The Poet and the Idiot, and Other Stories (Central European Classics) (Central European Classics)

Estonian literature in its written form is little more than a century old. As Estonia was part of the Russian Empire, then of the Soviet Union, it is something of a miracle that the powerful presence of the Baltic Germans, the periods of Russification, and other more subtle forms of cultural pressure, have not eradicated Estonian as a serious literary language. One of the central figures to credit for this was Friedebert Tuglas. The nine stories, and the essay, featured here were written during the World War One, or in the first years of Estonian independence in the early 1920s. They reflect the troubled spirit of the times, but exhibit the influence of a wide selection of writers, ranging from O. Wilde and M. Gorky, to F. Nietzsche and Edgar Allan Poe. The subject matter of Tuglas' stories represented here ranges from a starving prisoner, via a luckless pharmacist's hallucinations from childhood, a wandering soldier who encounters weird spirits, to a young man sitting in a park, accosted by a devilish lunatic who wants to introduce a new brand of devil worship to the world. "The nine stories, and essay, featured here were written during World War One, or in the first years of Estonian independence in the early 1920s. Reflecting the troubled spirit of the times, their subject matter ranges from a starving prisoner, via a luckless pharmacist's hallucinations of childhood, a wandering soldier who encounters weird spirits, to a young man sitting in a park, accosted by a devilish lunatic who wants to introduce a new brand of devil worship to the world. Written in a style that can be termed Gothic Symbolist, Tuglas' interest in the visual arts can also be sensed from the stories containing vivid, even garish, colors and descriptions of moods and landscapes that are sometimes heightened and distorted, as seen in paintings from that epoch. The mentality of Friedebert Tuglas, as reflected in his works, has something of both the short story writer Poe and the filmmaker Ingmar Bergman Features nine stories, and an essay, which were written during the World War One, or in the first years of Estonian independence in the early 1920s. They reflect the troubled spirit of the times, but exhibit the influence of a wide selection of writers, ranging from O Wilde and M Gorky, to F Nietzsche and Edgar Allan Poe. Introduction Freedom and death The golden hoop Arthur Valdes Cannibals Echo of the epoch The wanderer The mermaid The air is full of passion The poet and the idiot The day of the androgyne Author's notes. Both of these artists oscillate between a pronounced morbidity and wacky, burlesque humor."--BOOK JACKET