Petrone Prindi „Minu” sari: selfi e-ajastu kirjanduse kaardistusi [Petrone Print’s My-series: insight into the literature of the selfie era]

Abstract

It may be said that in contemporary society the perceiving and experiencing subject is in the foreground. This is also valid in the field of literature, which has been democratised, as anyone can make a book and anyone can write a book, as seen by the boom of autobiographies of all kinds. The My-series published by the Estonian publishing company Petrone Print illustrates this tendency. In this series of books, authors describe their lives and activities in a particular country or city. The majority of the authors are not writers, but hail from various fields. The series is a staple of contemporary Estonian literature: the books are constantly in the top ten list and are in high demand in libraries.

The phenomenon of this series maybe explained by its versatility: it boasts an array of authors from different fields who write about various places. The books are also well structured and easy to read. Taking the My-series as an example, the article maps tendencies in contemporary Estonian literature. Subject-centeredness is a central characteristic of contemporary literature, evidenced by the noteworthy volume of books concerned with one’s life experiences. The exact genre of this type of literature is ambiguous, which is another characteristic of contemporary literature. The My-series of books may be defined as ‘literary selfies’, as the author foregrounds him/herself, with the world around them serving merely as a backdrop.

Keywords

My-series, travel literature, modern Estonian literature