Kalle Käsper
Kalle Käsper (b. 2. V 1952) is a prose writer and poet.
He was born in Tallinn, graduated from the State University of Tartu in Russian philology and the High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors in Moscow. He is a member of the Writers’ Union since 1996. He was married to the Armenian writer Gohar Markosjan-Käsper (1949-2015).
Käsper made his literary debut in 1983 with a play, directed by Ingo Normet, Doktor Stockmanni variant (‘Dr. Stockmann’s Version’). Poems and short stories appeared in the press in the late eighties; his first book was a collection of short prose, Taani prints Hamlet, nuhk (‘Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the Spy’, 1996). The first novel to appear was Üksindus on hommikuti hell (‘Solitude is Tender in the Mornings’, 1997, third prize in the novel competition run by the Estonian Novel Fund), at the centre of which is the love story between an Armenian writer, Trdati, and an Estonian woman, set during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Recent history, from the mid-seventies to the mid-nineties, forms the backdrop of the novel Vennad Luiged (‘The Luik Brothers’, 2002), which covers the course of one generation. An even wider panorama of time and space is offered by Käsper’s sequence of novels Buridanid I-VIII (‘The Buridans’, 2005-2014), which concentrates on the story of one intellectual family throughout the 20th century. The novel sequence won the Tammsaare novel prize in 2013. In the characters, as well as in plot development, what is striking is Käsper’s characteristic culturally critical stances, at once principled and sometimes contrary to trends. His refined language and erudite attitude are notable. His novel Ime (‘The Miracle’, 2020) is dedicated to the memory of his late Armenian wife.
Contrary to the main trends in contemporary poetry, Käsper writes mainly rhymed verse, which gives striking evidence of a wide-ranging knowledge of world culture, a balance of ethics and aesthetics, and connections with the classics of Russian and Estonian poetry.
A. K. (Translated by C. M.)
Books in Estonian
Novels
Üksindus on hommikuti hell: Trdat See-ja-See-jani elu. Tallinn: Faatum, 1997, 212 lk.
Vennad Luiged. Tallinn: Faatum, 2001, 422 lk. [2. trükk: 2002.]
Buridanid I. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2005, 318 lk.
Buridanid II. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2006, 285 lk.
Buridanid III. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2006, 277 lk.
Buridanid IV. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2007, 311 lk.
Buridanid V. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2009, 254 lk.
Buridanid VI. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2011, 247 lk.
Buridanid VII. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2012, 223 lk.
Buridanid VIII. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2014, 207 lk.
Ime. Tallinn: EKSA, 2020, 195 lk.
Short prose
Taani prints Hamlet, nuhk: üks pikk ja mõned lühemad lood. Tallinn: Kupar, 1996, 142 lk.
Kolm reisi: jutustused. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2005, 168 lk.
Filosoofilisi novelle. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2016, 148 lk.
Poetry collections
Alliksandriine. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2003, 37 lk.
Jah, armastan, kuid mitte inimesi. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2009, 61 lk.
Öö jumalik enklaav. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2012, 52 lk.
Mülgas. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2013, 59 lk.
Orpheuse laule. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2017, 100 lk.
Humour
Härra Käsperi tõsilood: humoreskid. Tallinn: Meelejahutaja, 1994, 30 lk.
Miscellaneous
Pihtimus harimatusest: esseid, artikleid ja müstifikatsioone kirjandusest. Tallinn: EKSA, 2021, 213 lk.
Books in Russian
Novels
Гоар Маркосян-Каспер, Калле Каспер, Чудо. Москва: Издательство «Эксмо», 2018, 320 стр. [2nd ed: Литературное агентство «Флобериум», 2020, https://www.litres.ru/kalle-kasper-17340199/chudo/ (8. IX 2021).]
Калле Каспер, Пробуждение. Литературное агентство «Флобериум», 2020, 80 стр, https://www.litres.ru/kalle-kasper-17340199/probuzhdenie/ (8. IX 2021)
Калле Каспер, Жизнь после жизни. Литературное агентство «Флобериум», 2020, 150 стр, https://www.litres.ru/kalle-kasper-17340199/zhizn-posle-zhizni/ (8. IX 2021)
Poems
Алессио Гаспари, Вместо мавзолея. Литературное агентство «Флобериум», 2020, 14 стр, https://www.litres.ru/kalle-kasper-17340199/alessio-gaspari-vmesto-mavzoleya/ (8. IX 2021)
Калле Каспер, В сторону Элизиума. [Self-published], 2022.
Non-fiction
Гоар Маркосян-Каспер, Калле Каспер, Краткие либретто опер Россини: в изложении и с комментариями двух писателей. Санкт-Петербург: Композитор, 2018, 303 стр. [2nd ed: Литературное агентство «Флобериум», 2021, 260 стр, https://www.litres.ru/goar-kasper/kratkie-libretto-oper-rossini/ (8. IX 2021).]
Гоар Маркосян-Каспер, Калле Каспер, Краткие либретто опер Верди. Санкт-Петербург: Композитор, 2018, 367 стр. [2nd ed: Литературное агентство «Флобериум», 2021, 290 стр, https://www.litres.ru/goar-kasper/kratkie-libretto-oper-verdi/ (8. IX 2021).]
Калле Каспер, Война в Карабахе. Литературное агентство «Флобериум», 2021, 20 стр, https://www.litres.ru/kalle-kasper-17340199/voyna-v-karabahe/ (8. IX 2021)
Гоар Каспер, Калле Каспер, Краткие либретто опер Беллини. Санкт-Петербург: Композитор, 2023, 184 стр.
Калле Каспер, Любовь и влечение. Литературные эссе и заметки. Таллинн: Издательство “КПД”, 2022, 244 стр.