Authors:Aigi Heero Pages: 13 - 35 Abstract: Ülevaade. Gohar Markosjan-Käsper (1949–2015) on armeenia-eesti kir- janik, kes kirjutas vene keeles ja keda loetakse seetõttu üldiselt eesti vene- keelse kirjanduse esindajate hulka. Tema romaanid „Penelopa“ (1998) ja „Elena“ (2000) käsitlevad siirdeaega, mil NSV Liit lakkas eksisteerimast ning algas uutel, turumajanduslikel väärtustel põhineva ühiskonna üles- ehitamise aeg. Käesolev uurimus analüüsib, kuidas ja milliste võtete abil kujutatakse nendes romaanides siirdeaegseid ajaloolisi sündmusi ja too- nast argielu Eestis ning Armeenias. Analüüsis toetutakse ühelt poolt sotskolonialismi, teiselt poolt mälu-uuringute ja kollektiivse mälu teoree- tilisele mõistestikule. Artikkel näitab, kuidas kirjeldades nn kohalikku ajalugu universaalsete, rahvusvaheliselt levinud motiivide abil, mõtes- tatakse samal ajal nõukogude aja pärandit ning ühest ühiskonnast teise ülemineku kohati traumaatilist kogemust.1
Võtmesõnad: Gohar Markosjan-Käsper, Eesti, Armeenia, lähiajalugu, nõukogude aeg, kollektiivne mälu, siirdeaeg, eesti venekeelne kirjandus Abstract. Gohar Markosjan-Käsper (1949–2015), an Armenian-Estonian writer, is generally considered to be a representative of Estonian Russian-language literature. Her novels “Penelopa” (1998) and “Elena” (2000) deal with a period of transition, when the Soviet Union ceased to exist and the con- struction of a market-oriented society began. The present study analyses how and with what techniques these novels depict the historical events and everyday life in Estonia and Armenia. The article shows how describing the history of Estonia and Armenia with universal, internationally common motives helps to discuss the Soviet legacy and to understand the traumatic experience of transition from one form of society to another. For example, the Soviet occupation in Estonia is explained with the metaphor of domes- tic violence and the Estonian monetary reform in 1992 is compared to track racing with unequal participants. At the same time, the sometimes differ- ing experiences of the Estonian and Armenian people are compared.
The transition period is portrayed as a tough time filled with daily struggle. On the one hand, there are economic and domestic problems; on the other hand, the grief caused by the collapse of a familiar world is addressed. The new era also offers opportunities to speak directly about the traumatic experiences of the past such as World War II. Although sev- eral years have passed since the transition, many of the problems of this period have not yet been resolved. These novels show that sometimes there is a way to come to terms with the past with the help of art, literature, and, of course, friends and family. Thus, these books speak not only of socio- historical pain points, but also of strength, endurance, and wisdom.
