Estonian literature

A rich oral tradition of folk poetry from the 14th to the 17th century gave rise to a strongly poetic written literature in the 19th century. Estonian legend supplied F R Kreutzwald (1803-1882) with the basis for his synthetic epic Kalevipoeg (1857-61), which in turn inspired the new romantic nationalist movement in which the poets Lydia Koidula (1843-1886) and Anna Haava (1864-1957) were prominent.

Realist writing in the later 19th century, typified by the novels of Eduard Vilde (1865-1933) and the later work of Juhan Liiv (1864-1913), was superseded by the Neo-Romanticism of ‘Young Estonia’, led by the scholar-poet Gustav Suits (1883-1956). This was followed from 1917 by the less formalist lyricism of the ‘Siuru’ group, particularly Marie Under (1883- ), in its turn yielding to the intellectual aestheticism of the ‘Arbujal’ group in the 1930s, including Betti Alver (1906- ).

From 1945 until the 1960s Stalinist discipline caused Estonian writing to be dominated by exiles, often based in Stockholm, but there has since been a resurgence of writing in Estonia, presided over by the widely translated historical novelist Jaan Kross (1920- ).