| 2007 |
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Maie Kalda. Debora Vaarandi's Homeland |
2007, nr. 8 |
The first works of Debora Vaarandi (1916–2007),
a consistently leftist Estonian poetess, were written during World
War Two and could be characterized as lyrical poems with a national-romanticist
flavour. There followed a Stalinist "big homeland" discourse,
balanced by a simultaneous local patriotic poetization of the
Estonian islands and coast dwellers. In her mature period (since
the end of the 1950s) Debora Vaarandi's Estonian patriotism is
manifested implicitly without exception, being centered around
the common national values – the "simple things"
as resumed by her major stylistic figure. The 1960s add a new
keyword "Nordic", which emphasizes detachment from the
socialist-chauvinist conceptions of literary policy emanating
from Moscow. The 1970s are stamped by the poetess' alarmed reactions
to the mental degeneration of the Estonian community during the
Brezhnev Period of Stagnation. At the same time there remains
a constant concern for the Estonian islands as a delicate habitat
seriously endangered.
The article contains some hitherto unpublished material recorded
form oral interviews with Debora Vaarandi.
Keywords: Debora Vaarandi, patriotic
poetry, Stalinist rhetoric, Estonian poetry.
Maie Kalda (b. 1929), PhD, senior researcher,
Estonian Literary Museum
maiekalda@eki.ee
| 2007 |
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