Why Estonian writer Jan Kross's historical fiction is worth reading in India today

To Eastern readers of European history the Baltic states seem like tiny, almost invisible threads in the larger historical and intellectual tapestry of that continent. This is because their notion of Europe is overwhelmingly of big powers such as France and Germany, with Russia – because of its influence and size – as the only “eastern” country in it. The histories of the smaller states, though, show that they have obstinately refused to be pushed into the backwaters, becoming nations in their own right. The struggles of Estonia, for instance, show an indigenous people subjugated at different times by Germans, Danes, Swedes, and Russians, making the whole swathe of Livonia (as it was once called) almost a playground for colonial powers killing each other in an internecine effort to enslave Estonians. The writers of the Baltic region, mostly unfamiliar to readers in Asia, have recorded the histories of such struggles in enthralling epics, powerful poetry, and unputdownable novels. Without doubt one of their greatest poet-writers is Jaan Kross (1920–2007), whose epic trilogy Between Three Plagues has recently been magnificently translated into English by Merike Lepasaar Beecher.

Resisting European moulds

Kross’s work is a torrent of stories that convey cultural traditions which pre-dated, resisted, and ultimately refused...