August Kitzberg

August Kitzberg (29 December [O.S. 17 December] 1855 in Laatre Parish, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 10 October 1927 in Tartu) was an Estonian writer.

August Kitzberg with his wife, Johanna Wilhemine Kitzberg (née Roosmann)

Monument to August Kitzberg in Karksi-Nuia

Life

Until 1863, August Kitzberg was known as August Kits. He grew up in Niitsaadu farmstead in Penuja village, Abja Parish (1857–1871), where his brother, Jaak Kits, was a schoolteacher. He worked for a time in Viljandi and present-day Latvia before moving to Tartu in 1901, where he worked as a manager of the newspaper Postimees.^[1]

His early works consisted of comedies and humorous stories of village life. In Tartu, Kitzberg began working with Karl Menning at the Vanemuine Theatre, and his plays developed a component of social criticism.^[2]

There is a monument and museum dedicated to Kitzberg in Karksi-Nuia.^[3] His play, Tuulte pöörises, was chosen for the opening play of the Rakvere Theatre in 1940.

Works

Plays

• Punga–Mart ja Uba-Kaarel (1894)
• Sauna Antsu "oma" hobune (1894)
• Püve Peetri "riukad" (1897)
• Veli Henn (1901)
• Räime Reeda 10 kopikat (1903)
• Rätsep Õhk (1903)
• Hennu Veli (1904)
• Tuulte pöörises (1906)
• Libahunt (1911/12, filmed in 1968); The Ballet Tiina by Lydia Auster is based on this work
• Kaval-Ants ja Vanapagan (1912)
• Kauka jumal (1915)
• Kosjasõit (1915)
• Enne kukke ja koitu (1919)
• Laurits (1919)
• Onu Zipul (1922)
• Neetud talu (1923)

Stories

• Maimu (1889)
• Külajutud (Village Stories, five volumes, 1915–1921)
• Tiibuse Jaak Tiibuse kirjavahetus (two volumes, 1920/1923, under pseudonym Tiibuse Jaak Tiibus)

Memoir

• Vana "tuuletallaja" noorpõlve mälestused (two volumes, 1924/25)