Jaan Kross and Russian Culture

edited by Lea Pild

Book cover: Jaan Kross and Russian Culture

Extent: 256 pages

Publisher: University of Tartu Press

Subjects: Literary Studies, Slavic Studies

Series: Acta Slavica Estonica

Series volume number: 2

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(December 2012)

ISBN: 9789949322015

Price: $41.00

In stock

This volume is devoted to the interrelations of the prominent Estonian writer Jaan Kross (1920-2007) with Russian literature and culture. It includes contributions on the poetics of some of Kross’ works (The Czar’s Madman, Professor Martens’ Departure, Michelson’s Matriculation, The Third Range of Hills, A Hard Night for Dr. Karell) and his translations from Russian (e.g. D. Samoilov’s poetry and A. Griboedov’s The Misfortune of Being Clever). Contributors include Lea Pild, Ljubov Kisseljova, Timur Guzairov, Tatiana Stepanischeva, Dmitry Ivanov, and Maria Tamm. An appendix includes the original Russian text of the autobiography of Johann Koler, the patriarch of Estonian national art and protagonist of one of Kross’ novels. So far, this text has appeared only in fragments; the full version was found in the Archive of the Institute of Russian literature in St. Petersburg and is here published, with an extensive commentary, for the first time.

  • Edited by Lea Pild

The overall impression produced by the monograph is that it is a work bringing interesting new knowledge of and insights into cross-cultural and inter-ethnic relations. Even though the material treated in the study is Estonian and Russian, the analyses raise it to a more general level. Barbara Lonnqvist, Scando-Slavica 59:2 (2013).
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