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Professor Martensi ärasõit
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.
246 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
15 people are currently reading
1005 people want to read
About the author
Jaan Kross
101 books80 followersJaan Kross (1920 – 2007) was an Estonian writer. He has been tipped for the Nobel Prize for Literature on several occasions for his novels, but did in fact start his literary career as a poet and translator of poetry. On his return from the labour camps and internal exile in Russia, where he spent the years 1946-1954 as a political prisoner, Kross renewed Estonian poetry, giving it new directions.
Kross began writing prose in the latter half of the 1960s, first with a film scenario "A Livonian Chronicle" (Liivimaa kroonika) which dealt with the life of the author Balthasar Russow (1536-1600) and which also became the subject of his first masterpiece "Between Three Plagues" (Kolme katku vahel, 1970), a suit of four novels. From that time onwards Kross moved by stage nearer to our present time in history, describing figures from Estonian history, first in short stories and novellæ, later in novels, also in writings where he has drawn upon his own experiences. The heroes of his novels tend to be of Estonian or Baltic German origin and cultured people, though on the margins of society and are usually faced with a moral dilemma of some sort.
Kross began writing prose in the latter half of the 1960s, first with a film scenario "A Livonian Chronicle" (Liivimaa kroonika) which dealt with the life of the author Balthasar Russow (1536-1600) and which also became the subject of his first masterpiece "Between Three Plagues" (Kolme katku vahel, 1970), a suit of four novels. From that time onwards Kross moved by stage nearer to our present time in history, describing figures from Estonian history, first in short stories and novellæ, later in novels, also in writings where he has drawn upon his own experiences. The heroes of his novels tend to be of Estonian or Baltic German origin and cultured people, though on the margins of society and are usually faced with a moral dilemma of some sort.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 18, 2021
[Edited 3/18/21]
A great historical novel about a real person, Friedrich Martens (1845-1909), an Estonian-born Russian diplomat who was a key negotiator for the Russian Czar. For example, he helped negotiate the treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War with Teddy Roosevelt’s administration at Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1905.
Martens was involved in establishing the World Court at The Hague and the International Red Cross organization.
The book is a fictionalized but very factual biography. Unlike a traditional biographical work, we learn more about his childhood late in the book. The book is translated from the Estonian.
The book is structured as Professor Martens in his old age reflecting back as he travels from Estonia to St. Petersburg, Russia by train. All his life he has been amazed and troubled by the many real-life similarities his life had with an earlier German predecessor, also named Martens, also a lawyer, also a professor of international law and an international diplomat.
As Martens reflects back in time, we learn that the good professor grew up as an orphan, has quite an ego, and had several extra-marital affairs over his lifetime.
It is fascinating that in the book we see foreshadowing of Soviet and Nazi atrocities in that the author demonstrates how everyone thought they were “just doing their job” in the Czar’s persecutions, imprisonments and executions of early Communist agitators.
A good historical novel.
The author, Kross, got cross-wise with Soviet authorities and spent years in Siberian labor camps. Wikipedia tells us that Kross was first arrested by the Germans for six months in 1944 during the German occupation of Estonia (1941–1944), suspected of what was termed "nationalism", i.e. promoting Estonian independence. Then, on 5 January 1946, when Estonia had once again become part of the Soviet Union, he was arrested by the Soviet occupation authorities who kept him a short while in the cellar of the NKVD headquarters, then kept him in prison in Tallinn, finally, in October 1947, deporting him to a Gulag camp in Vorkuta, Russia. He spent a total of eight years in this part of North Russia, six working in the mines at the labour camp in Inta, then doing easier jobs, plus two years still living as a deportee, but nevertheless not in a labour camp.
top image from nhd.uscourts.gov
bottom from en.wikipedia.org
A great historical novel about a real person, Friedrich Martens (1845-1909), an Estonian-born Russian diplomat who was a key negotiator for the Russian Czar. For example, he helped negotiate the treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War with Teddy Roosevelt’s administration at Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1905.
