Anton Hansen Tammsaare

Anton Hansen Tammsaare (born as Anton Hansen, 30 January, 1878 - 1 March, 1940), was an Estonian writer whose quintology Tõde ja õigus (Truth and Justice; 1926-1933) is considered one of the major works of Estonian literature and "The Estonian Novel". Tammsaare is depicted on the 25-Kroon banknote, one of Estonia's most ubiquitous (appr. US$ 2).

Bibliography

Tammsaare's early works are characterized by rural "poetic" realism. Some of his stories also reflect the atmosphere of the revolutionary year of 1905. During what is sometimes classified as his second period, from 1908 to 1919, he wrote several short urban novels and collections of miniatures. In "Poiss ja liblik" (1915, The Boy and the Butterfly), Tammsaare shows the influence of Oscar Wilde. Internationally best known is his last novel, Devil with a False Passport.

Related Topics:
Rural - Realism - 1905 - 1908 - 1919 - 1915 - Oscar Wilde - Devil with a False Passport

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Truth and Justice comprises five volumes:

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• 1: Wargamäe
• 2: Indrek
• 3: When the Storm is Silent
• 4: Karin's Love
• 5: Return to Wargamäe

Since vol. 3 contains a description about the Russian Revolution of 1905, which is not informed by ideology but by a Camusian attention to individual suffering, it was often combined with vol. 2 by Soviet censorship. (Even today, the third volume is sometimes called "artistically inferior", although the description of the revolution is on par with similar scenes in Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago. In Estonia, the second volume with its Tartu educational scenes is today probably the most enjoyed. International critics would probably opt for vol. 1 as the strongest overall; it is a classical peasant novel reminiscent of Hamsun which is also generally held to be the most telling one about "the Estonian character", embodied especially in two antagonistic farmer figures Andres and Pearu. Tammsaare himself said later that the different volumes deal with the relation of Man (i.e., the human person) to (1) the land, (2) God, (3) State and society, (4) him- or herself and (5) resignation. Truth and Justice has never been translated into English, but there are two complete translations into German, and vol. 1 has been translated into French.

Related Topics:
Russian Revolution - 1905 - Ideology - Camusian - Soviet - Censorship - Pasternak's - Tartu - Hamsun - God - State

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