Aarne Ruben (born 17 July 1971, in
Tallinn) is an
Estonian writer.
He has written several novels, mainly based on
Estonian history in the 20th century, his most known being The Volta Works Whistles Mournfully, (2001) ("Volta annab kaeblikku vilet"), about the
Russian Revolution of 1905,
Lenin and the
dadaist movement in
Zürich.
He was awarded the first prize of the novel competition 2000 organised by the Estonian Novel Foundation.
Ruben's second novel, "Beast on the Landing" ("Elajas trepi eelastmel", 2004), brings the reader into a
medieval story. The main hero,
Livonian knight Adolf von Wannevar, is the second son of a landlord of Transpalen (15th-century name of the Estonian borough
Põltsamaa
Põltsamaa (german: Oberpahlen) is a town in Põltsamaa Parish, Jõgeva County, Estonia. The town is situated on the Põltsamaa River, and features a 13th-century castle.
Gallery
Põltsamaa Jõgi.jpg, Põltsamaa River
Põltsamaa Vabadussõja m ...
). Instead of inheriting his father's manor and property, he travels to the west and becomes a law student at the
Charles University in Prague. He goes to the pilgrimage into the
Council of Constance
The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the res ...
and becomes a witness to the condemning and burning of
Jan Hus. He founds Hus's dissident fan-club and travels to
Lübeck, where he gets a job as a lawyer in the
Hanseatic merchant association and marries a 14-year-old Lübeck girl. In his later years, Adolf serves the
University of Paris as a law scholar.
"Beast on the Landing" depicts the medieval possibility of moving in the spaces between different cultures.
References
1971 births
Living people
Writers from Tallinn
Estonian male novelists
21st-century Estonian novelists
Charles University alumni
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