Aija Sakova
Aija Sakova (from 2012-2016, Sakova-Merivee; born 5. XII 1980) is a literary researcher, poet, and prose writer.
Sakova was born in Tallinn and studied there and at the University of Tartu, where she completed her BA, MA, and PhD in German philology. Her PhD thesis was „Ausgraben und Erinnern. Denkbilder des Erinnerns und der moralischen Zeugenschaft im Werk von Ene Mihkelson und Christa Wolf“(‘ Excavation and Memory. Thought-images of memory work and moral witnessing in Ene Mihkelson’s and Christa Wolf’s prose’, 2014). Sakova has also studied in the universities of Konstanz, Vienna, and Humboldt in Berlin. She has worked for the University of Tartu newspaper Universitas Tartuensis, the Academic Library of Tallinn University, and the Estonian Literary Museum. She is a member of the Estonian Literary Society, the Estonian Goethe Society, the Estonian Librarian Society, the Writers’ Union (from 2018), German Studies Association, and the Christa Wolf Gesellschaft. She is one of the founders and the chairwoman of the Ene Mihkelson Society.
Sakova has been publishing literary criticism and other articles in journals since the early 2000s. Her main topics of research have been connected to the works of Ene Mihkelson, Christa Wolf, and Ingeborg Bachmann, focusing on memory and remembrance, but also on giving meaning to pain and suffering. The collection Valu, mälu, kirjandus: kirjanduskriitikat ja vestlusi aastatest 2004-2017 (‘Pain, Memory, Literature: Literary Criticism and Conversations from 2004-2017’, 2017) mainly features journalistic articles, the common themes of which are the role and function of literature and the writer. Literature is seen as a way of handling the past, past trauma, and (painful) memories.
The fictional Elamise julgus: kirjad Käbile (‘The Courage of Living: Letters to Käbi’, 2019) is written in letter form to the expatriate pianist and writer Käbi Laretei (1922-2014), who becomes a mirror to the thoughts and feelings of the author. The second part of the book is made up of the author’s articles and presentations. The poetry collection Isa suudlus (‘Father’s Kiss’, 2020) features texts from 2017-2020 and mainly focuses on mapping and reflecting the inner world of a person; the texts are short and succinct.
A. K. (Translated by A. A.)
Books in Estonian
Poems
Isa suudlus. Tallinn: HL&TS, 2020, 76 lk.
Literary studies
Valu, mälu, kirjandus. Kirjanduskriitikat ja vestlusi aastatest 2004–2017. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2017, 255 lk.
Mäletamise poeetika: Ene Mihkelsoni ja Christa Wolfi romaanid lähivaates. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2020, 171 lk .
Miscellaneous
Elamise julgus: kirjad Käbile. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2019, 253 lk.