Piret Viires
Piret Viires (b. 11. VIII 1963) is a literary scholar, publisher and prose writer.
Viires was born in Tallinn, and from 1970 to 1981 attended secondary school number 44 in Tallinn. From 1981 to 1987 she studied Estonian philology at the State University of Tartu. After graduating from the university she worked from 1987 to 1994 at the Institute of Language and Literature of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, and from 1994 to 1997 at the Under and Tuglas Literature Centre. From 1995 to 2007 she was literary theory and literary criticism editor for the journal Keel ja Kirjandus, and since 1997 she has worked at the Estonian Writers’ Union. Since 1993 she has managed the Tuum publishing house. In 2000 she gained her master’s degree from the University of Tartu, and in 2006 her doctorate. Since 2008 she has been Professor of Estonian Literature at the University of Tallinn. Viires has been a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union since 1995.
As a literary scholar Piret Viires has dealt with different periods in 20th century Estonian literature. Her later scholarly work has been directed more and more toward contemporary literature, postmodernism and the effects of the digital age on Estonian literature.
Viires made her debut with short prose in the press in 1981, and during the eighties began publishing literary reviews. In 1990 Piret Viires produced the short story collection Tallinna ja Tartu vahel (Between Tallinn and Tartu), which reflects the characteristic features of Tartu student life in the eighties. Some of Viires’ stories have been published in German and English.
L. P. (Translated by C. M.)
Books in Estonian
Short prose
Tallinna ja Tartu vahel. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1990. 109 lk.
Monographs
Postmodernism Eesti kirjanduskultuuris. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2006. 257 lk.
Eesti kirjandus ja postmodernism. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, 2008. 112 lk.