Eduard Bornhöhe born Eduard Brunberg ( in Kullaaru, Rakvere Parish

Rakvere Parish

Rakvere Parish is a rural municipality of Estonia, in Lääne-Viru County. It has a population of 2288 and an area of 127.69 km².-Settlements:Rakvere Parish has 1 small borough and 19 villages.Small borough:LepnaVillages:...

, Lääne-Viru County — 17 November 1923 in Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

), was an Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

.

Bornhöhe is generally considered a pioneer of the genre of Estonian historical novel

Historical novel

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...

, as a lion's share of his creations consist of romanticism

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

-influenced historical adventure stories.

Withdrawal from publication

In 1893, the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

's censor

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

 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

Patriotism

Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...

. Vürst Gabriel ehk Pirita kloostri viimased päevad was made into a movie, the first part of Tallinna narrid ja narrikesed

Tallinna narrid ja narrikesed

Tallinna narrid ja narrikesed is a satirical 1892 series by Eduard Bornhöhe depicting cranks in their daily activities...

 was repeatedly published and adapted for TV under Soviet occupation, and Bornhöhe's historical novelles were constantly in lists of mandatory reading in Soviet Estonian schools.

Sources

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