Aino Kallas (1878–1956) was a determined
writer since quite young. In 1903 she moved to live in Tartu.
Her husband Oskar Kallas belonged to the owners as well as the
editorial board of Postimees, which was the most influential
Estonian newspaper of the time. Soon Aino Kallas started writing
not only prose, but also criticism and essays. Her most important
works on the Estonian literature are her foreword to the collection
of Estonian poetry Merentakaisia lauluja (Songs from Overseas)
published in Finnish in 1911, two essays on Koidula and Kreutzwald
(1910, 1911), published in Finland as well as in Estonia, and
the collection of essays Noor-Eesti (Young Estonia) (Fin.
1918, Est. 1921). A. Kallas had a clear-cut vision of the Estonian
literature, which was not to change much with years to come.
She was quite critical about the whole 19th century, except Kreutzwald
and Koidula. Based on their letters to each other she wrote two
psychologising essays, later providing for her biography of Koidula.
According to A. Kallas it were only the Young Estonian authors
who first brought some artistic merit into Estonian literature.
For herself the early decades of the 20th century were a period
of quest for style and method. For quite a while she sticked
to realism, avoiding the so-called "new romanticism",
which was the fashion of the day. As a critic, though, she tolerated
it, appreciatively discussing the styles of different authors.
The word "modernism", in her usage, refers just to
the contemporary ways of writing as opposed to traditional realism.
