Between Three Plagues: Volume I
Published on 28. July 2016
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-85705-428-9 (ISBN)
Description
Jaan Kross' first major novel dramatises the life of the renowned Livonian/Estonian Chronicler Balthasar Russow, whose Livonian Chronicle describes the effects of the Livonian War on the peasantry of what is now Estonia. For all his subsequent eminence, Russow was born the humble son of a peasant, and Between Three Plagues, chronicles his rise. As a boy, his thirst for knowledge is supported by his father, and good fortune allows him to study in various German universities, returning to Tallinn as a German-speaking clergyman. As Livonia continues to be used as a political football by the warring powers of Russia, Sweden, Poland and Lithuania, Russow continues to climb the slippery pole of power and influence. Like Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell, he is a diamond in the rough, a thoroughly modern man in an Early Modern world, achieving greatness through wit and learning alone.
Reviews / Votes
He's a marvellous novelist - his scope and depth make him a world writer - and they should just hurry up and give him the Nobel -- Doris Lessing. He deserved a Nobel prize and would probably have got it had he written in any other language but Estonian -- Neil Taylor Guardian. He's almost alone in writing in the older European tradition of the large-scale historical novel. I'd argue that Kross is heir to the 'great' Russo-European 19th century novelists; his fiction has Tolstoyan sweep. On reading him, moreover, we rediscover that Estonia was always resolutely in Europe and not some obscure outpost this side of the Urals -- Fiona Sampson. No stranger to oppression himself, Kross writes about it with a poignancy devoid of anger -- Adam Zamoyski.More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Quercus Publishing
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-85705-428-9 (9780857054289)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jaan Kross is Estonia's best-known and most widely translated author. He was born in Tallinn in 1920 and lived much of his life under either Soviet or German occupation. He won countless awards for his writing, including The National Cultural Award, The Amnesty International Golden Flame and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. He died in 2007.