Underi ja Tuglase Kirjanduskeskus

Research grant of Estonian Science Foundation
Historical Novel as Medium of Cultural Memory 2011-2013 (ESF 8530)
Grant holder Eneken Laanes

The idea that Estonian historical fiction has played a pivotal role in the formation of the Estonian cultural memory by prefiguring its central tropes and narratives is easily accepted but to a great extent unexplored thesis in the Estonian literary and cultural studies. In inquiring into the idea the research project has two aims. Firstly, it seeks to write the history of the genre of the historical novel in Estonian literature by considering it as a medium of cultural memory. Therefore the historical fiction from different periods of Estonian literature (historical novelette at the end of the 19th century, Vilde, Aitsam, historical novels of the 1930s, Kross, Ristikivi, and Kangro) will be explored, with particular attention to the nexus of the historical novel, historiography and cultural memory. Secondly, the project studies the specificity of the poetics of literature, in particular the historical novel, in the role of a medium of cultural memory. Therefore it concentrates on the creation of tropes and narrative patterns in literature, whereby historical consciousness of a group is developed, transmitted and transformed. Methodologically the project seeks to bring together the recent research on literature as cultural memory (Assmann, Erll, Rigney) with the venerable tradition of studying the historical novel as a literary genre (Luk?cs, Hutcheon, Aust, Nünning, Maxwell).

Team members:

• Maarja Hollo (Estonian Literary Museum)
• Linda Kaljundi (Tallinn University)
• Prof Tiina Kirss (Tallinn University)
• Aare Pilv
• Piret Peiker (Tallinn University)
• Dr Jaan Undusk