Maarja Kangro

Peering into a Dantean Abyss*

Hell is other people. - Jean-Paul Sartre

The above quote isn't used as the epigraph for this book, but it very well could have been.

I first read Maarja Kangro when I came across her shocking non-fiction novel "Klaaslaps" (The Glass Child) (2016) [read and reviewed] and have since tried to locate her earlier fiction work which consists of 3 collections of short stories. The first of these was "Ahvid ja solidaarsus" (Monkeys and Solidarity) (2010) [not yet found or reviewed], which was followed by this current book in 2012 and then by "Hüppa tulle" (Jump into the Fire) (2014) [read and reviewed].

Dantelik auk consists of 7 short stories, including 1. the title work, 2. Homaarid kahele (Lobsters for Two), 3. Zürii (The Jury), 4. Giulio ja Leedu küsimus (Giulio and the Lithuanian Question), 5. Klaasnuudlid (Glass Noodles), 6. Chick lit ja tõlkekristused (Chick lit and the Translation Christs), and 7. Saluut (Salute).

I've probably read enough of Kangro's short fiction now to say that there is a template to most of it, which could be summed up as fish-out-of-water writer/translator (most often female, but not always) is placed into a somewhat comedic, often grotesque situation (usually of their own making). One can easily picture these as being inspired by Kangro's own travels to international literary events in the course of her work as poet, writer and translator.

Here we encounter situations such as the protagonist and a seemingly disinterested partner (who keeps telling her to move out of the landscape photographs that he is trying to take) viewing the volcanoes of Iceland in Dantelik auk. A single person in Homaarid kahele insists on ordering the title dish for herself alone in a German-speaking restaurant and proceeds to berate a elderly couple eating the same at a nearby table. In Zürii, the title characters, who are the self-declared judges of a dubious literary award contest, appear at the protagonist's apartment and proceed to start eating up various foodstuffs and attempting to abscond with personal items. In Giulio ja Leedu küsimus a tourist encounters fellow traveller Giulio who regales her with seemingly fantastical statements about Lithuania. In Klassnuudlid a writer at what seems to be an artists' retreat participates in a communal meal by contributing an inedible version of the title dish. A group of translators debate Chick lit ja tolkekristused (No, I didn't really understand what was Christ-like about translation). In my favourite story, Saluut, a not very well known writer drives to the countryside for a reading at a rural library location which is only attended by its librarian organizer and a single old man. There is an increasing sense of mystery to the story as the elderly participant hints at a former acquaintanceship with the writer's mother, whom the writer has only ever known as a single parent.

Some of my favourite fictions are those about books and writers and fish-out-of-water situations, so Kangro's themes and plots continue to surprise and entertain me.

I read Dantelik auk in the original Estonian. One of its stories, Saluut (retitled as "Fireworks", although it would literally translate as "Salute"), has been translated by Matthew Hyde and is available in the anthology "Best European Fiction". A currently unidentified (as of early Sept 2018) Maarja Kangro story is expected in the soon-to-be-published "Baltic Belles:The Dedalus Book of Estonian Women's Literature."

*Literally, Dantelik auk would translate as Dantean Hole, but that just doesn't sound very dramatic or imposing enough.… (meer)

"Hüppa tulle" (Jump into the Fire) 2014 was Estonian writer Maarja Kangro's last work before her breakthrough non-fiction novel "Klaaslaps" (The Glass Child) in 2016. The latter is expected to be published in an English language translation during 2017/18.

"Hüppa tulle" contains 3 short stories "Armas haamer" (Dear Hammer), "Atropose Opel Meriva" (Atropos's Opel Meriva*), "Mõisas ehk hüppa tulle" (At the Manor, or Jump into the Fire) and 1 multi-part novella "Luule" (Poetry). The collection prefigures "Klaaslaps" in several ways as the short stories all have somewhat macabre, horrific twists and the novella likely has some autobiographical elements. "Klaaslaps" combines all of those components into a single novel.

The short stories have certain shocking elements such as unprovoked road rage, odd hitchhiking encounters and BDSM lurking behind the scenes at a manor house fete where the poetess/narrator has gone to entertain with some musicians. Lust also props its head in the "Poetry" novella where the poetess/narrator has gone to a Romanian poetry festival which she soon discovers is more of a self-publishing, ego-stroking event for its leaders and a group of international poets. Few members of the public are actually in attendance. I suspect that this is a parody of some un-organized festivals that poetess Kangro has herself attended in the past. The Estonian fictional poet-protagonist Elen sets her sights on Croatian poet Goran ("Ta hääldas suurepäraselt nime Arvo Pärt." (Who pronounced the name Arvo Pärt very well.) and pursues him relentlessly during the course of the event.

