”Ma kymmenesti vain Sinua suutelin ja kymmenesti Urian murhasin”

Aino Kallaksen kadonnut näytelmä Bathseba

• Silja Vuorikuru Helsingin yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30665/av.74730

Abstrakti

Aino Kallas’ Lost Manuscript Bathseba (1909)

This article deals with Aino Kallas’ unpublished manuscript Bathseba (1909). According to former research, in particular professor Kai Laitinen’s works (1973 and 1995), this manuscript was considered totally lost. In her letters to Kai Laitinen, Aino Kallas herself convinced him that she had destroyed the manuscript decades after writing it. However, I found this “lost” manuscript in the Estonian Literary Museum, in Tartu, Estonia, in February 2008. In fact, the copy of this manuscript had already been delivered to Finland, to the Finnish Literary Society in 1984, but no one had opened the microfilm roll until now.

Bathseba is an exception in Kallas’s oeuvre: it is a drama in verse, set in a biblical milieu. The play is based on the Bathseba story found in the Old Testament – a triangle story between King David, Uria and his wife Bathseba (2 Samuel 11 and 12).

The main reason for not publishing Bathseba was the negative critique presented by author and director Jalmari Hahl. Hahl considered the use of biblical themes out-of-date and the language of Bathseba unsuccessful.

In my article, I evaluate the reasons and justification for Hahl’s negative critique from a present-day perspective. My analysis takes the historical context into account: the use of biblical themes was popular in the turn of the century. I also compare Bathseba to Kallas’ published works. The main character Bathseba notably resembles the ambivalent female figures of Kallas’ later works, especially the heroines of the Surmaava Eros trilogy. Also the conscious use of biblical pastiches, allusions and quotations in Bathseba are characteristic of Kallas’ published works. Using the means of current (inter)textual analysis, it is possible to discuss Kallas’ “failure” in Bathseba, and assess the significance of the work today.