Eduard Bornhöhe


Eduard Bornhöhe, born Eduard Brunberg, was an Estonian writer.
Bornhöhe is generally considered a pioneer of the genre of the Estonian historical novel, as the majority of his creations consist of romanticism-influenced historical adventure stories.

Withdrawal from publication

In 1893, the Russian Empire's censor prohibited publication of historical stories. This led to the eventual withdrawal of Bornhöhe from writing. Notably, he didn't publish any books during the last twenty years of his life.

Soviet views

Since Bornhöhe's preferred topic was Estonia's ancient fight for freedom rather than more complex or more polemical subjects, Soviets generally found his writings useful, and presented them as examples of pre-Soviet patriotism. Vürst Gabriel ehk Pirita kloostri viimased päevad was made into a movie, the first part of Tallinna narrid ja narrikesed was repeatedly published and adapted for TV under Soviet occupation, and Bornhöhe's historical novels were constantly in lists of mandatory reading in Soviet Estonian schools.