Folk Belief or Anecdote? On the Genre Logic of Rehepapp by Andrus Kivirähk in the Context of Folklore Genres
Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: Andrus Kivirähk is no doubt the most prolific and valued Estonian author of the 1990s.His breakthrough came with the humour section in a morning newspaper and with his later Memoirs of Ivan Orav (Ivan Orava mälestused), where the author humorously speaks through the mouth of Ivan Orav, fictitious smith and Estonian nationalist, discussing the pre-and post-war history of World War II in Estonia, and using and mocking popular stereotypes and attitudes towards Estonia's brief period of independence between the two world wars.(Kivirähk 1995).Kivirähk has later published also children's books, plays that have been readily staged and attracted wide popularity, novels, and short stories, bordering on absurdity -in many he has used motifs of folklore and mythology.He is currently the editor of the weekly humour section at a major Estonian daily newspaper.Kivirähk's novel Rehepapp ehk November (Old Barny, or November) provides an account of the chronicles of a nameless village throughout the month of November (Kivirähk 2000; henceforth referred to by date and page).The author does not directly point out when the course of events takes place, but the Estonian reader will easily recognize the familiar period of domination by the Baltic German gentry described in the 20 th century Estonian Realist literature and 19 th century folklore.The novel makes use of -or could be said to be composed of -folktale plots and motifs as well as other genres of folklore.The novel relates to the Estonian literary canon in a fairly grotesque way.Rehepapp has been translated into Finnish (Kivirähk 2002), and translations into English and Hungarian will be published shortly.
Authors: Ott Heinapuu, Katre Kikas
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2157146529