Reed Morn (her civil name was Frieda Johanna Dreverk) was an outstanding Estonian writer who is not very well known today. Her literary production is unique in the context of Estonian literature. She has published three novels: Andekas parasiit (Talented Parasite, 1927), Kastreerit elu (Castrated Life, 1929) and Tee ja tõde (Path and Truth, 1956), in addition to many short stories and travelogues.
The characters of her novels are exceptional human beings who do not fit in with social norms and expectations. They long for a life which emphasises intellectual self-realization. The female characters in Morn’s novels are in a sense feminist since they reject the gender roles of the time and, according to some critics, are too intellectual for a woman.
In addition to literary production, Reed Morn was also a talented letter-writer. For her, letter-writing was a form of creative self-expression and communication. If in reality she lived a kind of withdrawn life, then in letters she expressed herself more openly. Letters were for her like a substitute for a diary and in them she wrote not just about her everyday life but also about her feelings, ideas, writing plans, and longings. She also liked to travel, and her letters are sometimes like travelogues where she portrays different countries with a fresh perspective.
Two of Frieda Dreverk’s letters, sent in 1933 from Spain to her friend Adele Liivak are published here. The correspondence between Frieda and Adele began on 27 January 1916 when Frieda was still a high school student. The next letter was written on 14 November 1919, when Frieda was already studying at the University of Tartu. A total of 17 letters have been preserved from the period 1916-1933 at the Estonian Cultural History Archive but there are no letters from Adele Liivak.
The background of the letters from Spain was the fact that Morn had received a scholarship in 1932 for researching at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. She was in Paris until the autumn of 1933 and from there she travelled to Madrid, where she lived for three months. She liked both Paris and Madrid although she found Spain somewhat exotic. The letters describe Spanish culture so colourfully and vividly that researcher Rutt Hinrikus has called the letters ‘true epistolary pearls’.