Ilmar Laaban

Ilmar Laaban, (born in 11 December 1921 in Tallinn, Estonia, died in 29 November 2000, Stockholm) was an Estonian poet and publicist.

Biography

Ilmar Laaban attended the 1st Tallinn Boys' Gymnasium from 1934 to 1940.

In 1939-1940 and 1941-1942 he studied composition and piano in Tallinn Conservatory.

In 1940-1943 Laaban studied Romance languages in Tartu University faculty of philosophy.

In 1943 he went to Sweden and continued studying Romance languages and philosophy (1943-1949) Laaban worked as a lecturer in Stockholm University, he was a member of AICA.

Creative life

Ilmar Laaban mainly wrote surrealistic poetry and was one of the first ones in Estonia to practice that genre.

He has written lots of essays and articles on art and literature. Also, he has translated many Estonian poets works to Swedish (examples: Artur Alliksaar, Betti Alver, Jaan Kaplinski, Viivi Luik, Paul-Eerik Rummo) and German (examples: Juhan Liiv, Gustav Suits, Jaan Oks, Henrik Visnapuu, Marie Under).

Works

• "Ankruketi lõpp on laulu algus" (1946)
• "Rroosi Selaviste" (1957)
• "Oma luulet ja võõrast" (1990)
• "Marsyase nahk" (1997)
• "Magneetiline jõgi" (2001)
• "Sõnade sülemid ja sülemite süsteemid" (2004)

References

• Oskar Kruus, ed. (1995). Eesti Kirjarahva Leksikon. Eesti Raamat. ISBN 5-450-02357-X.