Mire landscapes in Estonian fiction and identity

Abstract

Images used to promote Estonia both home and abroad frequently highlight the element of pristine nature, often represented by the mire. Mires have witnessed historical change that can be described from ecological, institutional and perceptional aspects; artistic representations of mires have been transforming as well. The article observes literary representations of mires, based on 80 Estonian works of fiction, thus tracing the Estonians’ relationship with the wetlands surrounding them and discussing the position of the mire in the evolving Estonian identity. The works derive from the past century and a half—the period when both Estonian literature and the modern Estonian nation became established. The current prevailing values emerged due to environmental ideas and advocate protecting and visiting the mires that, although not having been part of Estonians’ identity discourse historically, still constitute a facet in the image of Estonia as a country today.