Martens was involved in establishing the World Court at The Hague and the International Red Cross organization.
The book is a fictionalized but very factual biography. Unlike a traditional biographical work, we learn more about his childhood late in the book. The book is translated from the Estonian.
The book is structured as Professor Martens in his old age reflecting back as he travels from Estonia to St. Petersburg, Russia by train. All his life he has been amazed and troubled by the many real-life similarities his life had with an earlier German predecessor, also named Martens, also a lawyer, also a professor of international law and an international diplomat.
As Martens reflects back in time, we learn that the good professor grew up as an orphan, has quite an ego, and had several extra-marital affairs over his lifetime.
It is fascinating that in the book we see foreshadowing of Soviet and Nazi atrocities in that the author demonstrates how everyone thought they were “just doing their job” in the Czar’s persecutions, imprisonments and executions of early Communist agitators.
A good historical novel.
The author, Kross, got cross-wise with Soviet authorities and spent years in Siberian labor camps. Wikipedia tells us that Kross was first arrested by the Germans for six months in 1944 during the German occupation of Estonia (1941–1944), suspected of what was termed "nationalism", i.e. promoting Estonian independence. Then, on 5 January 1946, when Estonia had once again become part of the Soviet Union, he was arrested by the Soviet occupation authorities who kept him a short while in the cellar of the NKVD headquarters, then kept him in prison in Tallinn, finally, in October 1947, deporting him to a Gulag camp in Vorkuta, Russia. He spent a total of eight years in this part of North Russia, six working in the mines at the labour camp in Inta, then doing easier jobs, plus two years still living as a deportee, but nevertheless not in a labour camp.
top image from nhd.uscourts.gov
bottom from en.wikipedia.org
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January 29, 2017How do you write about things that you love? More to the point how can you write about the books that you love and succeed in sharing with other readers what about them captivates and enriches you?
A book and its reader are a relationship and the resulting love can be as inexplicable to the onlooker as any that we see between apparently mismatched people. I once tried to persuade my mother to read The Blue Flower but saw the look in her eyes when I had got as far as explaining that the poet Novalis had fallen in love with a young girl and realised that as far as she could tell I seemed to really like a book about paedophilia. In other words, you get one chance and its easier to get it wrong than to get it right.
Well this is another book that I care deeply for. I can't say that it is perfect or ideal but something between setting, themes and the way that it is told caught me from my first reading and pleases me whenever I pick it up again.
This is a novel set a few years before the First World War. It is told from the point of view of a single narrator - an older man travelling from his summerhouse towards St.Petersburg. He is an Estonian, a subject of the Russian empire, a Professor of international law, a public figure involved in the Hague Conventions and the negotiations with Japan over the peace treaty after the 1904-5 war he is also a marginal, secretive figure, existing in a police state, which has to be dealt with circumspectly. The significance of more than a word spoken to the wrong person can lead to imprisonment. Privacy and reserve are not simply character habits but survival strategies. Yet Imperial honours, regard and acknowledgement, are still alluring and yearned for.
To say that he is Estonian in the Russian empire is to skim across thin ice. Privacy, reserve and self-harming silence as well as yearning for recognition by Government and court are natural reactions to the fact of being Estonian in the Russian empire. Kross, writing for an Estonian audience reading in the Soviet Union, didn't need to lay this out block by block in a way that would clog up the text. Instead the sense of being a submerged people with a distinct culture at risk of Russification but in a state in which collaboration is the way to worldly success emerges, shyly suggested, through the narrative.
However just to make life a little more complicated as the Professor Martens of the title travels by train from his native Estonia to St Petersburg, recalling his life spent in service to the Tsars and international law, his recollections are interspersed with recollections of a previous life in the 18th century when he was an expert in international law in the service of German potentates and the short lived Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia. Aspects of each life have parallels to each other and enlarge on his consideration of the question of identity and political allegiance, which in turn leads on to contemporary political developments, Estonian nationalism and socialism. Implicitly the Professors experience of many lives and the internationalism of both I suppose affirms the idea that Estonia is one of the family of western European nations rather than simply a word shy province of Russia.
