Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri (29 March 1929 in Tallinn – 14 March 2006 in Tallinn) was an Estonian writer, film-maker, cultural historian, essayist, diplomat and politician, President of Estonia 1992-2001.
Lennart Meri’s parents were the diplomat and later translator of William Shakespeare, Georg Meri, and Alice-Brigitta Engmann, who was of Estonian-Swedish extraction. Meri got his primary education in Germany and France: at the Collège Jésus-Christ in Paris (1934-1935), at Public School number 164 in Berlin (1935-1938), and the Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris (1938). Meri continued his studies in Tallinn at Westholm Gymnasium (1938-1940), and at primary schools number 30 (1940) and 22 (1941). The family was deported on 14. VI 1941 to Kirov oblast, where Meri continued his schooling at Yaranskiy secondary school (1944-1945). On his return to Tallinn, Meri studied at secondary school number 10 (1946-1948), and he acquired his higher education at the University of Tartu in the field of history, where he graduated cum laude in 1953.
Meri worked for the Vanemuine Theatre as dramaturge and as a lecturer at Tartu Art School (1953-1955). From 1955 to 1961 he was editorial director of Finnish-language broadcasts and radio plays at Estonian Radio. At the Tallinn Film Studio he was a member of the editorial board (1963-1968), then a film director (1968-1971, 1986-1988). Meri took part in many expeditions (to the Carpathians, Central Asia, Eastern Siberia, Kamchatka, Altai, Taymyr, and the Mari, Mordvin and Komi republics).
At the time of the Singing Revolution, Meri began his active political career: he was a member of the Cultural Council of the Estonian Creative Unions (1987), and in 1988 one of the organizers of the plenum of Creative Unions, he established the Estonian Institute, and was from 1988 to 1990 its director; he was Foreign Minister of the Republic of Estonia (1990-1992) and ambassador in Helsinki (April – October 1992), a member of the Writers’ Union from 1963, a member of its board (1963-1992), its secretary (1985-1987), a Merited Writer of the Estonian SSR (1979); a member of the Filmmakers Union of the Estonian SSR (1966), an honorary member of the Finnish Writers’ Union (1982), an honorary doctor of the Universities of Helsinki and of Lapland. In 1992 Meri was elected President of the Republic of Estonia and re-elected for a second term in September 1996.
Meri began his literary career with articles on cultural history in the newspaper Edasi (1950), using the pseudonym J. Ellem. His main literary genre became the travel essay of a historical and cultural nature, about journeys in time and space. His first books are travelogues in the conventional sense: Kobrade ja karakurtide jälgedes (‘On the Path of Cobras and Steppe Spiders’, 1959), describing a journey on foot through Central Asia; Laevapoisid rohelisel ookeanil (‘Boat-boys on a Green Ocean’, 1961), telling of a kayak journey in Siberia; Tulemägede maale (‘To the Land of Volcanoes’, 1964), depicting a young scientists’ expedition to Kamchatka, and a later, expanded version of it, Lähenevad rannad (‘Approaching Shores’, 1977). Historical interludes and comparisons become more frequent from one work to another. His most translated work, Virmaliste väraval (‘At the Gate of the Northern Lights’, 1974), is both a travel book and an account of the opening and discovery of the Northwest Passage. In the books Hõbevalge (‘Silver-white’, 1976) and Hõbevalgem (‘More Silver-white’, 1984) he brings to life the early maritime history of the Estonians, the catastrophe of the Kaali meteorite on Saaremaa and other historical events, mixing together historical sources from traditional knowledge, linguistic information and motifs from folklore. His account is strained by surprising hypotheses, the main one of which is that the ancient mariner Pytheas travelled as far as Saaremaa in his journeys and called it Thule.
Meri’s political articles and speeches, mainly concerned with the state of the Estonian nation and culture prior to the restoration of independence, and the aims of the Estonian state at the end of the 20th century, are eloquent essays of great power. As such they have aroused attention abroad too: more than 250 articles have been translated into various languages and published in journals in Europe, Asia and America. A selection of them has appeared in Estonia in the ‘History of Estonian Thought’ series, in the volumes Presidendikõned (‘Presidential Speeches’, 1996), Riigimured (‘Problems of the State’, 201) and Poliitiline testament (‘Political Testament’, 2007).
