August Gailit (9 January 1891 – 5 November 1960) was an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

writer.

Life

Georg August Gailit was born in Kuiksilla (near Sangaste Castle), Sangaste Parish (now

Otepää Parish Otepää Parish () is a rural municipality (Estonia), rural municipality in Valga County, southern Estonia. It includes the town of Otepää, which is referred to as the "winter capital" of Estonia. The parish was formed in 2017 by merging of t ...

Kreis Dorpat Kreis Dorpat (''Tartu kreis'', ''Дерптский уезд'', 1893-1918 ''Юрьевский уезд'') was one of the nine subdivisions of the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the northeastern part of the gove ...

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 ...

, the son of a carpenter and grew up on a farm in Laatre. From 1899 he attended schools in the parish and the town of Valga from 1905, then from 1907 a municipal school in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

. From 1911 until 1914 he worked as a journalist in today's

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and Estonia in 1916 until 1918. In the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the ...

he participated as a war correspondent. From 1922 until 1924 August Gailit lived in Germany, France and Italy. After that he worked as a freelance writer in Tartu and from 1934 in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. From 1932 until 1934 he was the director of the Theater

Vanemuine Vanemuine () is a theatre in Tartu, Estonia. It is the first Estonian language, Estonian-language theatre. Stemming from the Vanemuine Society (1865), the theatre's first performance was Lydia Koidula's ''Saaremaa Onupoeg'' ("The cousin from S ...

in Tartu. In 1932, August Gailit married the actress Elvi Vaher-Nander (1898–1981), and his daughter Aili-Viktooria was born in 1933. With the

Soviet occupation of Estonia The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

, Gailit fled with his family in September 1944 to Sweden, where he worked as a writer. They settled in the Ormesta manor house near

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

. He died there on 5 November 1960 and was buried at the Örebro northern cemetery. He was reinterred in Tallin's Forest Cemetery in 2025.

Literary career

In 1917 August Gailit, along with some other writers and poets, founded a literary group called " Siuru" with which their erotic poems caused some scandal. Members of the group included:

Marie Under Marie Under ( – 25 September 1980) was an Estonian poet. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 14 separate years. Early life Marie Under was born on 27 March 1883 in Reval (Tallinn), Estonia to school teachers Fri ...

Henrik Visnapuu Henrik Visnapuu ( – 3 April 1951) was an Estonian poet and playwright. Life Henrik Visnapuu was born in Helme Parish, Viljandi County, Livonia. He first attended the village school in Reola (today in Ülenurme Parish) and college in Sipe ...

, Johannes Semper, Peet Aren,

Friedebert Tuglas Friedebert Tuglas, born Friedebert Mihkelson or Michelson (2 March 1886 – 15 April 1971), was an Estonian writer and critic who introduced Impressionism and Symbolism to Estonian literature. Persecuted by the authorities in the beginning of 20t ...

and Artur Adson. The early prose of Gailit also contained erotic content and satire. Until the middle of the 1920s Gailit was strongly influenced by neo-romanticism.

Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German polymath whose areas of interest included history, philosophy, mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best know ...

and

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to conscio ...

also exerted great influence in his work. His famous novel '' Toomas Nipernaadi'' (which was made into a movie in 1983) describes the romantic and adventurous life of a vagabond. Some of his novels covered political issues such as the novel ''Isade maa'' (1935) which addressed the subject of the Estonian 1918–20 war of independence. Gailit's novel '' Üle rahutu vee'' (published in 1951 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Sweden) concerns the tragic event of having to leave one's homeland. Gailiti haud

Selected works

*''Kui päike läheb looja'' (tale, 1910) *''Saatana karussell'' (collection of novels, 1917) *'' Muinasmaa'' (novel, 1918) *''Klounid ja faunid'' (Serial, 1919) *''Rändavad rüütlid'' (collection of novels, 1919) *''August Gailiti surm'' (collection of novels, 1919) *''Purpurne surm'' (novel, 1924) *''Idioot'' (collection of novels, 1924) *''Vastu hommikut'' (collection of novels, 1926) *''Aja grimassid'' (Serial, 1926) *''Ristisõitjad'' (collection of novels, 1927) *'' Toomas Nipernaadi'' (novel, 1928) *''Isade maa'' (novel, 1935) *'' Karge meri'' (novel, 1938) *''Ekke Moor'' (novel, 1941) *''Leegitsev Süda'' (novel, 1945) *'' Üle rahutu vee'' (novel, 1951) *''Kas mäletad, mu arm?'' (prose, 3 volumes, 1951–1959)

References

External links

August Gailit at Estonian Writers′ Online Dictionary

Kuiksilla, August Gailit′s birthplace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gailit, August 1891 births 1960 deaths People from Otepää Parish People from Kreis Dorpat Estonian male novelists 20th-century Estonian novelists 20th-century Estonian male writers Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence Estonian World War II refugees Refugees in Sweden Estonian emigrants to Sweden