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A Journey to Nowhere: Among the Lands and History of Courland by Jean-Paul Kauffmann (view source)
Revision as of 10:00, 11 May 2012
, 10:00, 11 May 2012no edit summary
And of course there is a lot to see in this nowhere. The towns and cities have the token buildings of note - castles, churches. The spirit of domestic pride goes as far as every village having some kind of museum - generally empty of custom, and a bit worthless. But there are great, entertaining contrasts - historic dockyards from where Courlanders left to change the world, and from where Soviet sailors tried the same centuries later; and palatial country estates where rich Germanic dynasties had houses for generations before the 1917 revolution.
But like the best novels, there is too much I cannot reveal. That's partly down to the people he meets - from Latvia and elsewhere, and the surprising famous ex-pats. But mostly it's down to the place itself. It's a region obviously recognisable, yet with its own qualities. ""''We are well and truly in a Europe..."" '' he confirms to himself, only to repeat later ""''It could have been anywhere in Europe""''. Yes, it's clearly Europe, but a very sparsely-populated and seldom-visited region. I deducted tiny marks here and there due to unrealistic (and unrealistic recall of) dialogue, and some Scrabble master-level words, but Courland has gained the richest, championing accompaniment on these pages.
I must thank the kind publishers for my review copy.