Keywords: Gohar Markosjan-Käsper, Estonia, Armenia, recent history, Soviet Union, collective memory, transition period, Estonian literature in Russian PubDate: 2021-12-28 DOI: 10.22601/PET.2021.06.01
Authors:Piret Viires Pages: 36 - 52 Abstract: Ülevaade. Artikkel käsitleb siirdeajastu alguse üht huvitavamat kirjan- dusnähtust, eesti punkluulet, mis 1980. aastate lõpus arenes kiiresti sub- kultuursest nišifenomenist poliitiliselt angažeeritud isamaaliseks protes- tikirjanduseks ja oli nähtavas rollis laulva revolutsiooni ajal. Samal ajal sisenes punkluule ka jõuliselt eesti kirjanduskaanonisse, seda märgata- valt laiendades. Punkluule tõi kirjandusse uued võtted ja jooned (kõne- keelsus, madalate kategooriate poetiseerimine, luuletekstide jõulisus ja intensiivsus, terav ühiskondlik protest jm) ning oli 1990. aastate kirjan- dusmurrangute eelkäija. Kui punkluule poliitiline angažeeritus jääbki laulva revolutsiooni perioodi, siis eesti kirjanduskaanonisse on punkluule end kinnistanud. Seda näitab nii punkluule käsitlemine kirjanduslugu- des, kaasatus gümnaasiumi riiklikusse õppekavasse kui ka käsitlemine mitmetes kooliõpikutes.1
Võtmesõnad: punkluule, siirdeajastu, kirjanduskaanon, laulev revolut- sioon, poliitiline angažeeritus
Abstract. The article discusses Estonian punk poetry, which is one of the most inter- esting literary phenomena during the beginning of the Estonian transition period. Punk poetry had become viable in Estonian culture from the early 1980s and its heyday was at the end of that decade. Punk poets utilised both literary and subcultural landscapes, their texts were powerful and intense, using unconventional poetic language, colloquialisms, obscene expressions and expressed sharp social criticism. Punk poetry developed quickly from a subcultural niche phenomenon into a politically engaged patriotic protest literature in the late 1980s and played a visible role dur- ing the Singing Revolution. At the same time, punk poetry entered vigor- ously the Estonian literary canon, changing and expanding it consider- ably: bringing new techniques and features to literature. Punk poetry was also a precursor to the literary upheavals of the 1990s. While the political engagement of punk poetry remains in the period of the Singing Revolu- tion, its position in Estonian literary canon is secure. This is demonstrated by the analyses of punk poetry in literary history volumes, the inclusion of punk poetry in the national school curriculum, as well as, its treatment in several school textbooks.
Keywords: punk poetry, transition period, literary canon, Singing Revolu- tion, politically engaged literature (littérature engagée)
Authors:Triin van Doorslaer Pages: 53 - 74 Abstract: Ülevaade. Artiklis võetakse vaatluse alla saksakeelse tõlkekirjanduse olu kord Eestis aastatel 1990–2000 ning püütakse arutleda selle üle, kui palju aitavad tõlkija, tõlke kommenteerija, kirjastaja, lugeja ja tõlke arvustaja kaasa tõlketeksti spetsiifika hoidmisele. Lisaks vaadeldakse, kuidas muu tus saksakeelse kirjanduse kirjastamine, vahendamine ja vastuvõtt Ees tis pärast taasiseseisvumist, kui riik pööras pilgu pigem angloameerika kultuuriruumi suunas.
Abstract. In 1991, when Estonia regained its independence, the situation in the translation market changed dramatically. The number of translations rose rapidly, the conventional translation methods were changed, and the translated books of fiction acquired a central position in the system of Estonian culture as well as in the landscape of Estonian literature. Trans lations became a part of the Estonian literature, and they were often seen as original texts. At the same time translations tended to lose their own identity as translated texts.
The aim of this article is to find out whether the social and cultural systems of the target culture (translators, publishers, critics) were sup porting literary translations as such, since they involved specific type of texts, representing rather the source culture than the target culture, yet becoming a part of the literature of the target culture. The situation of the publishing houses in Estonia between 1990–2000 and the importance of translations, particularly German translations over the mentioned period is analysed and translation criticism of the translated works from German into Estonian between 1990–2000 in the Estonian press is discussed. Finally, it could be said that changes in the Estonian social and cul tural system 1990–2000 gave a boost to new topics in literature. The posi tion of translated literature was significant, taking the central position in the Estonian literary polysystem and acquired partly the role of the orig inal Estonian literature. It is also important to mention that during the discussed period translation criticism in the Estonian press and literary journals was mainly replaced by general literary criticism.
