Eduard Bornhöhe

Eduard Bornhöhe, born Eduard Brunberg (5 February 1862 Virumaa — 17 November 1923 Tallinn), best known by his pen name Eduard Bornhöhe, was an Estonian writer.

Bornhöhe is generally considered a pioneer of the genre of Estonian historical novelle, as a lion's share of his creations consist of romantism-influenced historical adventure stories.

Bibliography

*1880 Tasuja (Estonian for "Avenger"): A historical story, set during the time of St. George's Night Uprising. Widely considered the best story of Bornhöhe.

*1890 Villu võitlused (Estonian for "Battles of Villu"): Another historical story set during the time of St. George's Night Uprising. More realistic and less naïve than Tasuja, with more complicated characters.

*1892 Tallinna narrid ja narrikesed (Estonian for "Big fools and little fools of Tallinn"): A satirical series of contemporary cranks.

*1893 Vürst Gabriel ehk Pirita kloostri viimsed päevad (Estonian for "Furst Gabriel or The last days of Pirita monastery"): This historical story, best known through the movie adaptation Viimne reliikvia (Estonian for "The last relic"), is set during a peasant uprising in the era of Livonian War. Due to Czarist censorship, this remained Bornhöhe's last historical story.

*1899 Usurändajate radadel (Estonian for "On the trail of faith travellers"): A travel diary.

*1903 Kollid (Estonian for "Monsters"): A realist short novelle.

Withdrawal from publication

In 1893, the Russian Empire's censor prohibited publication of historical stories. This led to eventual withdrawal of Bornhöhe from writing. Notably, he didn't publish any books within the last twenty years of his life.

Soviet views

Since Bornhöhe's preferred topic was Estonia's ancient fight for freedom rather than more complex or more polemical subjects, Soviets generally found his writings useful, and presented them as examples of pre-Soviet patriotism. Vürst Gabriel ehk Pirita kloostri viimased päevad was made into a movie, the first part of Tallinna narrid ja narrikesed was repeatedly published and adapted for TV under Soviet occupation, and Bornhöhe's historical novelles were constantly in lists of mandatory reading in Soviet schools.

Sources

* "Eduard Bornhöhe. Kirjanik ja inimene", a short monograph (1961) from the series of "Eesti kirjamehi" by Endel Nirk