In the penultimate stage of his journey, noting that this is a book about departure and all that this word might imply, he is accompanied by a younger woman. In conversation with her we see that his future will be different. The secrets and lies that dogged Martens' career and life are not experiences that have to be repeated. Not just in this life but perhaps also in future. The overly careful life of one man is made to stand as a promise for the future of a country, but as much through the silence of what is not written as though the words which are deployed on the page.
A book and its reader are a relationship and the resulting love can be as inexplicable to the onlooker as any that we see between apparently mismatched people. I once tried to persuade my mother to read The Blue Flower but saw the look in her eyes when I had got as far as explaining that the poet Novalis had fallen in love with a young girl and realised that as far as she could tell I seemed to really like a book about paedophilia. In other words, you get one chance and its easier to get it wrong than to get it right.
Well this is another book that I care deeply for. I can't say that it is perfect or ideal but something between setting, themes and the way that it is told caught me from my first reading and pleases me whenever I pick it up again.
This is a novel set a few years before the First World War. It is told from the point of view of a single narrator - an older man travelling from his summerhouse towards St.Petersburg. He is an Estonian, a subject of the Russian empire, a Professor of international law, a public figure involved in the Hague Conventions and the negotiations with Japan over the peace treaty after the 1904-5 war he is also a marginal, secretive figure, existing in a police state, which has to be dealt with circumspectly. The significance of more than a word spoken to the wrong person can lead to imprisonment. Privacy and reserve are not simply character habits but survival strategies. Yet Imperial honours, regard and acknowledgement, are still alluring and yearned for.
To say that he is Estonian in the Russian empire is to skim across thin ice. Privacy, reserve and self-harming silence as well as yearning for recognition by Government and court are natural reactions to the fact of being Estonian in the Russian empire. Kross, writing for an Estonian audience reading in the Soviet Union, didn't need to lay this out block by block in a way that would clog up the text. Instead the sense of being a submerged people with a distinct culture at risk of Russification but in a state in which collaboration is the way to worldly success emerges, shyly suggested, through the narrative.
However just to make life a little more complicated as the Professor Martens of the title travels by train from his native Estonia to St Petersburg, recalling his life spent in service to the Tsars and international law, his recollections are interspersed with recollections of a previous life in the 18th century when he was an expert in international law in the service of German potentates and the short lived Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia. Aspects of each life have parallels to each other and enlarge on his consideration of the question of identity and political allegiance, which in turn leads on to contemporary political developments, Estonian nationalism and socialism. Implicitly the Professors experience of many lives and the internationalism of both I suppose affirms the idea that Estonia is one of the family of western European nations rather than simply a word shy province of Russia.
In the penultimate stage of his journey, noting that this is a book about departure and all that this word might imply, he is accompanied by a younger woman. In conversation with her we see that his future will be different. The secrets and lies that dogged Martens' career and life are not experiences that have to be repeated. Not just in this life but perhaps also in future. The overly careful life of one man is made to stand as a promise for the future of a country, but as much through the silence of what is not written as though the words which are deployed on the page.
June 28, 2020
Confessions of a Diplomat
Review of the Estonian language Kuula24 mp3 CD audiobook edition (2011) of the original Estonian edition Professor Martensi ärasõit (1984)
Professor Friedrich Martens (1845 - 1909) tells all during his final train journey.
Draft Review in Progress
Photogragh of the envoys at the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth 1905 to end the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Friedrich Martens is the 6th from the left in the front row. File Source: Wikipedia.
Review of the Estonian language Kuula24 mp3 CD audiobook edition (2011) of the original Estonian edition Professor Martensi ärasõit (1984)
Professor Friedrich Martens (1845 - 1909) tells all during his final train journey.
Draft Review in Progress
Photogragh of the envoys at the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth 1905 to end the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Friedrich Martens is the 6th from the left in the front row. File Source: Wikipedia.