Authors:Maris Sõrmus, Suliko Liiv Pages: 75 - 97 Abstract: Ülevaade. Artiklis uuritakse looduse-kultuuri dualismi kujutamist And- rus Kivirähki ja Monique Roffey loomingu näitel. Toetudes materiaalsele ökokriitikale, analüüsitakse, kuidas kirjanikud looduse ja kultuuri vastan- dust ümber mõtestavad. Kõrvutades Roffey romaane „The White Woman on the Green Bicycle“ (2009), „Sun Dog“ (2002) ja Kivirähki romaani „Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu“ (2007), ilmneb neis looduskultuuriline hägu- sus ja posthumaanne maailm, mis vaidlustab normatiivse inimkeskse vaatenurga. Kirjanikud osutavad antropotsentrismi kriitikale ja kultuuri muutumisele, laiendades agentsuse ja hääle loodusele ning dekonstruee- rides looduse ja kultuuri binaarsuse. Artiklis käsitletakse uusi teoreetilisi kontseptsioone keskkonnahumanitaariast: transkorporeaalsus, loodus- kultuurilisus ja agentsus. Esmalt keskendutakse hääle ja agentsuse ümber- mõtestamisele, jõudes selleni, kuidas inimene ja loodus sulanduvad üht- seks looduskultuuriks.
Abstract. This article focuses on how nature and culture are transformed beyond recognition in contemporary British-Caribbean (Monique Roffey) and Estonian literature (Andrus Kivirähk), shattering the anthropocentric core of the concepts of agency, body, and voice. Situated in the new mate- rialist paradigm, we follow on from such re-conceptualisations in material ecocriticism. In line with this view, Roffey and Kivirähk mingle nature with humans as a subject, threatening anthropo-normativity. Being artic- ulate and bodily, nature emerges as a cultural creature, uncannily entan- gled with culture, as in Roffey’s “The White Woman on the Green Bicycle” (2009). Further compelling is the naturalisation of culture in “Sun Dog” (2002): the human body forming a porous natural-cultural body. Nature and culture truly collapse, suggesting the posthuman body as a material- discursive phenomenon. The novelists furthermore suggest the blurring of human and nonhuman languages: the emergence of nature as articu- late and the view of humans as natural creatures. In “Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu” (“The Man Who Spoke Snakish”, 2007), anthropocentrism is finally dissolved in merging nature and culture and suggesting their intra- active becoming. Both writers thus compellingly indicate that agency, voice and body are not singularly human but span the natural world around us.
Keywords: Andrus Kivirähk, Monique Roffey, material ecocriticism, anthropocentrism, agency, natureculture, transcorporeality, posthuman- ism PubDate: 2021-12-28 DOI: 10.22601/PET.2021.06.04
Authors:Mari Laaniste Pages: 98 - 123 Abstract: Ülevaade. Artikkel iseloomustab ülevaatlikult 1990ndate Eestis siirde aegse ajakirjandusbuumi ning laiema kultuurilise teisenemise osana tek kinud lehekoomiksiribade lainet. Moodsa ja läänelikuna tajutud formaat tõrjus leheveergudelt varem menuka karikatuuri ning mõned arvukatest uutest lehekoomiksisarjadest nagu Madis Otsa „Pesakond“ saavutasid suure populaarsuse. Tsensuurijärgsele kõikelubatavuse atmosfäärile ise loomulikult pakkusid koomiksid sageli taotluslikult toorest ja amatöör likku kunstilist teostust ning vägivaldset ja vulgaarset sisu. 1990. aastate teises pooles, kui trükimeediamaastik stabiliseerus ning hoiakud mõõ dukamaks muutusid, hakkas lehekoomiksilaine erinevatel põhjustel vai buma. Kohalik materjal asendati enamjaolt tõlkekoomiksiga ja osa loo mingulisi impulsse suubus uuel sajandil sõltumatusse koomiksisse. 1990. aastate koomiksipärandist avaldatakse siiani trükis üksikuid reliktsarju ja kuigi seda valdkonda on seni vähe uuritud, võiks lehekoomiksipärand leida tulevikus enam akadeemilist tähelepanu.1
The early 1990s witnessed a rapid, broad process of transformation of visual humour in Estonian media. A large number of new print media out lets were introduced within a few years, leading to an unprecedented print media boom in the newly independent country. The new face of visual humour was shaped by the surroundings: the atmosphere of confused but enthusiastic ultrapermissiveness and uncritical openness to novelty char acteristic of a freshly censorshipfree society on the one hand, on the other, inevitable reflections of the postSocialist societal and economic turmoil. The change involved a nearcomplete generational shift among cartoonists working for print media.
