ISSN 0204–2061. KNYGOTYRA. 2010. 54 THE BALTIC BOOK CONTACTS: TRANSLATIONS OF LATVIAN AND LITHUANIAN LITERATURE IN THE ESTONIAN BOOK PRODUCTION AILE MÖLDRE Institute of Information Studies, Tallinn University, Narva maantee 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia E-mail: [email protected] In the light of differing views on the development of the common Baltic identity, based on analogous historical, political, economic and cultural features, the paper studies its manifestation through transla- tions from the Latvian and Lithuanian languages into Estonian. The analysis is based on a catalogue of translations, which has been compiled with the help of bibliographies and bibliographic databases. A statistical analysis of the data is used to establish the most active periods of translation publishing, the most popular authors and genres. The first book translation from Latvian dates back to the 18th century, whereas the first book translated from Lithuanian was issued in 1954. Until 1918 when all the three na- tions gained independence, cultural exchange in this region embraced only the historical Baltic prov- inces. Lithuania emerged in the cultural space of Estonians more intensively since the 1930s. The most productive period in translating Latvian and Lithuanian literature was the Soviet period when the Baltic unity reached its peak. After regaining independence, the feeling of Baltic identity has diminished along- side with the decline in publishing of books translated from Latvian and Lithuanian. Key words: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the Baltic states, Baltic identity, translations, publishing, book production. Introduction of the 20th century was quite different and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are often obtained clearly similar features only in 1918 treated under the geopolitical denominator when all of them became independent for “the Baltic states”. This concept is related to the first time. Since 1918, the similarity of other issues such as Baltic unity and Baltic historical development has continued up to identity. The latter is based on the shared the present time when Estonia, Latvia and elements of the general geographic-historic- Lithuania are facing similar problems and political-cultural experience [31, 12]. At share similar aspirations for the future. the same time, the historical development Nowadays, after regaining independence, of the three countries up to the beginning the concept of Baltic identity is sometimes 301 questioned and characterised as a ghost from language and is closest to the Livonian and the Soviet times [1, 21]. Arguments contrary Votic languages. to the idea of common Baltic identity make The historical development is divided the point that there is no such thing as the into several periods, mainly based on po- Baltic region and, as a consequence, there litical history and the development of book can be no Baltic identity. In the 1990s, production. From the 18th century till Estonia and Lithuania protested publicly 1918, the Baltic countries were all part of against labelling them as the Baltic states the Russian Empire. The first period under with the former aspiring to be considered study enfolds the end of the 18th century a Nordic country and the latter stressing its and the 19th century, when the first texts position as a Central European state. The were translated from Latvian and Lithu- unity of the Baltic states was called to be a anian, but their number was still very small mere fiction that only exists in the minds of (as was the general number of books issued Western politicians [5, 59–60]. in Estonian). The beginning of the 20th In the light of such controversial argu- century (1901–1917) was the period of ments, the paper aims at establishing the unprecedented development in all fields of key trends in the development of cultural life – industry, agriculture, political activity, exchange between these countries, repre- education and culture. Estonians made a sented in the publication of books translated significant step towards becoming a civi- from the Latvian and Lithuanian languages lised nation in the Western tradition. These into Estonian. It looks at the history and were also the years of a notable increase in structure of the translations: when the first the Estonian book production. While dur- translations from Latvian and Lithuanian ing the above-mentioned periods Estonia into Estonian were published, how extensive was part of the Russian Empire, the next the translating activity was, how the number period – 1918–1940 – includes the inde- of translated books has changed over time, pendent Republic of Estonia. During the whether there are any differences in the following first year of the Soviet occupation development of translation of Latvian and (in 1940–1941) and the German occupation Lithuanian literature, which genres and (in 1941–1944), translations from Latvian authors have been the most popular, or, and Lithuanian were published mostly in shortly, what we can find out about the con- periodicals; therefore, no special section is tacts among the Baltic states on the basis of devoted to these years, and the treatment of book production in the Estonian language. the topic continues with the period of the The Latvian and Lithuanian languages second Soviet occupation (1944–1990). belong to the Baltic group of the Indo- Estonia regained independence in August European languages, thus being close to 1991. The statistical analysis includes pub- each other. Estonian is the Finno-Ugric lications of this year in the Soviet period. 