Eduard Vilde ( – 26 December 1933) was an Estonian writer, a

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

of critical realism in

Estonian literature Estonian literature ( et, eesti kirjandus) is literature written in the Estonian language (c. 1,100,000 speakers) The domination of Estonia after the Northern Crusades, from the 13th century to 1918 by Germany, Sweden, and Russia resulted in few ...

, and a diplomat. Author of classics such as ''The War in Mahtra'' and ''The Milkman from Mäeküla''. He was one of the most revered figures in Estonian literature and is generally credited as being the country's first professional writer.

Life and career

Vilde grew on the farm where his father worked. In 1883 he began working as a journalist. He spent a great deal of his life traveling abroad and he lived for some time in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in the 1890s, where he was influenced by

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical material ...

and socialism. His writings were also guided by the

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts * Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...

and naturalism of the French writer

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

(1840–1902). In addition to being a prolific writer, he was also an outspoken critic of Tsarist rule and of the German landowners. With the founding of the first Estonian republic in 1919, he served as an ambassador in Berlin for several years, and spent the last years of his life editing and revising an enormous volume of his collected works. After his death in 1933, he became the first person to be interred at

Metsakalmistu Metsakalmistu (meaning ''Forest Cemetery'') is a cemetery in the Pirita district of Tallinn. Metsakalmistu was originally planned to be a public medieval cemetery. Eduard Vilde was the first to be buried in 1933. The original area of the cemet ...

, in the

Pirita Pirita is one of the eight administrative districts ( et, linnaosa) of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Pirita occupies a relatively big area, but compared to other districts of Tallinn its population of 17,592 (as of 1 November 2014) is relati ...

district of Tallinn.

Works

Gallery

File:Statues of Wilde and Vilde in Galway.jpg, Statues of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

and Eduard Vilde in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city ...

. The original of this sculpture is located in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast o ...

. File:USSR stamp E.Vilde 1965 4k.jpg, Vilde on a Soviet 1965 stamp. File:Kadrioru lossi kastellaani maja.jpg, House in

Kadriorg Kadriorg ( Estonian for ''" Catherine's Valley"'') is a subdistrict in the district of Kesklinn ("Midtown"), Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 4,561 (). The subdistrict name derives from the Catherinethal, a Baroque pala ...

, where Eduard Vilde lived 1927–1933. File:Eduard Vilde haud.jpg, File:MuugaMõisaPark.jpg, Monument of Vilde in Muuga Manor's park File:Eduard Vilde monument in central Tallinn.jpg, Memorial to Vilde in Tallinn.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilde, Eduard 1865 births 1933 deaths People from Väike-Maarja Parish People from Kreis Wierland Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party politicians Members of the Estonian Constituent Assembly Ambassadors of Estonia to Germany Estonian non-fiction writers Estonian male novelists Male non-fiction writers 19th-century Estonian novelists 20th-century Estonian novelists 19th-century male writers 20th-century male writers Recipients of the Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle Burials at Metsakalmistu