The highly competitive newspapers of the era, eager to emulate Western print media standards, introduced comic strips, often resorting to commis sioning original work from local authors, as imported material was more expensive. For a few brief years, Estonia developed a time and location specific bubble of original newspaper comics, which tended to look crude, but could also be innovative and radical, often appearing transgressive and sometimes bizarre in comparison with the standardized commercialism of internationally syndicated newspaper comic strips. With the emergence of highly popular series like „Pesakond“, comic strips quickly became one of the most notable local pop culture phenomena of the decade. The article sets out to summarize the scope of the local comic strip boom and refers to a selection of original series, including „Pesakond“ by Madis Ots; „Dr. Wunderloom“ by Hillar Mets; „Kosmose mutid“ by Alar Pikkorainen; and various series by the collective Korporatsioon Saatus and by Rainer Sarnet and Rein Pakk, to point out key characteristics.
Abstract. As Estonia, similarly to most of Eastern Europe, had a relatively limited familiarity with the Western traditions of the comics medium the transi tion era offered a unique window of opportunity for developing a location specific, discordant approach to the format of the newspaper comic strip before the levelling influence of the international mainstream „light enter tainment“ took hold. In the wider picture, the processes in comics serve to illustrate the broader cultural transformations of the transition era, including attempts of reWesternization with possibly unexpected results. Adopting the Western format of comic strips appears to have mostly con cerned making use of the basic outward shape to fill it with irreverent, often intentionally provocative or offensive material, involving profanity, violence and sexually explicit content. There are apparent links to an ear lier trend in the local cartoon tradition, which explored dark and nihilistic humour and rough, unappealing drawing styles in the previous decade. From a wider perspective, the visuals and content of Estonian newspaper comic strips from the 1990s have more similarity with underground or alternative comics than with mainstream international newspaper comics.
Towards the end of the decade, as the local media market stabilized, and the influence of Scandinavian investors grew, the overall appearance and content of Estonian print media grew similar to the Nordic standards, which increasingly meant rejecting the nihilistic, obscure humour and crude visuals offered by the local comic strip authors in favour of inter national comic strips with broader appeal. The novelty of comic strips as such appeared to wear off and newspapers shifted their attention to more serious editorial cartoons. Only a few Estonian comic strip series have sur vived into the 21st century in some shape, with the vast majority of the 1990s national comic strip output simply forgotten.
Keywords: Estonian comics, newspaper comic strips, transition era, 1990s, print media, visual culture, pop culture PubDate: 2021-12-28 DOI: 10.22601/PET.2021.06.05
Authors:Liis Kibuspuu Pages: 124 - 144 Abstract: Ülevaade. Artikkel käsitleb eesti performance’i-kunsti retseptsiooni Soome trükimeedias peamiselt 1980. aastate lõpus, kui toimusid kunst- nike esimesed külaskäigud üle lahe. Uuritavat perioodi raamivad meta- foorid „suudlus“ ning „süütuse kaotus“. Esimene neist tähistab Eesti tegevuskunstnike esmakohtumisi läänega, mida markeerib konkreetne aktsioon, mille käigus kunstnik Siim-Tanel Annus suudles Soome maa- pinda. „Süütuse kaotus“ tähistab perestroika-aegse performance’i-kunsti siirdumist siirusest künismi, mida on esile tõstnud kunstnik Raoul Kur- vitz. See üleminek peegeldab laiemalt lääne idealiseerimise lõppu, kaine- nemist ning kapitalistlike oludega kohanemist. Artikkel analüüsib toonast kunstikriitikat, mille kaudu avaldub metafooridest laetud performance’i- kunsti ja turbulentse päevapoliitika vaheline pingeväli, ning uurib, kuidas suhestusid publiku ootused ning kunstnike kavatsused.