* Atropos is one of the Three Fates in Greek mythology and is the pseudonym used by the story's protagonist when they submit their name on a lottery ticket with a prize of an Opel Meriva car.

Links
Read an excerpt from an English language translation of "Mõisas, ehk hüppa tulle" at http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/at-the-manor-or-jump-into-the-fire

Follow further international language translations of Maarja Kangro's works at http://www.estlit.ee/elis/?cmd=writer&id=84062&grp=x2

Added to the list of Books with Fictional Characters who love Arvo Pärt.… (meer)

Kangro reports back from the abyss

"From time to time, ... the abyss itself will select a single person and look them straight in the eye. Frequently the chosen individual will close their eyes, avert their gaze, shrink into themselves or even pretend that what has happened did not occur. Maarja Kangro, the author of the non-fiction novel “The Glass Child”, stares right back and does not flinch.” - translation of an excerpt from the Estonian language description* of "Klaaslaps".

“Klaaslaps” (The Glass Child) is categorized as a non-fiction novel (“dokumentaalromaan”) in Estonia rather than the memoir that it appears to be with its many diary-like daily entries. That may have been a personal decision by the author, but the beneficial result is that it provides a kind of protective barrier between the work and the reader. Because if you said to me: “Would you read an abortion memoir?” I’d probably have said: “Ugh, that sounds kind of gross, no thanks.” But if you said “Would you read a non-fiction novel about abortion?” It is as if the words “fiction” (the eye can easily ignore the short “non” prefix) and “novel” act as a distancing elements. You can pretend that the events didn’t happen, even though Kangro is reporting back about them after her return.

There is no way to cushion what this book is about and it is not a spoiler to say it. Kangro receives her diagnosis early in the book. Her child, if carried to term, would be born with acrania (without a skull) & anencephaly (without a portion of the brain). The prognosis for the infant is stillbirth or death within hours. The clinic doctors do not even hesitate before asking: “When would you like to schedule the termination?”

After an in media res introduction on the morning of the abortion clinic check-in and the diagnosis flashback, Kangro takes us back a year to a time when she was travelling to the Ukraine and Italy in the course of her work as writer and translator (in addition to her own prose & poetry, she is the Estonian translator of a wide range of authors from Lemony Snicket to Umberto Eco). The flashback gives us a view of previous failed pregnancies to up the stakes of the current situation but also acts as a buffer for the reader before the rest of the story.

We are then plunged back into the day of the termination procedure and its aftermath. Kangro’s actions and thoughts and conversations with others will take you through an entire gamut of emotions from horror to grief. It certainly fulfills all of the looked-for qualities of a book for me: attachment, emotion, suspense, drama, resolution and release. Yes, it is a report back from the abyss, but it is a novel as well. I don’t expect that anything else that I read this year will shake me as much.

Other Information and Links

The idea for the book’s title came from Martin Hudacek’s sculpture "The Child Who Was Never Born" which you can see at http://www.martinhudacek.sk/replicas.html, where a transparent glass child is depicted comforting a grieving mother.

I read “Klaaslaps” in the original Estonian. It has no international translations as of this writing in March 2017, but you can watch for news of future translations at the book’s page at the Estonian Literature Centre: http://www.estlit.ee/elis/?cmd=book&id=70115. Based on this London Book Fair 2017 article at Estonian World, it seems very likely that an English translation of 'The Glass Child" is already in the works (see the 2nd last paragraph).

* Here is a full translation of the book's Estonian language description:
"Kangro’s work is like an explosive charge that shakes up everything that it touches when it goes off. All borders are torn down here, including those between private and public life, melded together are emotional experiences, literary gossip, contemplations about the absurdity of birth and death, the war in the Ukraine, a helpless old woman in a hospital ward, Harta 12**, and an abandoned literary residency. In Kangro’s nihilistic and traumatic world the inquisitive reader will see that familiar places and events will acquire an entirely new shape and meaning,“ writes Aro Velmet.

A colleague adds: "From time to time, not very often, an utterly improbable act of fate will occur, when the abyss itself will select a single person and look them straight in the eye. Frequently the chosen individual will close their eyes, avert their gaze, shrink into themselves or even pretend that what has happened did not occur. Maarja Kangro, the author of the documentary novel “The Glass Child”, stares right back and does not flinch. This book will not leave you cold.”

** Harta 12 or Charter 12 was a 2012 citizen’s petition in Estonia initiated by a group of writers and activists to draw attention to issues in the government. The petition is still posted at http://petitsioon.ee/harta12… (meer)