Keel ja Kirjandus

 Kõik aastakäigud

2006

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Elo Lindsalu. Vilde as Feminist

2006, nr. 4

In his works Eduard Vilde (1865–1933), the founder of Estonian socio-critical real- ism, appears as a tenacious advocate of feminist ideas. Of the Estonian literates of the turn of the 20th century Vilde is one of the most steadfast champions of the freedom and dignity of women.
Vilde's interest in women's emancipation was aroused during his first stay in Berlin, where he was introduced to socio-democratic ideology. Like August Bebel's, Vilde's feminist programme roots in his protest against the barons' despotism and the prostitute status of country girls in town.
Several of Vilde's female characters are either in the beginning or advancing on their way to a mature personality, turning away from the conservative model of a woman that used to dominate the 19th-century Baltic German society as well as the backward local village. Their ambition to become self-sufficient by educating themselves and working hard reflects the general tendency towards urbanization that was characteristic of the turn of the century. Besides the women who indeed manage to break free from the depressing conditions Vilde also depicts another kind of women, namely, victims of the society, most of which suffer poverty and eventually succumb to prostitution. The article provides a detailed comparison of the female protagonists of two literary works – the novel Mäeküla piimamees ("Milkman of the Manor", 1916) by Eduard Vilde and the play, "Doll's House", by Henrik Ibsen, revealing several coincidences and intertextual relations. The two texts also have a common message, notably, if your milieu has turned morally and spiritually oppressive – leave it. Both authors seem to have reached the conviction that a woman has a natural right to an individuality of her own as well as to civil rights. Thus one may conclude that the heroine of the novel regarded as a model work of Estonian realism is actually an Estonian Nora.
Keywords: Eduard Vilde, Henrik Ibsen, socio-critical realism, women's emancipation and sexual moral, urbanization.

Elo Lindsalu (b. 1968), MA, Tallinn University, Chair of Estonian Literature
elo@tlu.ee

 

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