George Kurman
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George Kurman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 June 1942 Tallinn, Estonia |
| Died | 12 December 1994 Macomb, IL, USA |
| Nationality | United States, Estonia |
| Citizenship | USA, Estonian |
| Alma mater |
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| Known for | English translation of the Kalevipoeg |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Comparative Literature |
| Institutions |
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George Kurman (Estonian: Jüri Osvald Kurmann) was an American-Estonian professor of comparative literature, and author of the first full English translation of the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg[1] in 1982.
Notable Work
George Kurman developed a lifelong interest for the Estonian language, literature and folklore, culminating in his life's work, his comprehensive translation of Estonia's national epic poem Kalevipoeg into modern English[1]. While an earlier prose summary of the Kalevipoeg was written by William Kirby in his 1895 book The Hero of Esthonia, Kurman's work offered the first full verse-by-verse English translation, as confirmed by later reviews[2]. Several other English translations followed (e.g. Kartus 2011).[3]
Life and Background
George (Jüri) Kurmann was born on 12 Dec 1941 to Juta and Hugo Kurmann (Later Americanized to Kurman). Jüri, his brother Jaan Kurman and parents fled Estonia in 1944 to escape deportation by the Soviets to the Gulag. The Kurman family first took a ship from Tallinn to Stockholm and then continued westward to Germany. Upon arrival in Germany, Hugo was forcibly separated from his family for several years. Juri, Jaan and their mother, Juta, bartered their belongings in exchange for a safe place to live in the German city of Düsseldorf. The Kurmans lived in Düsseldorf from 1944 to 1947, surviving the firebombings by the British Royal Air Force later that year.
As part of an effort to re-settle Estonian war refugees, the United States Immigration authorities granted the Kurman family citizenship, and Juta, Juri and Jaan arrived in the US in 1947, where they were reunited with Hugo. The Kurmans started their new lives in New York City's Yorkville neighborhood in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and later moved to Forest Hills in Queens, where Juta would live the rest of her life (she died at age 102). Juta remained an outspoken lifelong advocate for the captive peoples of Estonia who were forced to endure decades of brutal oppression by the Soviet government.
George (Juri) Kurman attended Stuyvesant High School (1954-1958), followed by a bachelor's degree in Engineering at Cornell University (1958 - 1962). He pursued a PhD at Indiana University (1962-1969) focusing on "The Development of Written Estonian"[4]. Juri married Tiina Kurman (n. Abel) in 1965 with whom he had four daughters. He moved to Macomb in 1971 to join Western Illinois University as a member of the faculty of Comparative Literature, where the his translation work took place. Kurman succumbed to cancer at age 53.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald; Juri Kurman (1982). Kalevipoeg: An Ancient Estonian Tale. New Jersey, USA: Symposia Press. ISBN 978-0-918-54202-1.
- ↑ Puhvel, Jaan (2003). "Finnish Kalevala and Estonian Kalevipoeg". Estonian Literary Magazine. Tallinn: Estonian Institute. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
- ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt (2016). Kalevipoeg Studies: The Creation and Reception of an Epic. Finnish Literature Society. ISBN 978-952-222-744-7.
- ↑ George Kurman (1997). The Development of Written Estonian. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0700708901.
External links
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