Juhan Viiding (1 June 1948 – 21 February 1995), also known under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of Jüri Üdi was an

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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Personal life

Juhan Viiding was born on 1 June 1948 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 ' ...

Paul Viiding Paul Viiding (22 May 1904 – 27 June 1962) was an Estonian poet, author and literary critic. Born in Valga, to Juhan and Ann Viiding (''née'' Rose), he was the oldest of two children; his sister Linda was born in 1907. He graduated with a de ...

, a well-known poet in Estonia who had belonged to the influential '' Arbujad'' (''Soothsayers'') – a collective group of eight young influential poets who rose to prominence before the outbreak 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 opposin ...

– and Linda Viiding (''née'' Laarmann), a noted translator. Juhan was the youngest of four children and the only boy—his older sisters were Reet, Anni and radio journalist Mari Tarand. He was an intellectually precocious and restless youngster. Between the years 1968 and 1972, Viiding studied theatre and stagecraft at the Tallinn Conservatory (now the

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (''Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia'') began as a mixed choir of the Estonia Society Musical Department (EMD) on the eve of World War I. The assembly of the Estonia Society created the Tallinn Higher Musi ...

), under instruction of actor and theatre pedagogue

Voldemar Panso Voldemar Panso (30 November 1920 Tomsk, Russia – 27 December 1977 Tallinn) was Estonian stage director, actor and theatrical teacher. 1941 he graduated from Tallinn Conservatory State Stage Art School and 1955 Moscow State Theatre Art Instit ...

, graduating in 1972. Among his graduating classmates were Kersti Kreismann,

Ivo Eensalu Ivo Eensalu (born 3 April 1949) is an Estonian actor and theatre director. Eensalu's career began in the early 1970s, and has appeared as an actor on stage, film and in television. He became widely known after appearing on the Eesti Televisioon ch ...

, Vello Janson, Rein Kotkas,

Helle Meri Helle Meri (born 14 March 1949), widow of Lennart Meri, is an Estonian actress who also served as the First Lady of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Helle Meri (née Pihlak) was born in the small town of Rapla where she also went to school. In her spa ...

(''née'' Pihlak), Katrin Kumpan, Martin Veinmann, and

Tõnis Rätsep Tõnis Rätsep (born 30 June 1947) is an Estonian actor, musician, educator, poet, and playwright. Early life and education Tõnis Rätsep was born in Viljandi, one of two children to a father who was a dairyman and a mother who worked in a dair ...

. Juhan Viiding was married to Riina Kiisk, the daughter of actor, film director and politician

Kaljo Kiisk Kaljo Kiisk (3 December 1925 – 20 September 2007) was a Soviet and Estonian actor, film director, screenwriter and politician. He was best known for his roles as Kristjan Lible from ''Spring'' ( et, Kevade), ''Summer'' (''Suvi'') and ''Autu ...

. Their daughter

Elo Elo or ELO may refer to: Music * Electric Light Orchestra, a British rock music group ** ''The Electric Light Orchestra'' (album), the group's debut album ** ''ELO 2'', the group's second album * ELO Part II, an offshoot band of Electric Light ...

is also a

. On 21 February 1995 Juhan Viiding committed suicide in

Rapla Rapla (German: ''Rappel'') is a town in central Estonia, the capital of Rapla County and the centre of Rapla Parish. The oldest records date back to 1241 in the Danish Census Book, when it was said that it was a small village with 8 acres of ...

by cutting his wrists.

Dramatic career

Upon his graduation in 1972, Viiding worked in Tallinn's National Drama Theatre (now the

Estonian Drama Theatre The Estonian Drama Theatre ( et, Eesti Draamateater) is a theatre in Tallinn, Estonia. It has the role of a national theatre for Estonia. The Estonia Theatre is located next door. History The building that houses the Estonian Drama Theatre was or ...

). During the last ten years of his life Viiding staged many plays. His favourite

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

s were

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

, and

Minoru Betsuyaku was one of Japan's most prominent postwar playwrights, novelists, and essayists, associated with the Angura ("underground") theater movement in Japan. He won a name for himself as a writer in the "nonsense" genre and helped lay the foundations of ...

. Viiding worked at the Estonian Drama Theatre until his death on 21 February 1995.

Literary career

Juhan Viiding who until 1975 published his

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

under the

Jüri Üdi was the brightest talent to appear in

n poetry in the 1970s. Unlike the major poets of the immediately preceding generation ( Rummo, Kaplinski,

Runnel Runnel(s) may refer to: *Runnel Stone, a hazardous rock pinnacle near Gwennap Head, Cornwall, United Kingdom *Runnels, a surname *Runnels County, Texas, United States *A small stream *A channel along the side of a bicycle stairway A bicycle ...

), he never wrote essays or criticism. The heteronymic poetics of the modern Portuguese classic

Fernando Pessoa Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and ...

(whose selected poetry was translated into

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

...

in 1973), may have served as an impulse for Juhan Viiding to create the poet Jüri Üdi. However, the difference between the works published under the author's name and his pseudonym is that the "marrow" of Juhan Viiding's poetry remained in his George Marrow pseudonym; what followed, under his authentic name, lacked the former brilliance. Jüri Üdi's playfulness and rich undertones gave way to a more direct and pathetic expression. It is not known whether Viiding intended to develop a second poetic voice in addition to that of Jüri Üdi, or that he simply realized that the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

era of ideological symbols—as described in his "Jüri’s Yarn"—was coming to an end and the actor Jüri Üdi could drop the mask to reveal Juhan Viiding's true literary face. In October 1980, Viiding was a signatory of the

Letter of 40 Intellectuals The Letter of 40 intellectuals, also The letter of 40 ( et, Neljakümne kiri), originally A public letter from Estonian SSR ( et, Avalik kiri Eesti NSV-st) was a public letter dated October 28, 1980 and posted a week later, in which 40 intellectual ...

, a public letter in which forty prominent Estonian intellectuals defended the

Estonian language Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160,0 ...

and protested the

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

policies of the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...

in Estonia. The signatories also expressed their unease against Republic-level government in harshly dealing with youth protests in Tallinn that were sparked a week earlier due to the banning of a public performance of the punk rock band

Propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

Selected works

*''Närvitrükk'' (''Nerve Print'', 1971) *''Aastalaat'' (''Year's Fair'', 1971) *''Detsember'' (''December'', 1971) *''Käekäik'' (1973) *''Selges eesti keeles'' (''In Plain Estonian'', 1974) Note: As a footnote of the title Viiding requested that the name of the language in the title has to be renamed to the one that was used for translating. Therefore, the translation of the title should be ''"In Plain English"'' *''Armastuskirjad'' (''Love Letters'', 1975) *''Ma olin Jüri Üdi'' (''I Was George Marrow'', 1978) *''Olevused'' (''Beings'', 1979) Note: Co-written with

*''Elulootus'' (''Hope of Life/Being without a Biography'', 1980) Note: Due to the clever word-play in the title as it is in the original Estonian, both of the "translations" presented here are correct. In an interview, Viiding admitted that the wordplay in the title was intentional. *''Tänan ja Palun'' (''Cheers and Please'', 1983) *''Osa'' (''Part'', 1991)

References

External links

*
Examples of Juhan Viiding's Poetry (English translations)
(archived version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Viiding, Juhan 1948 births 1995 suicides Estonian male poets Estonian male stage actors Estonian male film actors Male actors from Tallinn Writers from Tallinn Suicides by sharp instrument in Estonia 20th-century Estonian poets 20th-century Estonian male actors Burials at Metsakalmistu Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni 20th-century male writers