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A.H. Tammsaare’s Truth and Justice as a Postcolonial Bildungsroman

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  • Piret Peiker

Abstract

A.H. Tammsaare’s pentalogy Truth and Justice is considered a central text in Estonian culture, perceived virtually as a second national epic. The article analyzes it from the perspective of comparative genre studies. It is discussed as an idiosyncratic example of Bildungsroman, a genre narrativizing modernizing change focusing on the lives of everyday individuals, thus symbolically domesticating and humanizing the global developments of modernization. The emplotment of Tammsaare’s novel is comparatively discussed against the background of the Western European Bildungsroman on the one hand and of non-European postcolonial Bildungsroman on the other. The analysis enables to gain new insight into the reception and cultural working-through of the belated rapid modernization in Estonia. It also helps to explain the canonical position of Tammsaare’s novel in Estonian literature: The novel is a poetic tour de force that forges a both intra- and internationally acceptable model of modern Estonia.

Suggested Citation

  • Piret Peiker, 2015. "A.H. Tammsaare’s Truth and Justice as a Postcolonial Bildungsroman," Journal of Baltic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 199-216, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rbalxx:v:46:y:2015:i:2:p:199-216
    DOI: 10.1080/01629778.2015.1009132
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