August Mälk (4 October 1900 – 19 December 1987) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n writer and politician.

Life

August Mälk was born on , in

Lümanda Parish Lümanda Parish was a municipality in Saare County, Estonia. It had a population of 876 (as of 1 January 2007) and covered an area of 199.49 km2 (77.02 mi2). In 2014, it was merged with the municipalities of Kärla and Kaarma to becom ...

in the village of

Koovi Koovi is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western Estonia. In the early 1990s there was a maoist community in the village, where a Finnish punk musician Jore Vastelin lived in until his death in 1993. Before the administrative ref ...

(then named Kipi-Koovi), located on the west coast of the island of

Saaremaa Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

, in modern-day Estonia (then part of the

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of E ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

). He attended the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

from 1923 to 1925 and then returned to Saaremaa to work as a teacher. He began his literary career while headmaster of the elementary school in Lümanda, publishing his first novel, ''Kesaliblik'' in 1926. Mälk married Pauline Triipan in 1933. The couple had one daughter. In 1935, Mälk achieved great success with his novel ''Õitsev Meri'' (The Flowering Sea), depicting life in a fishing village. It was the first volume of a trilogy that also included ''Taeva Palge All'' (Under the Face of Heaven) and ''Hea Sadam'' (The Good Port). In addition to his 18 novels, he also wrote plays, short stories and two books of memoirs. Several of his novels have been translated into German and Finnish. Mälk became involved in politics in the 1930s. He was a member of the National Constituent Assembly (''Rahvuskogu'') in 1937. In 1938, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies (''Riigivolikogu''), where he served until the Soviet invasion of Estonia in 1940. In 1944, Mälk fled into exile in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

during the second Soviet invasion of Estonia. In

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, he served as the chairman of the Estonian Writers Union Abroad (''Välismaine Eesti Kirjanike Liit'') from its founding in 1945 until 1982. He died in Stockholm in 1987. In 2000, the Estonian Post Office issued a stamp commemorating the centenary of Mälk's birth.

Works

Novels

* ''Kesaliblik'' (1926) * ''Õnnepagulane'' (1928) * ''Hukkumine'' (1928) * ''Läbi öö'' (1929) * ''Kivine pesa'' (1932) * ''Üks neistsinastest'' (1933) * ''Surnud majad'' (1934) * ''Õitsev meri'' (1935) * ''Läänemere isandad'' (1936) * ''Taeva Palgen all'' (1937) * ''Kivid Tules'' (1939) * ''Hea sadam'' (1942) * ''Öised linnud'' (1945) * ''Kodumaata'' (1947) * ''Tea kaevule'' (two volumes, 1952–1953) * ''Päike küla kohal'' (1957) * ''Toomas Tamm'' (1959) * ''Kevadine maa'' (1963)

Short stories and novels

* ''Surnu surm'' (1926) * ''Anne-Marie ''(six short stories, 1927) * ''Surnud elu'' (1929) * ''Jutte lindudest'' (six children stories, 1934) * ''Rannajutud'' (five short stories, 1936) * ''Avatud värav. Lugu minevikust'' (1937) * ''Mere tuultes'' (four short stories, 1938) * ''Päike Kadunud. Jutte minevikust'' (five stories, 1943) * ''Jumala tuultes. Viis jutustust'' (1949) * ''Tuli sinu Isesüttiv'' (seven short stories, 1955) * ''Jumalaga, meri!'' (1967) * ''Project Victoria. Kuus lugu ''(1978) * ''Tere, meri!'' (Collection, posthumously ed. Aarne Vinkel, 1991)

Plays

* ''Moodne Cain'' (1930) * ''Vaese mehe ututall'' (Comedy, 1932) * ''Neitsid lampidega'' (Comedy, 1933) * ''Isad tee'' (1934) * ''Mees merelt'' (1935) * ''Õitsev meri'' (dramatization of Andres Särev, 1936) * ''Vanakurja vokk'' (dramatization of Paul Sepp, 1936) * ''Õnnega hada'' (comedy, under the pseudonym Kihulane Juhan, 1937) * ''Sikud kaevul'' (Comedy, 1938) * ''Taeva Palgen all'' (dramatization of Andres Särev, 1938)

Memoirs

* ''Hommikust keskpäevani. Elupilte ja mälestusi'' (1972) * ''Peale päevapööret. Mõtteid ja mälestusi'' (1976)

References

*Aarne Vinkel, ''August Mälk'', Ilmamaa, Tartu, 1997 (in Estonian) .

External links

Postage stamp commemorating centenary of August Mälk's birth.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malk, August 1900 births 1987 deaths Politicians from Saaremaa Parish People from Kreis Ösel Patriotic League (Estonia) politicians Members of the Estonian National Assembly Members of the Riigivolikogu 20th-century Estonian novelists Estonian male novelists Estonian male short story writers Estonian dramatists and playwrights Estonian World War II refugees Refugees in Sweden Estonian emigrants to Sweden Burials at Skogskyrkogården