Estonian scholars prepare a new literary history

Estonian literary scholars are preparing a new, multi-volume academic history of the country’s literature, University of Tartu professor Liina Lukas told ERR.

Lukas said every generation should write its own literary history, not only to understand the past but also to make sense of the present and imagine the future. She described literary history as a way for a culture to reflect on who it is, where it comes from and where it is going.

The latest comprehensive, multi-volume history of Estonian literature was compiled by Endel Sõgel and published in five parts, across seven books, between 1965 and 1991. Lukas said the work was strongly shaped by Soviet ideology and is now difficult for readers to approach with the necessary critical distance.

After Estonia regained independence, six University of Tartu scholars produced a new history, published in 2001. It addressed gaps in Sõgel’s work, including the treatment of exile literature and Soviet-era writing, but had to cover the subject in a single volume and was prepared quickly, Lukas said.

Cornelius Hasselblatt’s one-volume history, written in German for German readers, was published in 2006 and translated into Estonian a decade later. Lukas said the new project will instead draw on the large body of research published since then and bring it together for a wider readership.

The new account will cover Estonian literature from its beginnings, incorporating recent scholarship, newly available archival sources and subjects that earlier histories left out. Lukas cited the writing of women authors that had been forgotten or pushed out of literary history but has attracted renewed interest.