March 8, 2021
A portrait of an aging diplomat and civil servant could have been as dry as reading an EU Directive on Border Controls, but this is a subtle and engaging work as Professor Martens takes us on a journey through his life and into his soul. A real person, an Estonian diplomat in the service of Czarist Russia, Martens is a proud man of achievement, a perennial candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, a master of the subtlety and precise composition of international treaties. At the turn of the 20th Century though he is not operating in a meritocracy and ever alert to nuance, he feels every snub to his humble provincial origins. Subservient to Czar Nicholas, but calling him "Nicky" behind his back, loving to his wife, but serially unfaithful, scornful of fame but precious about his reputation, Martens is a wonderfully three dimensional character given a sympathetic hearing by his fellow Estonian Kross.
August 22, 2024
A well written historical fiction novel, in the first person. Professor Martens introduces himself whilst on a train journey in 1909 from his home town of Pärnu to St. Petersburg. He is a famous jurist and retired Imperial privy councillor. He writes about his past such as when he was the Czar’s representative in raising loans from France. The narrative is confessional. His humble parents died when he was a boy. He attended a school for orphans. It became clear that he was very intelligent. He is able to converse in a number of languages as if he were speaking in his native language. He identifies as an Estonian and also as a Russian, and a German! He describes his marriage, his infidelity, and recognised that he helped a corrupt Russian regime to survive. He became an expert on international law, a drafter of treaties, an author of historical documents and nearly received the Nobel peace prize.
Professor Martens reveals his love for his wife and justifies the inconsistencies in his service of the state. A very well developed character study of a complex, multi- layered man.
This book was first published in 1984.
Professor Martens reveals his love for his wife and justifies the inconsistencies in his service of the state. A very well developed character study of a complex, multi- layered man.
This book was first published in 1984.
March 3, 2012
A few chapters into this book, I was scrambling for Google. What I discovered is that this novel's protagonist, Professor Martens, was a real historical figure, an international law expert in the Russian court of the early 20th Century. He was an important figure in numerous important international treaty negotiations. This novel, set late in his life, takes us with him on a train trip from his small village toward a rendezvous with his wife and official meetings with other diplomats in St. Petersburg. As he travels, we listen to his internal dialogue, anticipating a planned conversation with his wife in which he plans to begin an era of total candor. He reviews his personal and professional past, examining successes and failures and imagines that this new honesty will be insurance against his own death. During the journey, he also temporarily shares his compartment with a young professional journalist with socialist sympathies who knows a bit about him through her professional connections. At times Martens also tells the reader about another Martens, who lived a century earlier, another international law expert, but for Germany.
It is a rare novel that gives insight into what it must feel like to be in contention for, but not win, a Nobel Peace prize, or to be left unsure whether your absence from an official list of participants in a major treaty negotiation was a typist's error or a sly political maneuver by a competitive colleague.
Through Martens' self-exploration, Jaan Kross explores the moral challenges faced by highly placed civil servants in autocracies, as well as the complexities of Estonian identity. Martens regrets, as well as some professional compromises, ethical failures in his personal life: infidelity, a lack of generosity to those who sought his support, despite his own success after early humble origins. Martens is a wonderful character, drawn with subtlety and skill. Those with an interest in political history and moral self-reflection will find this book a fascinating trip.
It is a rare novel that gives insight into what it must feel like to be in contention for, but not win, a Nobel Peace prize, or to be left unsure whether your absence from an official list of participants in a major treaty negotiation was a typist's error or a sly political maneuver by a competitive colleague.
Through Martens' self-exploration, Jaan Kross explores the moral challenges faced by highly placed civil servants in autocracies, as well as the complexities of Estonian identity. Martens regrets, as well as some professional compromises, ethical failures in his personal life: infidelity, a lack of generosity to those who sought his support, despite his own success after early humble origins. Martens is a wonderful character, drawn with subtlety and skill. Those with an interest in political history and moral self-reflection will find this book a fascinating trip.
