Estonia: A Ramble Through the Periphery

When Alexander Theroux decided to accompany his wife – the artist Sarah Son-Theroux – on her Fulbright Scholarship to Estonia, it occasioned this penetrating examination of a country that, for many, seems alien and distanced from the modern world. For Theroux, the country and its people become a puzzle. His fascination with their language, manners, And legacy of occupation and subordination leads him to a revelatory examination of Estonia’s peculiar place in European history. All the while, his trademark acrobatic allusions, quotations and digressions – render his travels as much internal and psychical as they are external and physical. Through these obsessive references to Western culture, readers come to appreciate how insular the country has become, yet also marvel at its fierce individuality and preternatural beauty, such is the skill of Theroux’s gaze. Endnotes, Index. Illus., color photographs. 351p.