Anton Hansen (18 (O.S.)/30 January 1878 – 1 March 1940), better known by his

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 ...

A. H. Tammsaare and its variants, 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

...

writer whose pentalogy ''

Truth and Justice ''Truth and Justice'' ( et, Tõde ja õigus) I-V, written in 1926–1933, is a pentalogy by A. H. Tammsaare, considered to be his most famous work, and one of the foundational works in Estonian literature. Tammsaare's social epic captured the ...

'' (''Tõde ja õigus''; 1926–1933) is considered one of the major works of Estonian literature and "The Estonian Novel".A. H. Tammsaare. L. Siimisker, A. Palm. Eesti Raamat. Tallinn 1978. Pg. 64

Biography

Tammsaare was born in Järvamaa, in the municipality of Albu, village of

Vetepere Vetepere is a village in Järva Parish, Järva County in northern-central Estonia. As of 2011 Census, the settlement's population was 27. With a comparatively large area, Vetepere comprises several bogs including Kakerdaja, Kautla, Kodru and ...

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 son of a farmer, he came from a poor background but managed to collect enough money for his education. His family was quite enlightened for the time, with his father ordering newspapers, which was something most Estonian farmers didn't do. He studied in Väike-Maarja and

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

at the

Hugo Treffner Gymnasium Hugo Treffner Gymnasium ( et, Hugo Treffneri Gümnaasium; abbreviated as HTG) is a secondary school in Tartu, Estonia with special emphasis on science education. Founded by Hugo Treffner, it was the only large secondary school in 19th-century Est ...

, and afterward at the University of Tartu where he studied law. Tammsaare's studies were interrupted by

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in 1911. He spent over a year in a sanatorium in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

– where his memorial house is open to the public – and the following six years in his brother's farm in

Koitjärve Koitjärve is a village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County in northern 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 F ...

, Estonia (now part of Põhja-Kõrvemaa Nature Reserve), reading works of Cervantes,

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

. His younger sister, Maria Hansen, was the mother of Tammsaare's nephew, actor

Arno Suurorg Arno Suurorg (born Arnold Friedrich Grossthal; 18 July 1903 – 3 January 1960) was an Estonian stage, film and radio actor and producer whose career spanned nearly forty years. Biography Early life Suurorg was born in Piirsalu, he was the elde ...

. In 1918, when Estonia became independent, Tammsaare moved to

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 ' ...

. It was here that Tammsaare wrote prose works based on the history and lives of the

...

people that gained him a prominent place in Estonian literature. Tammsaare was interested in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. His novels reflect the ideas of

Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson

Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

and

Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...

. He was, however, skeptical about cosmopolitanism. "European culture" he wrote, "is something to be overcome if one wishes to see the triumph of love, justice, and humanity spoken of so glibly". Like

Carl Robert Jakobson Carl Robert Jakobson ( – ) was an Estonian writer, politician and teacher active in the Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire. He was one of the most important persons of the Estonian national awakening in the second half of the 19th century ...

and Jaan Tõnisson's ''Tartu Renaissance'' group, he believed that Estonian culture was best served by farmers and intellectuals from rural backgrounds. His work was influenced at various stages by

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

and André Gide, but, above all, the Russian realists. "In the whole of world literature," said Tammsaare, I have never read anything to compare to the Russians... there is no one to compare to Tolstoy,

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

or Gogol"... Dostoevsky "really disturbed me: I lived in a waking dream under his influence. I was especially gripped by ''Crime and Punishment''.

Bibliography

Tammsaare's early works are characterized by rural "poetic"

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

. Some of his stories also reflect the atmosphere of the revolutionary year of 1905. During what is sometimes classified as his second period, from 1908 to 1919, he wrote several short urban novels and collections of miniatures. In "Poiss ja liblikas" (1915, ''The Boy and the Butterfly''), Tammsaare shows the influence of

. Internationally best known is his last novel, '' Devil with a False Passport'' ("Põrgupõhja uus Vanapagan"). ''Truth and Justice'' comprises five volumes, which have no individual titles (some were added in translation). Since vol. 3 contains a description about the Russian Revolution of 1905, which is not informed by

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

but by an existential attention to individual suffering, it was often combined with vol. 2 by

Soviet censorship Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced. Censorship was performed in two main directions: * State secrets were handled by the General Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press (also known as Glavli ...

. Even today, the third volume is sometimes called "artistically inferior", although the description of the revolution is on par with similar scenes in Pasternak's ''

Doctor Zhivago ''Doctor Zhivago'' is the title of a novel by Boris Pasternak and its various adaptations. Description The story, in all of its forms, describes the life of the fictional Russian physician and poet Yuri Zhivago and deals with love and loss during ...

''. In Estonia, the second volume, with its

educational scenes, is today probably the most enjoyed. International critics would probably opt for vol. 1 as the strongest overall; it is a classical peasant novel reminiscent of

Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

which is also generally held to be the most telling one about "the Estonian character", embodied especially in two antagonistic farmer figures Andres and Pearu. Tammsaare himself said later that the different volumes deal with the relation of Man (i.e., the human person) to (1) the land, (2) God, (3) State and society, (4) him- or herself and (5) resignation. ''Truth and Justice'' was not translated into English until 2014, whe
Haute Culture Books
published the first volume of the saga under the name

. There are two complete translations into German and one each into French, Latvian, and Czech. Volume 1 has also been translated into Finnish, Polish, and Hungarian (with the title, ''Orcád verítékével'').

Selected works

* ''Kaks paari ja üksainus'', 1902 - Two Pairs and the One * ''Vanad ja noored'', 1903 - Olds and Youngs * ''Raha-auk'', 1907 - The Money-Hole * ''Uurimisel'', 1907 - Be in Prospect * ''Pikad sammud'', 1908 - Long Steps * ''Üle piiri'', 1910 - Over the Border * ''Noored hinged'', 1909 - Young Spirits * ''Poiss ja liblikas'', 1915 - The Boy and the Butterfly * ''Keelest ja luulest'', 1915 - About Language and Poetry * ''Kärbes'', 1917 - The Fly * ''Varjundid'', 1917 - The Shapes of the Shadows * ''Sõjamõtted'', 1919 - Thoughts of War * ''Juudit'', 1921 - Judith * '' Kõrboja peremees'', 1922 - The Master of the Kõrboja * ''Pöialpoiss'', 1923 - The Midget * ''Sic Transit'', 1924 * '' Tõde ja õigus I-V'', 1926-33 - Truth and Justice, Vol.1-5 * ''Meie rebane'', 1932 - Our Fox * ''Elu ja armastus'', 1934 - The Life and the Love * ''Ma armastasin sakslast'', 1935 - I Loved a German * ''Kuningal on külm'', 1936 - The King Is Cold * ''Hiina ja hiinlane'', 1938 - China and a Chinese * ''Põrgupõhja uus Vanapagan'', 1939 - The Misadventures of the New Satan (or: Devil with a False Passport or: The New Devil of Hellsbottom (the latter being a literal translation from Estonian)) * ''Miniatures'', 1977 * ''Kogutud teosed'', 1977-1993 (18 vols.) - Collected Works

References

External links

Who is A.H.Tammsaare?

Tammsaare Museum in Kadriorg

- shows the 25- Kroon banknote, with its depiction of Tammsaare and his farm {{DEFAULTSORT:Tammsaare, A. H. 1878 births 1940 deaths People from Järva Parish People from the Governorate of Estonia Estonian male novelists 20th-century Estonian novelists 20th-century male writers Hugo Treffner Gymnasium alumni University of Tartu alumni Burials at Metsakalmistu