July 19, 2011
One of the better books on the 1001 books to read before you die list. It was well written. Though very little happens during the course of the story, I was always eager to get back to Professor Martens and his story. Professor Martens played an important part in Russia's history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His father, also Professor Martens played important roles some 80 years earlier. At times it was difficult to keep them apart as our professor Martens experiences flashbacks or even past life memories of his father.
I think a primary reason I was able to enjoy this book so much is because earlier this year I read King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War. KKT was all about the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. Meetings between "Nicky" and "Willy" that are mentioned in passing in Professor Martens' Departure were described in detail in KKT. There was some attention to the meeting in Portsmouth, NH in KKT as well, which was a pivotal moment in Professor Martens' career. Had I not recently read KKT, I would have been completely lost in these areas, so if you want to attempt this one, read KKT or another book about the same time period and players.
I think a primary reason I was able to enjoy this book so much is because earlier this year I read King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War. KKT was all about the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. Meetings between "Nicky" and "Willy" that are mentioned in passing in Professor Martens' Departure were described in detail in KKT. There was some attention to the meeting in Portsmouth, NH in KKT as well, which was a pivotal moment in Professor Martens' career. Had I not recently read KKT, I would have been completely lost in these areas, so if you want to attempt this one, read KKT or another book about the same time period and players.
December 9, 2013
There are pundits who think Kross should be a Nobel laureate: they're right. This is a marvellous tale of life in the service of the Russian empire, and of being Estonian in that empire. I read it in Estonia, which added a piquancy, although it lacks the satirical edge of The Czar's Madman.
March 10, 2022
It's 1909 and Friedrich Martens (a real Estonian-born Russian statesman) is returning to Russia from a break in his native Estonia. We follow his thoughts and memories as he travels through Estonia on the train, approaching the Russian border.
A novel about a man who was famous for negotiating international treaties sounds like it might be dry, but this wasn't. He has long imaginary conversations with his wife about his emotional history; he thinks about a nephew who has been arrested for his part in the 'first Russian revolution' of 1905; he chats to a female writer he meets on the train; and (this is where the novel lost me) he starts to imagine himself as another Martens who lived around 100 years earlier.
I enjoyed the setting in Estonia, which was then part of the Russian empire. It took me a while to get into the book, but it was worth it.
A novel about a man who was famous for negotiating international treaties sounds like it might be dry, but this wasn't. He has long imaginary conversations with his wife about his emotional history; he thinks about a nephew who has been arrested for his part in the 'first Russian revolution' of 1905; he chats to a female writer he meets on the train; and (this is where the novel lost me) he starts to imagine himself as another Martens who lived around 100 years earlier.
I enjoyed the setting in Estonia, which was then part of the Russian empire. It took me a while to get into the book, but it was worth it.
July 4, 2009
One of the most acclaimed Estonian novels of the twentieth century. A melancholy read, with layers of detail and intricate characterisations.
The story is sombre and slow-paced. Professor Martens, Estonian-born, a specialist in the minutiae of international law, is summoned out of retirement to consult with the ministry in tsarist St.-Petersburg. Outside his train window, the revolution of 1905 is in progress. And very slowly, very hesitantly, Martens comes to realise that he's devoted his life to details and legal trivia and paid no attention to the harshness of tsarist rules and the suppression of Estonian culture under Russian rule.
The story is sombre and slow-paced. Professor Martens, Estonian-born, a specialist in the minutiae of international law, is summoned out of retirement to consult with the ministry in tsarist St.-Petersburg. Outside his train window, the revolution of 1905 is in progress. And very slowly, very hesitantly, Martens comes to realise that he's devoted his life to details and legal trivia and paid no attention to the harshness of tsarist rules and the suppression of Estonian culture under Russian rule.
March 19, 2022
Reason read: Reading 1001, Estonian literature, historical fiction.
The background for the story; 1909 is the year four years after the signing of the Portsmouth Treaty, after the Russo-Japanese War in which at one blow the Japanese defeated Russia's navy. Professor Friedrich Fromhold Martens, an Estonian native. Martens became a professor of international law. Shortly after his career began, he was asked to serve the Czarist regime as an expert in treaties -- asked to put together a complete history of every treaty Russia and the Empire has ever been involved with -- all of this to aid in the decisions to be made in creating a treaty with the Japanese after Russia's defeat at their hands.
