Romaani "Õige mehe koda" sünniloost ja Karl Ristikivi linnast
The Birth of the Novel Õige mehe koda(„The House of a Righteous Man”)and Tallinn as seen by Karl Ristikivi

Summary/Abstract: Karl Ristikivi wrote the three novels that would come to be known as the Tallinn trilogy between 1938 and 1942. His first novel, Tuli ja raud („Fire and Iron”), was followed by Õige mehe koda („The House of a Righteous Man”) in 1940 and Rohtaed („The Garden”) in 1942. The middle novel, „The House of a Righteous Man”, tells the story of the house of a textile merchant. As in the whole trilogy the action takes place in Tallinn, and the period history of the Estonian capital as well as the country is depicted. The changes in the town structure and the comprehensive panorama of the country’s urbanization are interesting to follow. Under the intricate circumstances of the recent annexation of Estonia by the Soviet Union „The House of the Righteous Man” was first published under the name Võõras majas („In a Strange House”). The second edition of the novel followed in 1942, under the German occupation. The question of the article is whether the author was really free to make his choices while composing and finishing his manuscript. At any rate, the critical reception in newspapers demonstrates the dim and unfamiliar frames of the time.

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