Epp Annus
Epp Annus (born 30 August 1969) is a researcher of literature and culture and prose writer.
Annus was born and attended school in Tallinn and studied Estonian literature at the University of Tartu. Her master’s thesis bore the title Vaatepunkt Asta Willmanni romaanis „Peotäis tuhka, teine mulda“ (‘Point of View in Asta Willmann’s Novel One Handful of Ash, the Other of Dirt’, 1993). Her doctoral thesis Kuidas kirjutada aega (‘How to Tell Time’) was also published as a monograph (2002). Annus has upgraded her education at several universities abroad, worked at Under and Tuglas Literature Centre, Research Group of Contemporary Estonian Culture, the universities of Tartu and Tallinn, the Estonian Literary Museum and as a guest researcher at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and the University of Helsinki. She also teaches regularly at Ohio State University, in the USA. She is a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union (from 1999), the International Association of Philosophy and Literature, the Association for the Advancement of the Baltic Studies, the Estonian Literary Society and several research boards.
Epp Annus has been active in Estonian literature since the 1990s with reviews and articles. She has dealt with the problems of viewpoint and narrative mainly in A. H. Tammsaare’s and Bernard Kangro’s works, observed the issues related to time, see, e.g., Kuidas kirjutada aega (‘How to Tell Time’, 2002). In recent years, her research has concentrated on connections between culture, politics and everyday life mostly in the last years of the Soviet rule, see, e.g., Sotskolonialism Eesti NSV-s: võim, kultuur, argielu (‘Soviet Colonialism in the Estonian SSR: power, culture, everyday life’, 2019). In 2000, Annus received the annual award of the journal Keel ja Kirjandus for the article Postmodernism kui hilissotsialismi kultuuriloogika (‘Postmodernism as the Cultural Logic of Late Socialism’), in 2012 the annual award of the Journal of Baltic Studies for the article The Problem of Soviet Colonialism in the Baltics. She has participated in compiling several textbooks for secondary schools and collections. Annus is one of the authors of Eesti kirjanduslugu (‘History of Estonian Literature’, 2001) and the editor of the bulky compendium on the most essential 20th-century philosophers, 20. sajandi mõttevoolud (‘Movements of Thought in the 20th Century’, 2009).
In the 2000s, Annus began to publish books meant mainly for small children. Her philosophical-poetical debut novel for adults, Sina, Matilda (‘You, Matilda’), which was inspired by the story of the Beauty and the Beast, appeared in 2007. In 2021, Annus published the utopian novel Tere, Aleksander (‘Hello, Alexander’).
A. K. (Translated by I. A.)
Books in Estonian
Novels
Sina, Matilda. Tallinn: Tuum, 2007, 158 lk
Tere, Aleksander: lugu tulemata jäänud tulevikust. Tallinn: EKSA, 2021, 232 lk
Books for children
Jaak ja lumi: luuletus. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2005, 20 lk
Jaak läheb poodi: lühijutt. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2005, 20 lk
Mari päev. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2005, 10 lk
Oravaraamat: lühijutt. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2005, 24 lk
Unelaul kahel häälel. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2005, 14 lk
Oskar läheb õue. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2006, 10 lk
Elavad tähed. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2009, 42 lk [juurdetrükk 2010]
Oravalapsed talvises metsas. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2011, 26 lk
Oravalapsed vanas majas. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2011, 26 lk
Auto ja põder. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2013, 28 lk
Uku ja kaelkirjak. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2013, 28 lk
Uku, kaelkirjak ja elevant. Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2015, 22 lk
Literary research
Epp Annus, Rein Undusk, Klassika ja narratiivsus: Tammsaarest Kangroni. Tallinn: Underi ja Tuglase Kirjanduskeskus, 1997, 126 lk
Kuidas kirjutada aega. Tallinn: Underi ja Tuglase Kirjanduskeskus, 2002, 363 lk
Sotskolonialism Eesti NSV-s: võim, kultuur, argielu. Tallinn, Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2019, 424 lk