Teet Kallas

Teet Kallas (born 6 April 1943, Tallinn) is an Estonian writer and former politician, most notable for voting for the Estonian restoration of Independence.

Teet Kallas (2010)

Life and work

Kallas attended middle school in Tallinn from 1954 to 1962. He left the school without a degree. From 1962 to 1965, he was a soldier in the Red Army in Palanga. He then began his literary and journalistic career.

In 1958, Kallas debuted as a writer in short prose in Estonian newspapers. After a few short prose texts and writing youth literature, his debut novel, Nii palju päikest, was released in 1964.

In 1965 and 1966, Kallas was a literary editor on Estonian television, before he was employed by the editorial office of Looming from 1968 to 1970. Subsequently, he wrote for Estonian newspapers. Among other things, he was an editor for Vaba Maa, Sõnumileht and Postimees.[1]

In 1969, Kallas was arrested by the KGB, who accused him of anti-Soviet propaganda. He spent several months in prison. There he wrote his surrealist novel Heliseb-kõliseb..., released in 1972. In 1972 he joined the Estonian Writers Association. In the 1980s, he was a member of the board of writers association.

Kallas' novel Niguliste ("St. Nicholas' Church") was written between 1967 and 1972. It appeared only after the end of Soviet rule in Estonia in 1990 in a revised and expanded two-volume edition: "The novel is the typical description of a 'lost generation', their dreams and ideals loses and perishes itself, and as such was a post-1968 document. Its failure to appear in the early 1970s, however, was more attributable to the laziness of the author than censorship, for internal criticism was by no means devastating or insurmountable. Kallas just turned to other things, which is why the novel was left lying."[2]

Kallas also wrote some radio dramas as well as screenplays for television films and series, such as the successful television series Õnne 13. In addition, he translated prose from Russian (Vasily Aksyonov, Alexander Grin) and from English (Stephen King).

From 1979 to 1990, Kallas belonged to the Communist Party of Estonia. During the period of transition between the end of the Soviet Union and the regaining of Estonian independence, he co-chaired the parliamentary group of the democratic opposition movement Popular Front of Estonia, voting for the Estonian restoration of Independence. Subsequently, Kallas was active in various political parties. Since 1998, he has been an independent.

Fictional works (selection)
  • Nii palju päikest (Novel, 1964)
  • Puiesteede kummaline valgus (Collection of short stories, 1968)
  • Verine padi (Collection of short stories, 1971)
  • Varjud vikerkaarel (Narratives for adolescents, 1972)
  • Heliseb-kõliseb... (Novel, 1972)
  • Neli vestlust armastused (Drama, 1972)
  • Viimane mõrv (Collection of short stories, 1975)
  • Õhtuvalgus (Collection of short stories, 1977)
  • Insener Paberiti juhtum (Collection of short stories, 1977)
  • Corrida (Novel, 1979; film adaptation in 1981)
  • Eiseni tänav (Novel, 1979)
  • Väikesed hobused särava vikerkaare all (Stories, 1980)
  • Hei, teie seal! (Collection of short stories, 1980)
  • Muljeid kirjandusmaastikult (smaller writings from the years 1963–1981, 1982)
  • Arvi kamin (Collection of short stories, 1982)
  • Janu (Novel, 1983)
  • Öö neljandas mikrorajoonis (Short stories and stories from the years 1979–1983, 1985)
  • Kes tõttab öisele rongile (Satirical novel, 1988)
  • Niguliste (Novel in two volumes, 1990)
  • Naine lõvi seljas (Lyrical anthology of the years 1961–1989, 1990)
  • Jää hüvasti, Mr. Shakespeare (Satirical novel, 1995)
  • Käsi (Gothic fictional novel, 1997)

Personal life

Kallas is married to Weimar-born journalist and translator Alla Kallas (born 1946). He was the older brother of Estonian graphic artist and cartoonist Olimar Kallas (1929-2006). They currently live in Laulasmaa, on the coast of the Baltic Sea.[3]

Awards

Further reading
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt: Geschichte der estnischen Literatur. Berlin, New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018025-1, S. 679, 707f., 726f. und 759
gollark: Oh, and also stuff like this (https://archive.is/P6mcL) - there seem to be companies looking at using your information for credit scores and stuff.
gollark: But that is... absolutely not the case.
gollark: I mean, yes, if you already trust everyone to act sensibly and without doing bad stuff, then privacy doesn't matter for those reasons.
gollark: Oh, and as an extension to the third thing, if you already have some sort of vast surveillance apparatus, even if you trust the government of *now*, a worse government could come along and use it later for... totalitarian things.
gollark: For example:- the average person probably does *some* sort of illegal/shameful/bad/whatever stuff, and if some organization has information on that it can use it against people it wants to discredit (basically, information leads to power, so information asymmetry leads to power asymmetry). This can happen if you decide to be an activist or something much later, even- having lots of data on you means you can be manipulated more easily (see, partly, targeted advertising, except that actually seems to mostly be poorly targeted)- having a government be more effective at detecting minor crimes (which reduced privacy could allow for) might *not* actually be a good thing, as some crimes (drug use, I guess?) are kind of stupid and at least somewhat tolerable because they *can't* be entirely enforced practically

References
  1. Eesti Elulood.
  2. Cornelius Hasselblatt: Geschichte der estnischen Literatur.
  3. http://elm.estinst.ee/issue/29/teet-kallas/
  4. "Bearer of decorations: Teet Kallas (2002)". Estonian State Decorations. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  5. "Bearer of decorations: Teet Kallas (2006)". Estonian State Decorations. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
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