Rein Undusk’s seminar on Decadence, Aestheticism and Karl Ristikivi

You are warmly invited to a seminar at the Under and Tuglas Literature Centre on 7 April at 14.00, where Rein Undusk’s article manuscript will be discussed.

Undusk’s article consists of two parts. The first part presents the author’s conceptual vision of decadence at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, interpreting it as a theory of the artistic ennoblement of decline, grounded in aesthetic dominance. The second part of the article proposes a hypothesis regarding the decadent character of Karl Ristikivi as a writer. This is justified, first, by the motif of the journey that runs throughout Ristikivi’s work, but primarily by the absence of „Estonia“ as a place — its memory and meaning — in his most significant writings from the exile period. 

The manuscript will be sent only to registered participants.

The seminar will take place in the Estonian Academy of Sciences (Kohtu 6, Tallinn) on 7 April at 14.00 and requires prior registration. We will gather in the Board Room. To participate, please notify Merlin Kirikal (merlinkirikal@gmail.com).