofiateaduskonna vabade kunstide professorina peetud loengud. Tln: EKSA 2003, p. 34.
3. ↑ Jaan Kross: Kogutud teosed 9. Wikmani poisid. Tallinn: Virgela 1998. 530 pp.
4. ↑ Jaan Kross: Wikmani poisid. Tallinn: Hea Lugu 2015. 434 pp.
5. ^ Entry in the Estonian National Library
6. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. From the beginning to the present. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 2006, pp. 693–694.
7. ↑ Juhani Salokannel: Sivistystahto. Jaan Kross, we have teoksensa yes virolaisuus. Helsinki: WSOY 2008, p. 351.
8. ↑ Aino Pervik: Habent sua fata libelli in: Sirp ja Vasar 17 February 1989.
9. ↑ Sven Karja: “Wikmani poisid” alustasid kooliaastat, in: Hommikuleht January 5, 1995, p. 17.
10. ↑ See Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian Literature in German Translation. A reception story from the 19th to the 21st century. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2011, pp. 328–329; Cornelius Hasselblatt: Kirjandusvälja toimimisviisist Jaan Krossi saksa retseptsiooni Näitel, in: Keel ja Kirjandus 4/2016, pp. 257-258.