Андрей Иванов (Andrei Ivanov)
Andrei Ivanov (b. 24 XII 1971) is the best-known contemporary Russian-Estonian writer, the one whose works have most been translated into Estonian and other languages.
Ivanov was born in Tallinn, and graduated from the Tallinn Pedagogical University with a degree in Russian philology. For many years he lived in Denmark and elsewhere in Scandinavia; impressions and experiences from those years have been reflected in several of his works. Early in the new millennium he returned to Estonia and set about working more consistently as a writer. He has been a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union since 2013.
He has found recognition from many quarters in both Estonia and Russia: for example Ivanov’s best-known and most-translated novel Путeшествие Ханумана на Лолланд (2009, in Estonian 2012, in English as ‘Hanuman’s Travels’ in 2018) was one of the finalists for the Russian Booker Prize in 2010, and the novel Харбинские мотыльки (‘The Butterflies of Harbin’, 2014, in Estonian 2013) in 2013. The latter also won the Russian NOS prize for literature in 2014. Ivanov has received Estonian Literature Endowment Annual Award for a Russian author three times – in 2011 for the short story collection Копенгага (‘Copenhagen’, 2011), in 2014 for Харбинские мотыльки and in 2019 for the novel Обитатели пoтешного кладбища (‘The Curious Inhabitants of the Graveyard’, 2018, in Estonian 2019). The Tallinn Order of Merit was awarded in 2015 for his outstanding contribution to the cultural life of Tallinn. In two years (2011 and 2018) he earned the literature prize of the University of Tallinn. In 2016 Ivanov received the Estonian National Culture Award for his outstanding cultural activity. The absence of the novel Горсть праха (‘A Handful of Dust’; first edition in Estonian 2011; in Russian 2014) from the nominations for the Estonian Literature Endowment Annual Awards was followed by a lively debate about the definitions of Estonian and Estonian-Russian literature. Largely thanks to Ivanov’s works, people in Estonia are aware of the existence of Estonian-Russian literature, and it has received an energetic response.
Although discussion of Ivanov and his works tends to concentrate on the Russian-Estonian aspect, in his own prose he does not specifically dwell on the Russian-Estonian theme, but depicts the contemporary world with its alienation, existential isolation and spatial dislocation. Alienation, being foreign, as well as forbearance and suffering are central themes in his prose. His characters have been defined as ‘a man between’, existential outsiders. The Russian-Estonian subject-matter may heighten the sense of this (see for example the novel Горсть праха, or the stories Мой датский дядюшка (‘My Danish Uncle’) and Зола (‘Ashes’)). Ivanov’s works enable one to draw autobiographical parallels with the author: the main character in his works is often a (non-citizen) Russian born in Estonia, who leaves Estonia in the turbulent nineteen-nineties, has some adventures in Scandinavia and returns to his homeland. Thus a Scandinavian trilogy is made up of the novels ‘Hanuman’s Travels’, Бизар (‘Bizarre’, 2014, in Estonian 2014) and Исповедь лунатика (‘The Lunatic’s Confession’, 2014, in Estonian 2015). What predates the trilogy is dealt with in the novel Батискаф (‘Bathyscaphe’, in Estonian 2017). The subject of different types of refugee is found in the works Харбинские мотыльки, which deals the wanderings and doings of refugees from Russia to Estonia in the nineteen-twenties and thirties, and Обитатели пoтешного кладбища, at the centre of which are Russian emigrants in 20th-century France. The novel Горсть праха gives an insight into the Estonia of the new millennium through the eyes of a Russian-Estonian.
What has been emphasized about Ivanov is his style; his use of language is characteristically rich, and has even been called baroque, his texts have abundant intertextual references and hints, special images, contexts and hooks, which are often accompanied by an ironical or grotesque measure.
A. K. (Translated by C. M.)
Books in Russian
Poems
Ночь в Сен-Клу. Таллин: Avenarius, 2012, 205 pp. [Contents: ’Кризис’, ’Холод под серцем’, ’Ночь в Сен-Клу’.]
