Einar Sanden

Einar Sanden (until 1959 Fred Einar Ein; 8 November 1932 – 18 April 2007) was an exile Estonian prose writer, poet and publisher.

Sanden was born and attended school in Tallinn, fled to Germany in 1944, moved on to the UK in 1948 where he graduated from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology in Cardiff in 1952. In Cardiff, he studied economics, languages and literature at the University of Wales, obtaining an MA (1983) and a PhD (1984). Sanden lived alternately in Spain and Wales, later also in Tartu. He worked as a sailor, was the secretary of the Estonian Seamen’s Union in England (1951–1968), managed the emigre Estonian publishing company Boreas Publishing House in Cardiff (1975–1999) and commented on Estonian themes on the BBC. Sanden was a member of the British Conservative Party (from 1953), the British Royal Society of Literature (1960), the Estonian Writers’ Union Abroad (1970), the Estonian Writers’ Union (1995), the English PEN and PEN Estonia (1976 and 1987). He was also the chairman of the representative office of the Association of Estonians in Great Britain, a member of the Estonian Academic Military History Society (1988) and the Sakala student fraternity (1954) and chairman of the Sakala British branch (1981). He has received the Order of the White Star, Class 4 (2007). Einar Sanden died in Cardiff, Wales, was buried in Tartu Raadi cemetery.

Sanden made his debut in fiction with stories in the youth magazine Põhjamaa Tähistel in 1948. In the 1950s, the poetry collections Tuul üle Andaluusia (‘Wind over Andalusia’, 1954, under the name Einar Ein) and September (‘September’, 1959) were published. They depict the motifs of exile, sailors’ life and freedom struggle.

The novel Ungari sügis (‘Hungarian Autumn’, 1959) focuses on student life in London against the background of the events of 1956 in Hungary. The fate of Estonian sailors is under scrutiny in the novel Viimne veerand veini I–II (‘The Last Quarter of Wine’, I–II, 1962). A characteristic of Sanden’s novels is relying on documentary material, especially in novels about political espionage which also feature real persons as characters. For example, the adventure novel KGB kutsub Evet (‘KGB Summons Eve’, 1968), which received the United Poets Laureate International certificate of honour in 1968, deals with an Estonian woman falling under the influence of the KGB and escaping from it. The activities of Juhan Tuldava, long-time head of the Department of German at Tartu State University, as an agent among refugees are examined in the documental book Mitme näo ja nimega (‘With Several Faces and Names’, 1978). Historical facts and fiction are skilfully interwoven in the dilogy Loojangul lahkume Tallinnast (‘We Are Leaving Tallinn at Sunset’, 1979) and Süda ja kivid (‘Heart and Stones’, 1982), which depict the life of Karl Säre, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia, during and after the Second World War. The story Ur Eldinum til Islands (‘Through the Fire to Iceland’, 1990) about the life path of Evald Mikson (Evald Hinriksson while living in Iceland) who was a footballer and worked in the Estonian security police during the German occupation (1941–1944) is also associated with the dilogy.

In the autobiographical novel series Hommikutunnid (‘Morning Hours’), which includes Hommikutunnid (‘Morning Hours’, 2001), Näod ja maskid (‘Faces and Masks’, 2003), Septembri lapsed (‘September Children’, 2004) and Kolme ilmakaare poole (‘Towards Three Points of Compass’, 2005), Sanden portrays his course of life through the war and occupations in an adventurous and good-humoured manner through the eyes of the author’s alter ego Fred Sandmark.

A. K. (Translated by I. A.)

Books in Estonian

Novels
Ungari sügis. Toronto: Orto, 1959, 295 lk [2. tr 1993]
Viimne veerand veini. 1. kd. Toronto: Orto, 1962, 285 lk [2. tr 1994]
Viimne veerand veini. 2. kd. Toronto: Orto, 1962, 282 lk [2. tr 1994]
KGB kutsub Evet. Stockholm: Free Europe Press, 1968, 245 lk
Loojangul lahkume Tallinnast. Cardiff: Boreas, 1979, 240 lk [järgmised trükid: 1992, 2014]
Süda ja kivid. Cardiff: Boreas, 1982, 256 lk [järgmised trükid: 1993]
Hommikutunnid. 1. Tallinn: Boreas, 2001, 279 lk
Näod ja maskid. Tallinn: Varrak, 2003, 294 lk
Septembri lapsed. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2004, 310 lk
Kolme ilmakaare poole. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2005, 298 lk

Poetry
Einar Ein, Tuul üle Andaluusia. Stockholm: E. Ein, 1954, 60 lk
September: luuletusi 1954-1959. Toronto: Orto, 1959, 62 lk

Plays
Alcopill. Cardiff: Free Europe Press, 1973, 50 lk

Documentary books
Mitme näo ja nimega. Cardiff: Boreas, 1978, 224 lk [2. tr 2011]
Võllamäe kavalkaad: 144 tsenseerimata olukirjeldust. Cardiff: Boreas, 1984, 128 lk
Tormi käest tulemaale. Evald Miksonist 1911-1993. Tallinn: Olion, 2004, 332 lk