Meri’s ethnographic-cultural films about Finno-Ugric peoples and cultures have won international acclaim: Veelinnurahvas (‘People of the Water-bird’, 1970), Linnutee tuuled (‘Winds of the Milky Way’, 1977), the partly staged Kaleva hääled (‘Voices of Kaleva’, 1986), Toorumi pojad (‘Sons of Toorum’, 1991) and Šamaan (‘Shaman’, 1997). Meri also translated into Estonian works by Erich Maria Remarque, Graham Greene, Vercors, Pierre Boulle and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
I. M. (Translated by C. M.)
Books in Estonian
Non-fiction
Kobrade ja karakurtide jälgedes: Kesk-Aasia matkamärkmeid. Illustreerinud Ants Viidalepp. Tallinn: Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus, 1959, 158 lk.
Laevapoisid rohelisel ookeanil. Illustreerinud A. Viidalepp. Tallinn: Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus, 1961, 175 lk.
Tulemägede maale: reisipäevik 160. meridiaanilt. Kaaneümbris ja kaas: N. Kormašov. Tallinn: Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus, 1964, 264 lk.
Virmaliste väraval. Illustreerinud Viive Tolli. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1974, 328 lk.
Hõbevalge: reisikiri tuulest ja muinasluulest. Illustreerinud Heinrich Valk. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1976, 488 lk. [2., muudetud trükk: ‘Hõbevalge: reisikiri suurest paugust, tuulest ja muinasluulest’, koostanud ja toimetanud Urmas Sutrop ning Mart Meri. Tallinn, Tartu: Lennart Meri Euroopa Sihtasutus, 2008, 589 lk; 3., muudetud trükk: ‘Hõbevalge: reisikiri suurest paugust, tuulest ja muinasluulest’, koostanud ja toimetanud Urmas Sutrop ning Mart Meri; järelsõnad: Jüri Kivimäe, Urmas Sutrop, Tallinn: Eesti Päevaleht, Akadeemia, 2008, 614 pp.]
Lähenevad rannad: reisid 130. ja 160. meridiaani vahel. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1977, 415 lk. [‘Tulemägede maale’ poole mahukam uusväljaanne.]
Hõbevalgem: reisikiri suurest paugust, tuulest ja muinasluulest. Soome regivärsid tõlkinud Paul-Eerik Rummo; illustreerinud Kaljo Põllu. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1984, 216 lk. [2., muudetud trükk: ‘Hõbevalge: reisikiri suurest paugust, tuulest ja muinasluulest’, koostanud ja toimetanud Urmas Sutrop ning Mart Meri. Tallinn, Tartu: Lennart Meri Euroopa Sihtasutus, 2008, 589 lk; 3., muudetud trükk: ‘Hõbevalge: reisikiri suurest paugust, tuulest ja muinasluulest’, koostanud ja toimetanud Urmas Sutrop ning Mart Meri; järelsõnad: Jüri Kivimäe, Urmas Sutrop, Tallinn: Eesti Päevaleht, Akadeemia, 2008, 614 pp.]
Presidendikõned. Eessõna: Hando Runnel; järelsõna: Carl Bildt. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 1996, 591 lk. [Sari ‘Eesti mõttelugu’. 2. tr: 2005.]
Riigimured. Koostaja ja järelsõna: Toomas Kiho; eessõna: Hando Runnel. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2001, 675 lk. [Kõned. Sari ‘Eesti mõttelugu’.]
Poliitiline testament. Koostajad Toomas Hiio ja Mart Meri; osaliselt tõlkinud Toomas Hiio; toimetaja Urmas Tõnisson. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2007, 270 lk. [Sari ‘Eesti mõttelugu’.]
Lennart Meri ütlemisi. Koostanud Toomas Kiho. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2015, 192 lk.