302 The latest period starts from the regaining of the second half of the 19th century till 2007. independence in 1991 and studies the trends The publication includes also an article on of translation publishing until 2008. literary contacts between Latvia and Estonia The identification of the general trends is by Anneli Mihkeleva [19, 859–949]. This based on the statistical analysis of a catalogue work, however, does not study non-fiction of translations from the Lithuanian and Lat- publications. Translations of non-fiction vian languages. According to Anthony Pym’s have been identified with the help of the Es- terminology presented in his book “Method tonian national bibliography database ERB in Translation History” [28, 42], a catalogue (http://erb.nlib.ee/) and online catalogue is a list aiming at maximum completeness. ESTER (http://ester.nlib.ee/search/), which The compiling of catalogues is an aspect of is the union catalogue of the Consortium of translation archaeology, which in its turn Estonian Libraries Network. An overview of forms part of translation history. cultural contacts between Estonians and Lat- A catalogue includes translations pub- vians, including translations from Latvian lished as separate books and enfolds all types issued in the Estonian language, has been of literature, first and re-editions published presented in an article by Oskar Kuningas, in the Estonian language in Estonia as well as published in the literary journal Looming in the few publications published in Estonian 1983 [18]. O. Kuningas was himself active outside Estonia. Besides the analysis of the in translating Latvian fiction during the translated books, translations published in Soviet period. periodicals are also briefly discussed, mainly Major retrospective bibliographies cover- while studying the earlier periods when ing the periods 1525–1850, 1851–1900, periodicals were a more important channel 1901–1917 and 1941–1944 have been for publishing translations. used as sources for identifying translations The translations have been located with from the Lithuanian language [9; 10; 11; the help of different bibliographies and 7]. In addition to printed bibliographies, bibliographic databases. Among the most the above-mentioned national bibliography comprehensive sources is the list of fiction, database and online catalogue ESTER were poetry and drama translated from Latvian, used to obtain more specific data. Data on which is included in the book Latvieši, translations from Lithuanian, issued in pe- igauni un lietuviši: literārie un kultūras kon- riodicals during the 19th century and in the takti (Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians: beginning of the 20th century (up to 1944), Literary and Cultural Contacts), which was have been identified with the help of the issued by the Institute of Literature, Folklore general analytical retrospective bibliogra- and Art of the University of Latvia in Riga phy of Estonian periodicals of the Estonian in 2008 [19, 226–283]. The list is arranged Literary Museum. The systematic file of the by authors and includes publications from bibliography is preserved in the Bibliography 303 Department of the Archival Library of the production including the years 1961–1990 museum. [6]. Translations published in the indepen- The lists have been used to plot the dis- dent Republic of Estonia in 1918–1940 tribution of translations over time and for are presented in the bibliography included establishing the activity of various agents in in the exhibition catalogue of Latvian and the translation process. Additional data have Lithuanian literature in the Estonian lan- been obtained by analysis of articles from guage, published by the National Library periodicals and collections of articles. The of Estonia in 1990 [23]. latter have contributed to the explanatory Translations from Lithuanian, issued analysis of the statistical data. during the first decades of the Soviet period (in 1940–1975) have been listed in the di- THE BEGINNING OF literary CON- TH TH ploma paper by Mare Lohk [22], defended tacts during the 18 and 19 in the Tallinn Pedagogical Institute in 1979. CENTURIES Data on later years of the Soviet period and Literary contacts between Estonia and Lat- the period after regaining independence in via date back to the beginnings of Estonian 1991 can be found in the bibliographies of prose at the end of the 18th century. The translations enfolding the years 1976–1980, book Juttud ja teggud (Stories and Tales) by 1981–1985 and 1986–1990 [25; 26; 8] as the Baltic German author Friedrich Wilhelm well as in the national bibliography database von Willmann (1782) was largely based on ERB.