Truth and Justice
Tammsaare's social epic captured the evolution of Estonia from a province of the Russian Empire to an independent nation.
It was based partly on the author's own life and centered on the contrast between the urban middle class and hard-working peasantry.
The protagonist, Indrek Paas, moves from a farm to a city, witnesses uprisings and upheavals, tries to find peace in marriage and the middle and upper class life-style, but returns disappointed to his roots for a new start.
According to Tammsaare, the first volume of Truth and Justice depicts man's struggle with the earth, the second with God, the third with society, the fourth with himself and the fifth ends with resignation.
In Truth and Justice Tammsaare draws an ironic portrait of urban intellectuals who have absorbed the middle and upper classes mores and abandoned their moral principles.
The novel was written in a time which saw the rise of dictators – Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini – and the decline of truth and justice.
Indrek, the protagonist, is not a man of action, but through his life story Tammsaare examines the same humanistic ideals of the early 20th century as Romain Rolland, Thomas Mann and John Galsworthy do in their works.
In the first part Indrek is actually a minor character, while the protagonist is his father, Andres Paas with his first wife Krõõt, who dies after giving birth to their first son.
[1] Volume I gives a generalized overview of life in Estonian village and farmers battle against nature in the last quarter of 19th century.
The whole character of Vargamäe Andres and his destiny is a deeply elaborated artistic generalization of the individual peasant's life and struggle under the harsh conditions of northern Estonia.
[2] The action, based largely on the author’s own memories, takes place in the private grammar school of Mr. Maurus in the early years of the 20th century.
In Maurus’ school he meets a colorful variety of teachers and students of different nations and becomes familiar with new ideas and ways.
He falls deeply in love with Maurus’ only daughter Ramilda, and when she dies of tuberculosis, Indrek renounces God, publishing an article in the school paper, which gets him expelled.
The fourth book is a story about the basic conflict between husband and wife, man and woman, during the early years of the Estonian Republic.
Though he is restless in harassing his neighbour and is motivated by jealousy and need to compete, he has also a brighter side – he can be kind, friendly and magnanimous.
At the height of the violence, Indrek leaves the group to tend to his mother, suffering greatly and in need of pain killers.
