Eduard Vilde

Eduard Vilde
Vilde in 1911
Born	4 March [O.S. 20 February] 1865 Poidifer, Kreis Wierland, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire (present-day Pudivere, Väike-Maarja Parish, Lääne-Viru County)
Died	26 December 1933(1933-12-26) (aged 68) Tallinn, Estonia
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	Estonian
Period	1880–1933
Signature

Eduard Vilde (4 March [O.S. 20 February] 1865 – 26 December 1933) was an Estonian writer, a pioneer of critical realism in Estonian literature, and a diplomat. He was the author of classics such as The War in Mahtra and The Milkman from Mäeküla. He was one of the most revered figures in Estonian literature and is generally credited as being the country's first professional writer.^[1]

Life and career

Vilde grew up on the farm where his father worked. In 1883 he began working as a journalist. He spent a great deal of his life traveling abroad and he lived for some time in Berlin in the 1890s, where he was influenced by materialism and socialism. His writings were also guided by the realism and naturalism of the French writer Émile Zola (1840–1902).^[2] In addition to being a prolific writer, he was also an outspoken critic of Tsarist rule and of the German landowners. With the founding of the first Estonian republic in 1919, he served as an ambassador in Berlin for several years,^[3] and spent the last years of his life editing and revising an enormous volume of his collected works. After his death in 1933, he became the first person to be interred at Metsakalmistu, in the Pirita district of Tallinn.

Works

Gallery

• 
  Statues of Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde in Galway. The original of this sculpture is located in Tartu.
• 
  Vilde on a 1965 Soviet stamp
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  House in Kadriorg, where Eduard Vilde lived from 1927 to 1933
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  Grave of Eduard Vilde at Tallinn's Forest Cemetery
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  Monument of Vilde in the park at Muuga Manor
• 
  Memorial to Vilde in Tallinn

References

External links

• Media related to Eduard Vilde at Wikimedia Commons