Jaan KaplinsKi Uku Masing
Jaan Kaplinski’s Uku Masing

Summary/Abstract: In the past the relationship between Uku Masing and Jaan Kaplinski has been approached from a point of view that ascribes merit to understanding maturation as a process leading from absolute dependence towards increasing independence. This runs counter to the inclination Uku Masing and Jaan Kaplinski actually share. For them, one might provocatively say, dependence constitutes a desirable condition. There is no expression for this ideal in estonian, nor in many other languages. We have to turn to Japanese to find the word „amae”. Unlike sublimation, „amae” is „constituted tacitly. It is telepathic, prelinguistic, and does not need the medium of language.” (Takeo Doi The Anatomy of self: The Individual versus society. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1986, p. 138). The main argument of this paper is that „amae” – fulfilled and frustrated indulgent dependence – takes us right to the heart of Jaan Kaplinski’s Uku Masing.

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