Young Estonia and The Early Twentieth-Century Cultural Utopias

Abstract

This article examines aesthetic and social ideals in the early texts (1904–1908) of one of the first integral Estonian cultural movements – Noor-Eesti (Young Estonia). The aspirations of Young Estonia can be mapped by means of two principles of culture-making: a utopian one that seeks to change society as a whole, and a monadic one that focuses on the individual. The ideal of the Young Estonia movement is characterized by harmony and entirety – a kind of unity of social classes and cultural spheres, as well as the text and its parts; hence the connections between the arts and society (i.e., the belief that through the development of the cultural sphere, the whole of society develops as well).