Peeter Sauter
by Udo Uibo

"I wouldn't like to call myself a writer; it's kind of disturbing,
unsettling." These words belong to Peeter Sauter, one of the most 
fascinating contemporary prose writers in Estonia.

Peeter Sauter, an actor by profession, had his literary debut in 1988 in 
the literary magazine Vikerkaar (Rainbow). This magazine occasionally employed
me as a consultant in fiction, and Sauter's first prose piece landed on my
desk. It was colourfully colloquial, seemingly without any plot, a story
without a beginning or an end; the characters were idle young people who
while away their time, sitting around,drinking and having sex. Amongst all
the trash I'd read, this story was a real surprise and I still remember, more
or less, the review I wrote on that piece: "Maybe I am stupid, but I truly
like this story. It was obviously written by some tramp on thebasis of his
own life. It is unlikely he will ever write anything else. A pity that."

After that, Sauter has produced quite a number of such stories without a
beginning or an end, and with similar environment and characters. In 1990 he
gathered them together into a little book called Indigo, and in 1997 into a
bulkier book, "Loafing"(one part of which was Indigo). And then it turned out
that the seeming casualness concealed consistency: for ten years or so,
Sauter has been writing one and the same huge development novel, where the
main character is the author's contemporary who is getting old together with
him. Sauter has followed his character very closely and this is what makes
his prose extremely natural and genuine - just as if "it was written by some
tramp on the basis of his own life".

Although Sauter has repeatedly claimed that he never intended to create a
scandal with his books, they have nevertheless been accompanied by several
scandals. Inpost-Socialist Estonia, where people pay little attention to
literature, this is quite an achievement. Two of Sauter's most notorious
pieces are the short story "Stomach Ache" (Kõhuvalu), which received the
prestigious Tuglas short story award, and the poem "A short after dinner
speech on the occasion of the anniversary of the Republic of Estonia",
having remained sitting on the privy seat at the sobering centre for too 
long". In both cases, the magazines that published them received angry 
letters and phone calls from their readers. Some even cancelled their 
subscriptions. The subject of "Stomach Ache" is giving birth, while 
"After Dinner speech" consists of the crazy ramblings of a drunkard who 
finds himself in the sobering centre on the anniversary of the Republic 
of Estonia. What makes these writings so scandalous is the fact that the 
sacred, solemn subjects have been tackled using vile language. Both 
abound in obscenities, and "After Dinner Speech" consists of hardly 
anything else.

Sauter's stories charm the Estonian reader with their genuine, wholly 
natural use of language and subtle texture. He is thus a most difficult 
author to translate and will probably not become a successful export article
of Estonian literature.


ESTONIAN LITERARY MAGAZINE