Arvi Siig (8 November 1938 – 23 November 1999) was an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

poet, translator and journalist. He was a member of the

CPSU "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

and a communist, but still critical of many aspects of the political aspects of his day. His poetry inspired later punk poets and many of his texts are used as lyrics by the Estonian alternative rock band

Vennaskond Vennaskond ( Estonian for ''Brotherhood'') is an Estonian punk rock band founded in 1984. The band has toured in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Romania, Sweden, Germany, France, India, Poland and the United States (including CBGB). To show respect ...

. He was among the first to include modern urban themes in Estonian poetry, also giving a voice to

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

, including Soviet prostitutes. The creators of the award-winning computer RPG '' Disco Elysium,''

Robert Kurvitz Robert Kurvitz (born 8 October 1984) is an Estonian novelist, video game designer, and musician. He was the lead designer of the 2019 video game Disco Elysium as a founding member of the ZA/UM cultural association and the eponymous video game de ...

and Aleksander Rostov hailed Siig as inspiration and the greatest Estonian poet when accepting the president's Young Cultural Figure award in 2020: "Without his modernism, Elysium - the world the game is placed in - would not be half of what it is."

Personal life

Arvi Siig married a Russian cultural journalist Valentina Siig, who published her memories about him after his death.

References

1938 births 1999 deaths Estonian male poets 20th-century Estonian poets Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic Tallinn University alumni University of Tartu alumni Writers from Tallinn {{Estonia-poet-stub