So this novel based on a real life individual explores the inner thought life the man. It also has flashbacks a century back to another Martens almost as if in parallel worlds.
This part made it hard to stay oriented to the story. All of the story occurs during a train ride from the professors home town to St. Petersburg but while the time is short, the story is very dense and hard to stay engaged. I think it was good to read it at this time when Russia is back in the news, has probably violated treaties and the US has violated treaties and wonder if we had a negotiator worth their weight, could we resolve this current event and are we at risk of taking on what other countries have previously failed.
The background for the story; 1909 is the year four years after the signing of the Portsmouth Treaty, after the Russo-Japanese War in which at one blow the Japanese defeated Russia's navy. Professor Friedrich Fromhold Martens, an Estonian native. Martens became a professor of international law. Shortly after his career began, he was asked to serve the Czarist regime as an expert in treaties -- asked to put together a complete history of every treaty Russia and the Empire has ever been involved with -- all of this to aid in the decisions to be made in creating a treaty with the Japanese after Russia's defeat at their hands.
So this novel based on a real life individual explores the inner thought life the man. It also has flashbacks a century back to another Martens almost as if in parallel worlds.
This part made it hard to stay oriented to the story. All of the story occurs during a train ride from the professors home town to St. Petersburg but while the time is short, the story is very dense and hard to stay engaged. I think it was good to read it at this time when Russia is back in the news, has probably violated treaties and the US has violated treaties and wonder if we had a negotiator worth their weight, could we resolve this current event and are we at risk of taking on what other countries have previously failed.
January 31, 2025
Kross on Eesti kirjandusloos tänuväärne ajaloo ja keele talletaja. Igal sõnal on mõte, iga lause ütleb midagi määravat. Krossi ajaloost ainest võtvad romaanid ei ole aga vaid ajaloost, vaid need ütlevad olulist ka ilmumise kaasaja kohta, paraleelid ei ole üksühelised, vaid aimatavad, hoomatavad. Tunda on 1909.aasta võimusurutist ja vaimuinimeste ängistust nagu see võis 1984., raamatu ilmumise, aastal olla. Ängistajaks sama riik, kus sisuliselt ei ole midagi muutunud.
Professor Martensi loo puhul oleks Kross aga lausa tulevikku ette näinud - nii nagu Martens, jäi ka Kross kordi Nobeli preemiast ilma. Ning nagu 1909 oli õhus ootus mingi raksatuse hõngu, oli seda ilmselt ka 1984. aastal, kuigi vähem vast kui meile praegu mõelda meeldiks.
Igal juhul on Krossi alati kosutav lugeda ja sobilik autir Eesti kirjanduse aasta alustamiseks.
Professor Martensi loo puhul oleks Kross aga lausa tulevikku ette näinud - nii nagu Martens, jäi ka Kross kordi Nobeli preemiast ilma. Ning nagu 1909 oli õhus ootus mingi raksatuse hõngu, oli seda ilmselt ka 1984. aastal, kuigi vähem vast kui meile praegu mõelda meeldiks.
Igal juhul on Krossi alati kosutav lugeda ja sobilik autir Eesti kirjanduse aasta alustamiseks.
July 10, 2019
Kirjeldab omal ajal oma ametis üle maailma tuntud eesti soost rahvusvahelise õiguse professori Friedrich Fromhold Martensi mõtteid ja mõningaid tegemisi Pärnust Valka sõites. Lugedes peatükki armuafäärist ühe kunstiüliõpilasega ja paari muud kohta tundus mulle uskumatu, kuidas Jaan Kross niimoodi üksikasjalikult Friedrichi vaatepunktist kirjutada suudab.
January 11, 2025
Kui muidu on Kross meeldinud tema keelekasutuse poolest siis seda teost oli üsna vaevaline lugeda. Peategalse sisemonoloog, mis hüppas eri mälestuste, reaalsuse ja tegelikkuse ning teise perioodi inkarnatsiooni vahel oli kokku liiga segane kompott.
