Poetry
Punaste õhtute purpur
Not translated into English
Hando Runnel · 1982
Synopsis
One hundred and fifty-one poems divided into six cycles, from the border of the clouds to the beautiful land, by way of the oath of Virumaa, the father's affairs, the green meadows and the evenings. In a form close to folk song, constantly playing on sounds and words, they express a deep anxiety for the country and for the misfortune that has struck it; the title poem contrasts the purple of red evenings with the thread of blue hopes, and others, beneath the peaceful description of a farm, let the reader see between the lines what the censor would not allow to be named.
Context
The collection, its author's ninth, appeared in Tallinn in 1982 from Eesti Raamat, under a cover by Jüri Arrak: a bright red sun sinking behind a black fortress wall. The censors let it appear, but reviewing it was forbidden, and it received no official criticism; it nonetheless became one of the best-known books in the country. Many of its poems, set to music, are still sung at the song festivals. It was reissued unchanged in 2008 by Ilmamaa.
Who it is for
About a hundred pages of poems in Estonian, never translated as a book into French or English. It is worth knowing that the wordplay that fooled the censor makes these verses hard to translate.
Prizes and reception
Described as legendary by the Estonian Literary Centre, and regarded as the pinnacle of its author's work.