Alexis Rannit (born Alexey Konstantinovich Dolgoshev - Алексей Константинович Долгошев; Estonian: Aleksis Rannit; 14 October 1914 – 5 January 1985) was an Estonian poet, critic and literature researcher.

Biography

He was born in

Kallaste Kallaste is a town in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia. It is located on the western shore of Lake Peipus. Most of the population are Russians, 15% being Estonians. History Kallaste was founded in the 18th century as a village of Russ ...

, in the

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

(nowadays in

Tartumaa Tartu County ( et, Tartu maakond or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% of t ...

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, and t ...

). He spent his childhood in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. In 1939, he graduated from the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. He studied applied arts. He did research on

Lithuanian literature Lithuanian literature ( lt, lietuvių literatūra) concerns the art of written works created by Lithuanians throughout their history. History Latin language A wealth of Lithuanian literature was written in Latin, the main scholarly language in ...

and knew personally many Lithuanian authors. From 1938 to 1940 he worked as a correspondent of the

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...

newspaper

Segodnya ''Segodnya'' ( rus, Сегодня, p=sʲɪˈvodʲnʲə, t=Today, a=Ru-сегодня.ogg) was a Russian-language Ukrainian tabloid newspaper founded in 1997. While run from Kyiv, it was linked to Donbass political and business groups; its hol ...

. In 1940 he married Lithuanian opera singer Gražina Matulaitytė (1899–1993), moved to

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Tra ...

, where he worked until 1941 as a translator at the

Kaunas State Drama Theatre The National Kaunas Drama Theatre is the biggest theatre in Kaunas, and one of the oldest functioning theatres in Lithuania. There are six different creative spaces for events in the Kaunas Drama Theatre. History Its beginnings date to the 192 ...

, and later as a librarian at the Lithuanian National Library (until 1944). In 1944, as the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

was approaching, Rannit emigrated to Germany, where he continued with his studies at the Institute of applied arts in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

(1946–1950). In 1953 he moved to the US. He remarried. From 1954 to 1960 he worked as librarian in the Art and Architecture division of the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

. In 1956 he defended his

master's thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...

on arts history (annotated critical biography of Ciurlionis) at the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

(New York). He worked as a research fellow and curator of Slavic and Eastern European collections at the

University of Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. Rannit was honorary doctor of a number of European (incl.

University of Stockholm Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

), American and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

n universities, founding member of International Association of Arts Critics, represented the Estonian authors at the

PEN club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internation ...

, belonged to the editorial staff of

Continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

. Аlexis Rannit died on 5 January 1985 at his home in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Works

Rannit started writing poems in Russian, since 1930 wrote in Estonian. Rannit translated Lithuanian poets' worksАлексис Раннит. В оконном переплете
/ref> into Estonian. He has published seven collections of poetry. Rannit's works have been translated into English, Russian, Hungarian, Lithuanian and German language.

External links

Aleksis Rannit Papers
General Collection

Yale University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rannit, Alexis 1914 births 1985 deaths People from Peipsiääre Parish People from the Governorate of Livonia Estonian male poets Literary historians 20th-century Estonian poets 20th-century Estonian historians 20th-century male writers Writers from New Haven, Connecticut Columbia University alumni Estonian emigrants to the United States Estonian World War II refugees