Samas teksti põimitud faktid ajastu sündmustest ja Martensi kui päriselt elanud inimesest olid huvitavad.
Samas teksti põimitud faktid ajastu sündmustest ja Martensi kui päriselt elanud inimesest olid huvitavad.
May 29, 2019
Hea raamat.
September 25, 2019
I didn't like it completely, but I really enjoyed it in places. The world building is magnificent!
January 3, 2021
Väga krossilik. Kui meeldisid "Keisri hull" ja "Paigallend" peaks seegi raamat väga meelt mööda olema. Tegevustik hõlmab eeskätt 19. sajandi teist poolt.
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March 30, 2022Read as BOTM March 2022
January 1, 2025
A thoughtful and moving meditation on time and aging, identity and morality, and the power and malleability of memory.
March 31, 2022
I very much enjoyed Kross’ fictionisation of the life of an Estonian scholar, who rose from humble beginnings to become a preeminent international jurist, representing Russia at peace negotiations. As peace negotiations with Russia are of paramount interest right at this moment it was a fascinating look at what such negotiations involved up to 1909, when this book was set. Kross wrote his book in 1984, before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the evolvement of Estonia as an independent country.and a member of NATO. But the position of Estonia as a minor player in the Soviet Union would have been front of mind, and by having Professor Martens ruminate about the successes and failures of his life, as one does on long train journeys,.gave him an opportunity to present Russia’s historical relationships with other countries, without too much direct criticism, which then, as now, can have dire consequences.
February 12, 2008
A very difficult book to read in the sense that there is so much detail that you absolutely must give this story your full attention, and not everything is spelled out for you in terms of the book's underlying message. It is one of those novels you really must think about while and after you're reading it. If, however, you want a very good work by an Estonian author, this is it. I've already ordered two more of Kross's books - he is a very gifted writer. I think my only criticism of this book would be the depth of detail because it is easy to become lost if you are not paying careful attention. It also tends to impede an uninterrupted session of reading when there are so many details. But beyond that, I felt the book to be insightful and a very good story.
1909 is the year in which this book takes place; it is four years after the signing of the Portsmouth Treaty, after the Russo-Japanese War in which at one blow the Japanese defeated Russia's navy. Professor Friedrich Fromhold Martens, an Estonian native, is riding the train from Parnu, his hometown, to St. Petersburg, where he has been summoned. The book is composed of his thoughts and a review of his life and career in the service of Imperial Russia under the Czar. Martens became a professor of international law, and shortly after his career began, he was asked to serve the Czarist regime as an expert in treaties -- asked to put together a complete history of every treaty Russia and the Empire has ever been involved with -- all of this to aid in the decisions to be made in creating a treaty with the Japanese after Russia's defeat at their hands.
As he searches his life through his mind musings, his overaching thoughts seem (to me, imho) to be of his own concept of limitations placed on him throughout his life, either because of nationality or self interest, and regrets caused by what he did and did not do in his lifetime. But his realizations come too late. For example -- he notes how in private, he and his colleagues "exercise our light sarcastic wit on the Emperor, his ministers, his court, the secret police, the rascals favored by the state, Rasputin.... - but always within limits...in the presence of outsiders, we hold our tongue." (83) Then he proceeds to contrast his own actions against those of Tolstoy, who spoke out in favor of anarchy rather than government under the brutal regime of Czarist Russia. Time and again, Martens muses on how he could have done things differently, but did not, even when what the Emperor (Nicholas II -- "the chicken-brain" (102)) asked him to do contradicted what he really believed. Even during one of Czarist Russia's darkest moments in 1905, "Bloody Sunday," he had knowledge ahead of time and did not warn anyone what was about to happen. Even his own basic beliefs regarding the state and its obligation to the individual(135) reflected his understanding about what should be, yet he holds back in practice.
