Jaan Kross

Lectures presented at Tartu Ülikooli, 1998.

"Treading Air follows the life of Ullo Paerand through thirty years of violent upheaval in Estonia." "Ullo is a talented boy with a remarkable memory. Deserted by his father as a child, he is forced to rely on his ingenuity to fight for a better future and, in due course, comes to hold an important position in the Prime Minister's office. Following the Soviet and German occupations, fate disappoints Ullo a second time. Deflected from his honest career, he works with the nationalists for the restoration of the Estonian Republic, but, when offered a chance of escape by a representative of the Vatican, he chooses to remain in his country. Thus he resigns himself to a life of menial labour in an Estonia very different from that of his youth and his dreams, Jaan Kross's narrative unfolds in stories imparted to an unknown "author" by the elderly Ullo. Shortly before the end, a teasing ambiguity suffuses his tale, but Ullo dies before he is able to answer the final question about his life."--BOOK JACKET.

1 volume : 20 cm

Widely read in Europe, the Estonian novelist Jaan Kross is considered one of the most important writers of the Baltic region, and is an often-named candidate for the Nobel Prize. His new historical novel, Professor Martens' Departure, is written in a classic elegaic style reminiscent of Giuseppe di Lampedusa's The Leopard, and it evokes the complex world of czarist Russian society at the turn of the century. The character of Professor Martens is based on all actual official of the czarist reign, a distinguished Estonian jurist curiously reminiscent of Henry Kissinger. Faced with a dire financial crisis in Russia, Professor Martens orchestrates a major loan from the French government to stave off famine; as time passes, however, he realizes that he has managed to perpetuate a brutal regime that keeps its political prisoners in chains. This fictional memoir, written at the end of Martens' life, finds him reliving his past and questioning the degree to which he has sacrificed himself to maintain a corrupt regime, one that ultimately disdains both him and his people. Considered an outsider by the czar's adviser, Martens is nonetheless needed for his skills. Still, he is marginalized and kept in the shadows. Far more than just a political or philosophical novel, Professor Martens' Departure is an astonishing reconstruction of czarist Russia.