Eduard Vilde | |
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Eduard Vilde in 1911.
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Born |
Pudivere, Kreis Wierland, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire |
4 March 1865
Died | 26 December 1933 Tallinn, Estonia |
(aged 68)
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | Estonian |
Period | 1880–1933 |
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Eduard Vilde (4 March 1865 in Pudivere, Väike-Maarja Parish, Lääne-Viru County – 26 December 1933 in Tallinn) is an Estonian writer, a pioneer of critical realism in Estonian literature, and a diplomat. 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.
Vilde grew 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). 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, and spent the last years of his life editing and revising an enormous volume of his collected works.
Statues of Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde in Galway. The original of this sculpture is located in Tartu.
Vilde on a Soviet 1965 stamp.
House in Kadriorg, where Eduard Vilde lived 1927–1933.
Monument of Vilde in Muuga Manor's park
Memorial to Vilde in Tallinn.