Võtmesõnad: Eesti performance’i-kunst, perestroika, Soome kunstikrii- tika, metafoor kunstis, kunstiretseptsioon, Soome-Eesti kultuurivahetus, kapitalistlik kunstiturg
Abstract. The article concentrates on Estonian performance art and its reception in the Finnish print media during Perestroika, mainly the years 1988–1990, when the first trips of the artists across the Iron Curtain took place. The period of study is framed by the metaphors of “kiss” and “loss of innocence”. The former designates the first encounters of the Estonian performance artists with the west, marked by a specific event in 1988 when the artist Siim-Tanel Annus (b. 1960), having for the first time sailed on a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, kissed the Finnish cost on arrival – an event which was widely covered in the Finnish media at the time. “Loss of innocence” stands for the transition from earnestness to cynicism in performance art at the end of the 1980s as described by the artist Raoul Kurvitz (b. 1961). The transition corresponds with the shift from idealisation of the west to the sobering to the reality of capitalism. Contemporary art reviews offer ample study material of the tension between metaphorically loaded per- formance art of the era and the turbulent politics of the day. Having been situated simultaneously in the mythical as well as contemporary reality, performance art acted as a living metaphor for the political events.
Keywords: Estonian performance art, Perestroika, Finnish art criticism, metaphor in art, reception of art, Finnish-Estonian cultural exchange, capitalist art market PubDate: 2021-12-28 DOI: 10.22601/PET.2021.06.06
Authors:Raivo Kelomees Pages: 145 - 161 Abstract: Ülevaade. Artiklis pööratakse tähelepanu kolmele episoodile Ida-Euroopa mõistmises ja „kodustamises“ rahvusvahelises kunstidialoogis. Vaadel- dakse Lääne- ja Ida-Euroopa kunstnike ja teoreetikute lähenemiskatseid 1990. aastatel läbi kolme dialoogi otsiva episoodi. Neist üks käsitleb mei- lilisti Syndicate lagunemist ja vahetumist listiga Spectre. Teine käsitleb konflikti 1996. aastal näitusel „Interpol – a global network from Stock- holm and Moscow“. Kolmas juhtum on seotud Peeter Linnapi korraldatud näitusega „Le Top 50“ (1994), kus prooviti astuda otsekontakti lääne kuns- timaailma tippudega. Viimase näite täiendusena käsitletakse Kaisa Eiche 2021. aastal läbiviidud eksperimenti. Artikkel näitab, et Ida-Euroopast pole enam võimalik rääkida „lähedase Teise“ võtmes. Ta on „mitte-Teine“.
Abstract. The article pays attention to three episodes in understanding and accom- modating Eastern Europe art to the international dialogue. I focus on the reciprocal approaches between West- and East- European artists and theo- reticians to seek mutual understanding which sometimes resulted in con- flicts. In the first case I follow the disintegration of the Syndicate mailing list and emergence of the new Spectre list. The second case is dedicated to the conflict at the exhibition “Interpol – a global network from Stockholm and Moscow“ in Stockholm in 1996.
The third discussion is based on Peeter Linnap’s exhibition “Le Top 50“ (1994) in Tallinn, where organizers tried to make connections with the prominent authorities of the art world. As an addition to the last case I discuss a similar experiment by Kaisa Eiche in 2021, who got even less response than Linnap earlier. This assures that East Europe cannot be treated as „close Other“. It is not different and is „not-other“, it belongs to Europe by its formal status and is included culturally as well. East Europeans have maintained subjectivity, but they cease to be defined externally. They are taking power positions over their works: they are not seeking approval from the western mirror. However, it also illus- trates the paradox of digital communication, because of the abundance of information and filters of communication, the reciprocal building of bridges is still fraught with complexity.
Keywords: „close Other“, conflicts, art dialogue, transnationality, translo- cality, horizontal and vertical art history, Eastern Europe PubDate: 2021-12-28 DOI: 10.22601/PET.2021.06.07
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