The Poet and the Idiot OTHER TITLES IN THE SERIES Prague Tales Jan Neruda Skylark Dezső Kosztolányi Be Faithful Unto Death Zsigmond Móricz The Doll Boleslav Prus The Adventures of Sindbad Gyula Krúdy The Sorrowful Eyes of Hannah Karajich Ivan Olbracht The Birch Grove and Other Stories Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz The Coming Spring Stefan Żeromski The Poet and the Idiot and other stories Friedebert Tuglas Translated by Eric Dickens Central European University Press Budapest • New York English translation copyright © Eric Dickens 2007 Published in 2007 by Central European University Press An imprint of the Central European University Share Company Nádor utca 11, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary Tel: +36-1-327-3138 or 327-3000 Fax: +36-1-327-3183 E-mail:
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[email protected] This translation was supported by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the permission of the Publisher. ISBN 978-963-7326-88-2 ISSN 1418-0162 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tuglas, Friedebert, 1886-1971. [Short stories. English. Selections] The poet and the idiot : and other stories / Friedebert Tuglas ; translated by Eric Dickens. p. cm. -- (Central European classics series) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-9637326882 (pbk.) I. Dickens, Eric. II. Title. PH665.T8A25 2007 894'.545--dc22 2007014653 Printed in Hungary by Akadémiai Nyomda, Martonvásár Contents ————— Introduction vii Freedom and Death 1 The Golden Hoop 33 Arthur Valdes 59 Cannibals 105 Echo of the Epoch 123 The Wanderer 143 The Mermaid 169 The Air is Full of Passion 197 The Poet and the Idiot 221 The Day of the Androgyne 277 Author’s notes 327 Introduction ————— E stonian literature in its written form is little more than a century old. While oral poetry dates back hundreds of years, and was avidly collected during th the 19 century by enthusiasts who often spoke German at home, novels, poetry, essays and criticism written in the Estonian language did not begin to flower until the end of that century. As Estonia was part of the Russian Empire, then of the Soviet Union, it is something of a miracle that the powerful presence of the Baltic Germa