Cherchez la femme or How Gendered Are Estonian Literary Histories and Handbooks?
Cherchez la femme or How Gendered Are Estonian Literary Histories and Handbooks?

Summary/Abstract: Estonian literary history is full of women, as every Estonian will tell you. The singers of the folksongs of the past centuries – mostly women (nameless as usual with oral poetry). The national poet, the hero of the romantic poetry in the 19th century – a woman whose portrait is on the most common Estonian banknote (Lydia Koidula). The beloved heroine of the emotional and erotic poetry of the early 20th century – a woman, who was proposed for the Nobel Prize in Literature eight times (without ever receiving it, but no Estonian has ever received it; Marie Under). The intellectual consciousness of the 1930s – a woman (Betti Alver). The queen of Estonian children’s literature – a woman (Ellen Niit). The sober analyst of the suffocating post-war Stalin years – a woman (Viivi Luik). The bestselling poetry writer of the early 21st century – a woman (Doris Kareva). So where is the problem?

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