"Jäine raamat": 50 aastat hiljem
„The Icy Book” Revisited

Summary/Abstract: „The Icy Book” (1959) by juhan smuul is one of the few Estonian books that enjoyed wide international popularity during the soviet time. In regard to its inspiration sources, the book belongs to the international tradition of polar literature. The author is in the focus of the exploration narrative to the same degree as are the polar and marine environments where the travelling takes place. The book is a remarkable contribution to post-WWII Estonian travel literature. It also helped to bring about the renewal of Estonian prose. The central motifs in the book – water in its three states – are intimately connected with smuul’s personal background and with his oeuvre as a whole. The threefold symbolism (dark–grey–white; liquid–misty–icy) also noticed in some other works by smuul, is especially manifest in ”The Icy book”. The connection that was established between the author and the icy polar areas continued to haunt him until the end of his days. ”The Icy book” is also interesting for its religious motifs that surface here and there in the text. A re-reading of the book from a contemporary perspective helps to see new details and to open up new layers of meaning for interpreting the work of juhan smuul.

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