Parve, Ralf

Born June 25, 1919, in Rakvere. Soviet Estonian writer. Honored Writer of the Estonian SSR (1959). Member of the CPSU since 1947.

Parve began to publish in 1936. He served in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 and worked as a journalist from 1946 to 1951. The lyrical poems in his first collections, From a Warrior’s Soul (1945) and About a Grim, Beautiful, and Dear Time (1946), are imbued with the intense sense of duty felt by the homeland’s defenders. Later collections were Open Gates (1958), A Lyric Shorthand Report (1964), and Arrows of the Wind (1969; Soviet Estonia Prize, 1970).

Parve has also written the satirical plays The Labyrinth of Bliss (1959) and On the Day of the Seven Sleepers (1964). His documentary drama Darkness Means Night (1971) was awarded the J. Smuul Literary Prize of the Estonian SSR in 1971. Other works of Parve are a monograph on the poetry of A. Alle (1960), travel sketches (with L. Promet), and books for children. He has translated works of such writers as R. Burns, G. Weerth, and S. Ia. Marshak. He has been awarded four orders.