Peeter Sauter
Peeter Sauter (11. III 1962) is a prose writer and poet, one of the most prominent representatives of the new generation of writers that emerged in the nineties.
He was born and educated in Tallinn; from 1980 to 1984 he attended the Performing Arts School of the Tallinn State Conservatoire, graduating as an actor, and John Moores University in Liverpool from 1993 to 1994. Among other jobs he has worked as an actor, director and copywriter, and collaborated on several publications. He has been a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union since 1999.
Sauter began publishing prose in the press in the late eighties. His epoch-making debut novel Indigo (1990), which reflects the world of youth in the eighties, brought a completely new method and style to Estonian literature, using colloquial language, slang, low registers, and concentrating mainly on everyday life and simply on existence. The next novel, Luus (‘Loafing’, 1997) continues the subject matter and style of the debut novel, as do his short story collections Kogu moos (‘That’s It’, 1998), Vere jooks (‘Blood Run’, 2006), Pori (Mud, 2002), a self-styled ‘film story’, which depicts Russian characters, and others. Characteristic of Sauter is a view of life concerned with everyday detail, in which the physiological side, depicted naturistically, plays a crucial part. In Sauter’s world of small people, not much happens mostly; his protagonists simply exist, move around, and alcohol and sex play a big part in their lives.
His texts have given rise to controversy and they have been taken as provocative, for example the short story Kõhuvalu (‘Stomach Ache’), which instead of the sententiouspathetic approach found in literature describes childbirth in all its naturalistic details, or his collaboration with the artist Raul Meel to create Lauakõne Eesti Vabariigi aastapäeva puhul kainestusmaja paraskile liiga pikalt istuma jäänud olles (‘Speech on the Occasion of the Anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, Having Sat Too Long on the John of a Drunk-tank’, 1998), which makes use of a whole galaxy of low-life terms and words classed as obscene. Sauter has been compared to Charles Bukowski and Jack Kerouac, whose texts he has translated into Estonian. He has also translated poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
A selection of the awards given to Peeter Sauter:
-The Friedebert Tuglas short story prize for ‘Stomach ache’ in 1996 and for ‘Lethargy’ in 1998
-The Literature Endowment Annual Award in 2006 for Laiskade laste raamat (‘The Book of Lazy Children’, 2006)
-The Drama Endowment Annual Award for the play Keldris (‘In the Cellar’, 2008).
-The Aleksander Kurtna translation prize in 2007
-The Estonian Railways and Sirp newspaper literature prize for the short story collection Vere jooks (2006)
-The Go Travel prize for the best travel book Flirt Budaga (‘Flirt with Buddha’, 2011)
-The Baltic Assembly literature prize for the novel Ära jäta mind rahule (‘Don’t Leave Me in Peace’, 2013)
-The Virumaa literature prize for the book Lapsepõlvelõhn (‘Smell of Childhood’, 2015)
A. K. (Translated by C. M)
Books in Estonian
Novels
Indigo. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1990, 223 lk. [2. tr 2016]
Luus. Tallinn: Maa, 1997, 278 lk.
Beibi bluu. Tallinn: Tuum, 2008, 171 lk.
Ära jäta mind rahule: a love story. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2012, 396 lk.
Sa pead kedagi teenima. Tallinn: Tuum, 2016, 541 lk.
Short prose
Kogu moos. Tallinn: Tuum, 1998, 203 lk.
Naise lõhn, raha lõhn. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2000, 58 lk.
Tomatisupp. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2000, 50 lk.
Pätt ja pihiisa: jutustus. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2001, 56 lk.
Pori: filmilugu. (Loomingu Raamatukogu 20). Tallinn: Perioodika, 2002, 80 lk.
Vere jooks. Tallinn: Tuum, 2006, 287 lk.
Must Peeter. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2011, 340 lk.
Snark. Tallinn: Kirjanik, 2013,72 lk.
Poetry collections
Damoklese mõõk ja leivanuga. Koost. J. Rooste. Pärnu, Saarde: Jumalikud Ilmutused, 2011, 122 lk.
Märkmeid vaeste kirjanike majast: poeem. Tallinn: Kirjanik, 2012, 175 lk.
Koer ostab kassitoitu. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2014, 175 lk.
Pannkoogid üksinduses. Tallinn: Kirjanik, 2015, 181 lk.
Kodusõdur. Tallinn: Kirjanik, 2018, 135 lk.
Plagiaat. Tallinn: Kirjanik, 2020, 108 lk.
Travel books
Euroopa hulgus. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2001, 64 lk.
Tsikliga Eestis ja Šotimaal. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2002, 68 lk.
Hispaania saapad ja silmad. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2005, 156 lk.
Flirt Budaga: elust ja tsiklisõidust. Tallinn: Go Group, 2011, 302 lk.
Children’s literature
Laste raamat: lühijutud. Tallinn: Huma, 2004, 42 lk.
Laiskade laste raamat: lühijutud. Tallinn: Huma, 2006, 46 lk.
Tülikas laste raamat. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2019, 76 lk.
Memoirs
Lapsepõlvelõhn. Tallinn: Petrone Print, 2015, 236 lk.
Põrsa paremad päevad. Tallinn: Hea Lugu, 2018, 127 lk.
Non-fiction
Plära: artiklid ja vestlused. Tallinn: P. Sauter, 2004, 460 lk.
Postkastid õrrel: külakirjad Saue vallast. Laagri: Saue vallavalitsus, 2017, 142 lk.