The Poet and the Idiot

by Friedebert Tuglas

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.

Genres: Fiction

353 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[George Berguño · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friedebert Tuglas is little known in the English-speaking world, but in his native Estonia he is held in the same high regard that is granted to Maupassant and Chekhov the world over. In fact, in the early part of the twentieth century Tuglas perfected a form of the short story which is sometimes described as Gothic Symbolist. It is a form of writing that demands of its practitioner an extraordinary eye for imagistic detail and precision in the choice of words.

Imagine a writer who describes situations in the way one would create an expressionist painting, with striking details and a sense of colour. Imagine also characters that are deeply symbolic of our human condition. Think of a writer who borrows from surrealism, expressionism, symbolism and fantastic literature, but never quite falls into any of these categories; a writer who has little use for plot but who endows his stories with a deep structure resembling a musical composition. Finally, imagine a writer who set himself an impossible goal: to create myths that would typically require a collective effort of many generations of storytellers. If you can imagine all these characteristics coming together in one writer, than you have a good impression of what to expect from Tuglas’ strange stories.

Among the outstanding stories in this collection of ten, we find: “Freedom and Death”, a narrative about a starving prisoner who either dreams of escape or truly attempts to run away (we are never sure); “The Golden Hoop”, about a mediocre, provincial apothecary who attempts to revisit his childhood, unaware that his body has already decomposed in a peat bog; “Cannibals”, about a group of children who awaken to sexuality and death; “The Mermaid”, a cruel fairy tale of enslavement and revenge; and “The Air is Full of Passion”, a horror tale about a cynical cavalryman who arrives at a bewitched house inhabited by gruesome flying heads.

Even though Tuglas is a true master of the short story, I have given the book four stars because of some unfortunate choices made by the publishers. The inclusion of a partly biographical piece, of an aphoristic essay, and of a philosophical tract – these three choices seemed out of a place in a collection of short stories. If the publishers had chosen instead to include such masterpieces as “Popi and Huhuu”, “Riders in the Sky”, and “The Shadow of a Man”, or even the symbolic “At the End of the World”, then the volume would have been a must-buy. Even so, if you are interested in short stories and would like to explore an unusual development of this literary form, then I highly recommend the strange stories of Friedebert Tuglas.

[Dídac Gil Rams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessantíssimes idees exposades d'una manera excepcional, inesperada. Definitivament conté contes de 5 estrelles, però no tots. Gràcies per recordar-me que hi ha vida després dels clàssics.

[John Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you could melt down the style, psyche, and worldview of Borges, Nietzsche, and Poe, mix them all together, and create a new, fourth writer, he'd probably be a lot like Tuglas. The stories in this collection generally start out with a fair amount of realism, but somewhere along the way, you find yourself floating in a newer, more colorful and hideous world, and you don't quite know how you got there, but you're glad you made it. Tuglas is a master of detail. You can hear the crinkle of crepe and see the raggedy stems of roses in his work. Every sense is crisp and sharp to the point where you almost don't care about the plot anymore, you just want more of that sumptuous detail. Truly, truly worth the read.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a reason for this author being lost in obscurity - he's not especially good, I don't think this is a case of an overlooked or lost masterpiece. These stories struck me as being pretentious, written between 1905-1925 they're in the milieu of Rolland, Woolf, Hamsun but nowhere near their brilliance.
I wont searching out any more Tuglas.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my introduction into Estonian literature and I loved it. It is a darkly beautiful and often comic collection of stories that have come under the genre of "Gothic Symbolism," although like all genres I find the term too confining. Each story is a compact, highly literate, very symbolic, esoteric experience. Most stories start out with a rational or real world feel but very quickly spiral into psychological abstraction, usually on the part of the protagonist. And yet none of the stories feel redundant to a previous story.

My favorite story doesn't fit this mold but I am glad it was included in the volume. It is called "Arthur Valdes" and it is a brilliant little story where the protagonist is describing a man he knew in his younger days before the Great War and his style and philosophy of literary theory. It touches on the meaning and value of art, the writer's responsibility to his work, the effect the bad times Estonia was having, etc. So a fictional protagonist is reviewing the fake stories of a fictional Valdes. Tuglas does not write each of Valdes' stories but the protagonist talks about them. All the while making thought provoking comments about the theory of literature. I loved it.

I also loved "Mermaids" which explores the nature of greed and despotism. "The Poet and the Idiot" brings together the typical Tuglasian loner intellectual protagonist with a man who believes that the freedom of man will come from embracing the devil rather than the limitations of God, another brilliant story and probably the best one to title the anthology because the title sums up the feel of the collection.

Each story is intensely visual. I would love to listen to them on audio book because Tuglas is a master at atmosphere and description. Everything is so intimately described with dark and yet vivid imagery. He has all of Poe's creepiness; however, each story feels like a giant social commentary. I don't really feel like they stand on their own as just a story, they all feel like allegories.

Estonians have been through unspeakable pain since the German knights stormed into their country in the 13th century, and Tuglas lived through the end of the Czarist rule, the Russian Revolution, World War I and the short period of Estonian independence between the wars, and World War II. The pain in these stories reflect the horrors he has been through and watched his people suffer through, and yet they shimmer darkly, if that is possible! The very existence of such beautiful literature is an example of the strength and beauty of the Estonian spirit. I can't wait to get through the stack of other Estonian authors I have on my shelf.