Peeter Sauter (born March 11, 1962, 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 ' ...

) is an Estonian author, translator and former actor.

Literature

In 1980, Sauter enrolled in the Tallinn State 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 ...

), studying acting under course instructor

Mikk Mikiver Mikk Mikiver (4 September 1937 – 9 January 2006) was a prominent Estonians, Estonian stage and film actor and theater director. Biography Mikiver was born in Tallinn, Estonia. He graduated from the State Conservatory of Tallinn in 1961. He t ...

, graduating in 1984. Among his graduating classmates were

Rita Rätsepp Rita Rätsepp (born 17 July 1962) is an Estonian actress and psychologist whose career began in the mid-1980s. She has performed on onstage, in television and in motion pictures. Early life and education Rita Rätsepp was born in rural Lääne-Vi ...

Margus Tabor Margus Tabor (born 13 May 1962, in Suuremõisa) is an Estonian actor. He is a member of the Estonian Theatre Union (since 1987) and the Estonian Actors' Union (since 1993). Tabor has been married to actress Garmen Tabor since 1989. Selected r ...

Kiiri Tamm Kiiri Tamm (born 7 January 1962) is an Estonian stage, television and film actress and stage manager. Early life and educatuin Kiiri Tamm was born in Tallinn, but raised mainly in Kuressaare, on the island of Saaremaa. She graduated from seconda ...

, Gita Ränk,

Toomas Urb Toomas Urb (born on 2 December 1958 in Tartu) is an Estonian actor and singer. In 1984 he graduated from Tallinn State Conservatory Stage Art Department. From 1984 until 1987, he was an actor an Estonian Drama Theatre. Since 1989 he has lived in ...

, and

Terje Pennie Terje Pennie (occasionally credited as Terje Pennie-Kolberg; born 9 January 1960) is an Estonian stage, television, and film actress whose career began as a teenager in the late 1970s. Early life and education Terje Pennie was born and raised in ...

. He also studied drama at the

Liverpool John Moores University , mottoeng = Fortune favours the bold , established = 1823 – Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts1992 – Liverpool John Moores University , type = Public , endowment = , coor ...

in Liverpool, United Kingdom. From 1984 until 1985, he was a stage actor at the

Ugala Ugala is a theatre in Viljandi, Estonia. The theatre was founded in 1920 opening on January 10 of that year. The first production was Oscar Wilde's " Salome". Ugala's Artistic Directors *1925 - 1926: Andres Särev *1926 – 1928: Eduard Le ...

theatre in

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 ...

. Sauter made his

literary Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

debut in 1988 in the Estonian magazine ''Vikerkaar'' (''Rainbow''). He sent in a brief

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...

piece for one-time publication. The editor of the magazine recalls it as "trash", but truly likeable. Sauter is famous for writing many brief stories seemingly without a beginning or an end. In 1990, he published a collection of them in the book ''Indigo''. This was followed by a bulkier collection titled ''Loafing''. Sauter says that the protagonist in these short pieces is his contemporary and is aging with him. His prose feeds directly on everyday life and he frequently uses spoken and obscene language. He has translated works of Bukowski and

Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian anc ...

into Estonian.

Scandals

''Kõhuvalu'' (''Stomachache''), a short story by Sauter, has created a great deal of controversy in post-Soviet

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 ...

. The topic addressed by ''Stomachache'' is giving birth. Birth is considered sacred by many

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people ( et, eestlased) are a Finnic ethnic group native to Estonia who speak the Estonian language. The Estonian language is spoken as the first language by the vast majority of Estonians; it is closely related to other ...

. In light of this opinion, the story is considered crude. The story won the

Friedebert Tuglas Friedebert Tuglas, born Friedebert Mihkelson or Michelson (2 March 1886 – 15 April 1971) was an Estonian writer and critic who introduced Impressionism and Symbolism to Estonian literature.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 ...

's independence) and addresses it with humor.

References

External links

Peeter Sauter page at Estonian Literature Information Centre
1962 births Living people Estonian male short story writers Writers from Tallinn Male actors from Tallinn Estonian translators Estonian male stage actors Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni {{Estonia-writer-stub