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354
It would be easier to imagine that the primary “mode” of
modulation of the human voice is humming without words,
something starting off like an infant’s babbling which develops
as a separate entity, and which later may be connected
with the art of casting a spell with words or reciting a magic
spell [---]. Consequently, the writing down of poetry may in
itself not be a bigger transformation than the recital of a
charm changing into a song. Thus a written letter is not alien
to poetry in essence, but only an addition of a kind, a supplement,
as Derrida once called it. (Krull 1998: 1).
Like a folk singer, Contra does not stress his being an author
and does not try to hold on to his copyright: on the cover of his
book he has written that the use of these texts without license is
not liable to prosecution (Contra 1996: 2). Thus his endeavour is
not to be individualistic, but rather he is outwardly orientated.
Trying to place Contra in Estonian poetry, we must consider
the features in it that according to Hennoste, appeared in Estonian
poetry in the 19070: increase of daily life, quotations and
songlikeness. The 1970s were also characterised by features of
several post-periods (Hennoste 1997a: 117). Hennoste considers
Contra and Kauksi Ülle in Komi. Courtesy of Eva Toulouze, 1998.
Taive Särg