Novels
Путешествие Ханумана на Лолланд. Таллинн: Авенариус, 2009, 330 pp. [2nd print: Москва: АСТ: Астрель, 2011, 412 pp.]
Копенгага. Таллинн: Издательство “КПД”, 2011, 367 pp. [Contents: the novel ’Зола’ and five short stories.]
Харбинские мотыльки. Таллин: Avenarius, 2013, 310 pp. [2nd print: ’Харбинские мотыльки: романы’, Москва: АСТ: Редакция Елены Шубиной, 2014, 573 pp.]
Харбинские мотыльки: романы. Москва: АСТ: Редакция Елены Шубиной, 2014, 573 pp. [Contents: ’Харбинские мотыльки’, ’Горсть праха’.]
Исповедь лунатика. Москва: АСТ: Редакция Елены Шубиной, 2015, 348 pp. [2nd print: ’Исповедь лунатика: романы’, Таллин: Авенариус, 2015, 494 pp.]
Бизар. Москва: РИПОЛ классик, 2014, 349 pp. [2nd print: ’Исповедь лунатика: романы’, Таллин: Авенариус, 2015, 494 pp.]
Аргонавт. Таллин: Авенариус, 2016, 331 pp.
Батискаф. Москва: Эксмо, 2018, 445 pp.
Обитатели потешного кладбища. Таллин: Aвeнaриус, 2018, 572 pp. [2nd ed: 2019. E-book: 2018.]
Short stories
Копенгага. Таллинн: Издательство “КПД”, 2011, 367 pp. [Contents: the novel ’Зола’ and five short stories.]
Ночь в Сен-Клу. Таллин: Avenarius, 2012, 205 pp. [Contents: ’Кризис’, ’Холод под серцем’, ’Ночь в Сен-Клу’.]
Печатный шар Расмуса Хансена. Повесть, новеллы, эссе. Tallinn: Avenarius, 2017, 252 pp.
Non-fiction
Печатный шар Расмуса Хансена. Повесть, новеллы, эссе. Tallinn: Avenarius, 2017, 252 pp.
Books in Estonian
Novels
Peotäis põrmu. Tõlkinud Ilona Martson. Tallinn: Varrak, 2011, 286 lk. [‘Горсть праха’.]
Hanumani teekond Lollandile. Tõlkinud Veronika Einberg. Tallinn: Varrak, 2012, 404 lk. [‘Путешествие Ханумана на Лолланд’.]
Harbini ööliblikad. Tõlkinud Veronika Einberg. Tallinn: Varrak, 2013, 438 lk. [‘Харбинские мотыльки’.]
Bizarre. Tõlkinud Veronika Einberg. Tallinn: Varrak, 2014, 402 lk. [‘Бизар’.]
Kuutõbise pihtimus. Tõlkinud Veronika Einberg. Tallinn: Varrak, 2015, 271 lk. [‘Исповедь лунатика’.]
Rasmus Hanseni kirjutuskera. Tõlkinud Veronika Einberg. Tallinn: Kultuurileht (Loomingu Raamatukogu), 2015, 141 lk. [‘Печатный шар Расмуса Хансена’.]
Argonaut. Tõlkinud Veronika Einberg. Tallinn: Varrak, 2016, 326 lk. [‘Аргонавт’.]
Batüskaaf. Tõlkinud Erle Nõmm. Tallinn: Tänapäev, 2017, 335 lk. [‘Батискаф’.]
Isevärki kalmistu asukad. Tõlkinud Veronika Einberg. Tallinn: Varrak, 2019, 534 lk. [‘Обитатели потешного кладбища’.]
Stories
Minu Taani onuke. Tuhk. Tõlkinud Ilona Martson ja Jaan Ross. Tallinn: Kultuurileht (Loomingu Raamatukogu), 2010, 127 lk. [‘Мой датский дядюшка’, ‘Зола’.]