There is a LOT in this novel, so this is just a bare-bones outline. Anyone interested in Czarist Russia and the place of the "provincials" from the Balkan countries during that time should definitely put this on their list of books to read.
I would recommend this book to readers of historical fiction, but prepare to devote all of your energy to reading it.
1909 is the year in which this book takes place; it is four years after the signing of the Portsmouth Treaty, after the Russo-Japanese War in which at one blow the Japanese defeated Russia's navy. Professor Friedrich Fromhold Martens, an Estonian native, is riding the train from Parnu, his hometown, to St. Petersburg, where he has been summoned. The book is composed of his thoughts and a review of his life and career in the service of Imperial Russia under the Czar. Martens became a professor of international law, and shortly after his career began, he was asked to serve the Czarist regime as an expert in treaties -- asked to put together a complete history of every treaty Russia and the Empire has ever been involved with -- all of this to aid in the decisions to be made in creating a treaty with the Japanese after Russia's defeat at their hands.
As he searches his life through his mind musings, his overaching thoughts seem (to me, imho) to be of his own concept of limitations placed on him throughout his life, either because of nationality or self interest, and regrets caused by what he did and did not do in his lifetime. But his realizations come too late. For example -- he notes how in private, he and his colleagues "exercise our light sarcastic wit on the Emperor, his ministers, his court, the secret police, the rascals favored by the state, Rasputin.... - but always within limits...in the presence of outsiders, we hold our tongue." (83) Then he proceeds to contrast his own actions against those of Tolstoy, who spoke out in favor of anarchy rather than government under the brutal regime of Czarist Russia. Time and again, Martens muses on how he could have done things differently, but did not, even when what the Emperor (Nicholas II -- "the chicken-brain" (102)) asked him to do contradicted what he really believed. Even during one of Czarist Russia's darkest moments in 1905, "Bloody Sunday," he had knowledge ahead of time and did not warn anyone what was about to happen. Even his own basic beliefs regarding the state and its obligation to the individual(135) reflected his understanding about what should be, yet he holds back in practice.
There is a LOT in this novel, so this is just a bare-bones outline. Anyone interested in Czarist Russia and the place of the "provincials" from the Balkan countries during that time should definitely put this on their list of books to read.
I would recommend this book to readers of historical fiction, but prepare to devote all of your energy to reading it.
February 21, 2016
*** 1/2
In this historical fiction, we follow the final journey of Friedrich Martens, Estonian international law specialist and diplomat of the late Czarist era, on the 7th June 1909 (Julian calendar) by train between Pärnu and St. Petersburg. He died suddenly at the Valga train station. During the trip from Pärnu to Valga, he reminisce about various events affecting his life, from his career successes and setbacks to his relationship with his wife, Kati, and his infidelities, also including the amazing parallels his life had with his other famous namesake, Georg Martens, who also made his name in the Napoleon era as a German international law specialist (many coincidental events happening 89 years apart). This memoir-like novel provides a fascinating view of international diplomacy at the turn of the centuries and a glimpse into the diminishing importance (and increasing impotence) of monarchies in the political landscape. It is a very interesting read for historical buffs, which also covers interesting aspects of human relationships (fidelity, envy, trust).
September 20, 2016
If Professor Martens’ Departure had to be made into a film , I would definitely resurrect Ingmar Bergman to direct it. The plot of this book is so Bergman-esque that images of his films kept popping in my head.
Professor F.Martens is returning to his native land of St. Petersburg from Estonia. On the lengthy train ride he reflects about his life , his affairs and his achievement. He also tries to see parallels between his life and another F. Martens who lived in Germany a century earlier ( the book takes place in 1909).
The novel is essentially about memory ; it’s unreliability and how the human person can forgive one’s action. To be honest though this book , like some if Bergman’s films , drags a bit in places and the tranquility of the novel sometimes can be overbearing. On the whole though it is ok and the translation is pretty go as well. One of those books you have to be really in the mood for.
January 29, 2013
Professor Martensi ärasõit'' further solidifies my belief that Jaan Kross is Estonia's greatest literary treasure.
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