Merest eesti lasteproosas / The Sea in Estonian Children’s Fiction

Abstract

Teesid: Eesti on kahest küljest ümbritsetud merega ning see lähedus on mõjutanud nii siinset elulaadi kui ka kujutlusmaailma. Ometi ei ole mereteemat meie lastekirjanduses seni süsteemselt uuritud. Käesoleva artikli eesmärk on alustada selle lünga täitmist, kaardistades merd kujutavat lasteproosat. Käsitlen näiteid mere kajastamisest meie laste- ja noorteproosas alates Jüri Parijõe jutust „Sadamas“ (kogus „Tsemendivabrik“, 1926) kuni praeguseni. Lähtun liigituses peamise mere kujutamise viisist ning uurin, milliseid väärtusi, hoiakuid ja kultuurilisi tähendusi kannab meri lastele suunatud tekstides.

In Estonia, the sea’s vicinity has been influencing both the people’s way of life and their imagination. Nevertheless, marine topics in our children’s literature have not yet found a systematic treatment. The article attempts to fill this gap and map sea-themed Estonian prose fiction meant for children. It discusses several vivid examples of such literature starting from 1926, when the earliest of such texts known to the author appeared, up till now. The main factor in systematising the texts observed is the mode of representation which has either a realistic or a fantastic dominant. The article also discusses the values, attitudes and cultural meanings conveyed by the sea in texts addressed to Estonian children.

In Estonian children’s literature, the sea emerges as an important ecological and symbolic environment. It may serve as a space for adventure, a source of danger, a border zone or a link between persons, species and cultures, appearing as a multilayered space whose representations are influenced by the political and economic circumstances in the country as well as by cultural attitudes. The sea has been personified or employed as a meaningful backdrop or an agential actor. Distinct types of children’s literature concerning the sea include pirate narratives and holiday stories.

The realist tradition connects the sea mostly with work and everyday life, while its accessibility depends on the social and political factors. As a distinct subcategory, tales of the sea as a habitat focus on the world of fishes and sea birds, moving from the initial anthropocentric science-dominated angle towards depicting other species as agential and individualised beings. In the stories of animals on ships the vessel functions as a mobile microworld and the sea shapes the perceptual environment of both people and animals. Works with an environmentalist slant focus on the vulnerability of the Baltic Sea, human responsibility, and interspecies care, linking fictional narrative with scholarly knowledge.

The stories of sailors depict the sea as a space where openness and unboundedness intermingle with the physical restrictions of the life on board; growing to be a sailor requires knowledge as well as experience. Several works involve children’s first experiences of the everyday sea revealed as a liminal and transformative space that will shape the child’s identity and sense of the world, and appearing as simultaneously fascinating and frightening.

In fantastic fiction the sea often involves imaginative changes and implies unboundedness. It can appear as a playful environment where reality and imagination merge, be a grotesque upside-down space of adventures, or work to stimulate a child’s imagination. In fantastic tales, the sea predominantly functions as a force that expands the narrative space and allows playing with scale, meaning and experience; it offers the characters opportunities of experimenting with agency, power, responsibility and imagination. It is an active element that changes the characters’ world and creates opportunities for adventure and imaginative self-re-creation.

In earlier times it was mostly men who wrote for children about the sea, while the tales depicted mostly boys or men. In the second half of the 20th century, also women’s point of view became more visible as more women started exploring themes related to the sea; in the 21st century there seems to be a gender balance among the authors. The writer who has addressed the most varied sea topics in the greatest number of works is Aino Pervik who employed devices from both realistic and fantastical modes and introduced several iconic female characters into sea fiction for children. Authors writing about the sea have often come from seaside regions or settled there or else are linked to the sea by their occupation. Still, also writers who have led their lives further from the seashore may hear the call of the sea. A particularly welcome phenomenon is the willingness of natural scientists to share their knowledge in fictional form addressed to children.

If earlier books mostly approached the sea from anthropocentric and pragmatic standpoints, the 21st century has seen a stronger emphasis on environmental topics. On the one hand, this is caused by increasing environmental awareness and the felt necessity of sharing the relevant knowledge with readers from an early age; on the other hand, the situation of the Baltic Sea is becoming ever more critical. The children’s books speaking of the environmental crisis take into account the audience’s receptive nature and potential vulnerability: the characters act to improve the situation no matter how problematic it actually is, thus inspiring courage also in the young readers.