Malk, August

Mälk, August 

Born Oct. 4, 1900, on the island of Saaremaa. Estonian writer.

Until 1936, Mälk was a village schoolteacher. He began his career as a writer in the mid-1920’s. His novels The Flowering Sea (1935), Under the Face of the Sky (1937), and Quiet Harbor (1942) and his short-story collections Stories of the Coast (1937) and In the Sea Wind (1938) realistically depict the life of the Saaremaa islanders.

Mälk is the author of several comedies, including The Poor Man’s Lamb (1932) and The Maidens With Lamps (1933). His historical novels Dead Houses (1934) and Masters of the Baltic Sea (1936) reflect his bourgeois-nationalistic views.

In 1944, Mälk emigrated to Sweden. His writings as an émigré have been uneven. Some of his books express nationalistic tendencies. In his short-story collection Fire in Your Hands (1955), Mälk reveals the tragic aspects of the life of Estonian immigrants. His novel Spring Earth (1965) depicts the life of Swedish laborers.

WORKS

Rannajutud, vols. 1–2. Tartu, 1937.
Kemdine maa Afterword by E. Sōgel.] Tallinn, 1965.
Hea sadam, vols. 1–2. Tallinn, 1971.