Aadu Hint

Hint, Aadu 

Born Dec. 28, 1909 (Jan. 10, 1910), on Muhu Island. Soviet Estonian writer. People’s Writer of the Estonian SSR. Member of the CPSU since 1940.

Hint took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. In addition to the novels Leprosy (1934), The Vatku Lepers’ Hospital (1936), The Golden Gates (1937), and The Stoker (1939), he has written short stories and plays. His major work is the tetralogy The Windy Coast (books 1–4, 1951–66; Russian translation, 1954–68), individual volumes of which have been adapted for the stage and screen. By describing the fate of several generations of a clan of fishermen, the Tikhus, Hint traces the history of the Estonian people from the early 20th century to the reestablishment of Soviet power in Estonia in 1940. In The Windy Coast, a realistic depiction of manners and customs is combined with lyricism and psychological insight. Hint’s epic tetralogy is an important achievement of Soviet literature and has been translated into many languages of the USSR and into foreign languages.

Hint received the State Prize of the Estonian SSR in 1950 and 1967. He was a deputy to the ninth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Hint has been awarded three orders and various medals.

WORKS

Kogutud teosed, vols. 1–2—. Tallinn, 1975–76—.

REFERENCES

Kuznetsov, F. “Tri knigi romana Aadu Khinta.” Druzhba narodov, 1961, no.5
Krakhma–nikova, Z. Puteshestvie po “Beregu vetrov” (Aadu Khint i ego knigi). Moscow, 1970.
Ocherk istorii estonskoi sovetskoi literatury. Moscow, 1971.
Leht, K. Aadu Hint. Tallinn, 1975.

N. M. BASSEL’