Novel
Nimed marmortahvlil
Not translated into English
Albert Kivikas · 1936
Synopsis
Names on a marble plaque: in Tartu, one December morning in 1918, a student at the commercial school leaves his home, his books under his arm, and finds the street full of people stopped at the corner. The Red Army is approaching, the country declared its independence ten months earlier, and the boys in his class debate: should they believe in the socialism promised to them, or go and defend a state that has no army? They have seen nothing of life and must choose at once.
Context
The novel first appeared as a serial in the newspaper Uus Eesti in 1935, then in volume form the following year, revised and expanded, from the Estonian publishers' cooperative. It is largely autobiographical, and its author gave it three sequels in exile, in 1948, 1951 and 1954. Banned under the Soviet occupation, it became the very example of the forbidden book and did not reappear in the country until 1991; the film that Elmo Nüganen made from it in 2002 has remained the most watched Estonian film since the regaining of independence.
Who it is for
More than five hundred pages in Estonian, never published in French or English. It is worth knowing that the novel follows three periods: the eve of the war in Tartu, the front, then the boys' return.
Prizes and reception
First place in the literary prize of the Head of State in 1937, and one of the key works of Estonian war literature.