Hugo Raudsepp (10 July 1883 – 15 September 1952) was an influential and prolific
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n playwright and politician.
[ Cody, Sprinchorn 2007, p. 428.] In 1951 he was deported to the
Irkutsk region
Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...
by the Soviet authorities, where he died.
[ Raun 2001, p. 186.]
Life
Victor Paul Hugo Raudsepp was born the son of a distiller of
Vaimastvere Manor. He first attended the local village and parish schools, then until 1900 the city school of
Tartu. Subsequently, he worked as a clerk in a small retail businesses in
Rakke Parish
Rakke Parish ( et, Rakke vald) was a rural municipality of Estonia, in Lääne-Viru County. It had a population of 1924 (2006) and an area of .
Settlements
Rakke Parish had 1 small borough and 30 villages.
;Small borough:
Rakke
;Villages:
...
. After 1907, he worked as a literary critic, journalist and columnist in various newspapers. Between 1917 and 1920, he was politically active, acting as deputy mayor of
Viljandi
Viljandi (, german: Fellin, sv, Fellin) is a town and municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,407 in 2019. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major Estonian cities, Pärnu and Tartu. ...
and working at the Secretariat of the
Estonian Constituent Assembly
The Estonian Constituent Assembly ( et, Asutav Kogu) was elected on 5–7 April 1919, called by the Estonian Provisional Government during the Estonian War of Independence.
Estonian Constituent Assembly elections
Activity
The 120 members of t ...
. Thereafter, his political involvement waned. From 1920 to 1924 Raudsepp was a literary critic for the newspaper ''
Vaba Maa''. In 1924, he contracted tuberculosis which took a year of recovery. He became a freelance writer in
Elva
Elva may refer to:
Places
*Elva, Estonia, town in Tartu County, Estonia
*Elva Parish, municipality in Estonia
*Elva (river), a river in Estonia
*Elva, Illinois, unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States
*Elva, Manitoba, u ...
, and in Tartu from 1936. After the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
Raudsepp lived in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
. While writing he became one of the leading writers of comedies and dramas in Estonia.
[ Shipley 2007, p. 271.]
In 1950 Raudsepp became a "
nonperson
A nonperson is a citizen or a member of a group who lacks, loses, or is forcibly denied social or legal status, especially basic human rights, or who effectively ceases to have a record of their existence within a society (''damnatio memoriae''), ...
"
[ O'Connor 2006, p. 192.] and was deported in 1951 after being arrested by the
Soviet occupation
During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...
regime. He was sentenced to ten years of exile in Siberia with hard labor.
In September 1952 he died there during construction of the
Baikal-Amur Mainline.
[ Hasselblatt, pp. 213–221.]
Literary work
Hugo Raudsepp debuted after the First World War, with his anthology of short stories ''Sidemed ja sõlmed'' (Neck ties and knots) published in 1919. However he was especially known for his twenty plays in Estonia, which were among the most popular of his time.
[ Hasselblatt 2006, pp. 496–498.] He often wrote under his pseudonym Milli Mallikas. Raudsepp's stage work began with ''Demobiliseeritud perekonnaisa'' (Demobilized Father) in 1923. The plays are mostly comedies, cryptically addressing the political issues of the day with satire. His breakthrough on the stage came with the piece ''Mikumärdi'' in 1929, a social parody that relentlessly exposed the ambitions and hollow self-esteem through the character of farmer Mikumärdi, the romantically adventurous female summer guests and a salesman from the city. It also achieved success in Finland and in Latvia.
[ Gassner, Quinn 2002, p. 252.] The subsequent drama ''Vedelvorst'' (The Idler) (1932) became a blockbuster. Hugo Raudsepp published his only novel ''Viimne eurooplane'' in 1941.
Works
*''Sidemed ja sõlmed'' (short stories, 1919)
*''Imbi'' (novel, 1920)
*''Kirju rida'' (short stories, 1921)
*''Vested'' (I-II, 1921 and 1924)
*''Euroopa uuemast kirjandusest'' (Literature, 1921)
*''Ekspressionism'' (Literature, 1922)
*''Lääne-Euroopa sentimentalism ja haletundeline vool Eesti kirjanduses'' (Literature, 1923)
*''Demobiliseeritud perekonnaisa'' (Drama, 1923)
*''Ameerika Kristus'' (Drama, 1926)
*''Kikerpilli linnapead'' (Drama, 1926)
*''Ristteed'' (short story collection, 1926)
*''Sinimandria'' (Drama, 1927)
*''Kohtumõistja Simson'' (Drama, 1927)
*''Siinai tähistel'' (Drama, 1928)
*''Püha Miikaeli selja taga'' (Drama, 1928)
*''Mikumärdi'' (Drama, 1929)
*''Mait Metsanurk ja tema aeg'' (essay-monograph, 1929)
*''Põrunud aru õnnistus'' (Drama, 1931)
*''Vedelvorst'' (Drama, 1932)
*''Salongis ja kongis'' (Drama, 1933)
*''Isand Maikello sisustab oma raamatukappi'' (Drama, 1934)
*''Roosad prillid'' (Drama, 1934)
*''Jumala veskid'' (stories, 1936)
*''Lipud tormis'' (Drama, 1937)
*''Mees, kelle käes on trumbid'' (Drama, 1938)
*''Roheline Tarabella'' (Drama, 1938)
*''Mustahamba'' (Drama, 1939)
*''Kompromiss'' (Drama, 1940)
*''Viimne eurooplane'' (novel, 1941)
*''Kivisse raiutud'' (short story collection, 1942)
*''Rotid'' (Drama, 1946)
*''Tagatipu Tiisenoosen'' (Drama, 1946)
*''Minu esimesed kodud. Mälestused I'' (Memoirs, 1947)
*''Tillereinu peremehed'' (Drama, 1948)
*''Küpsuseksam'' (Drama, 1949)
*''Lasteaed'' (Drama, 1949)
*''Vaheliku vapustused'' (drama, posthumously in 2003)
Citations and references
Cited sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Raudsepp, Hugo
1883 births
1952 deaths
People from Jõgeva Parish
People from Kreis Dorpat
Estonian Socialist Revolutionary Party politicians
Estonian Independent Socialist Workers' Party politicians
Members of the Estonian Provincial Assembly
Members of the Estonian Constituent Assembly
Estonian dramatists and playwrights
20th-century dramatists and playwrights
Estonian people who died in Soviet detention
People who died in the Gulag