Autumn 2013

element, wishes and fantasies deposited in
the subconscious in childhood, feeds the
men’s complexes and eats away at their
respectable and conscious image of self.
This is therefore clearly a novel of men:
clinging to young women and intoxicated
with new experiences, the analyses of
emotional reflections from the partners’
points of view are modest, except for the
epistolary romance, which introduces the
woman’s side as well. This relationship is the
most clearly and compactly described.
The author of the book, Mart Kadastik
(born in 1955), has worked in journalism for
a long time and is the head of one of the
largest media corporations in Estonia.
Kadastik’s style is occasionally highly
baroque, and the novel has been accused of
waffling. Still, the verbal vibrancy is captivating
and is balanced by the journalistic
neutrality, almost tepidness, with which the
author describes the intimate reflections,
erotic images and adventures of respectable
men. The style reveals conscious swings
between closeness to life and a literary
touch: convincing sincerity is blended with
prickling irony, which can even veer into the
grotesque. In sum, Spring Arrives in Autumn
is a mature, pretentious, intellectual debut
novel. BM
Mihkel Mutt
Kooparahvas läheb ajalukku
(The Cavemen Go Down in History)
Tallinn, Fabian, 2012. pp. 462
ISBN: 9789949933600
Mihkel Mutt’s (b. 1953) latest novel,
Kooparahvas läheb ajalukku (The Cavemen
Go Down in History), reflects the life of the
Estonian cultural elite from 1960 to 2010. It
describes how the position of Estonian
culture changed with the restoration of
Estonian independence and what exactly
happened to our society during that process.
The creative intelligentsia – writers, artists,
Mihkel Mutt (Photo by Scanpix)
musicians, theatre people and humanitarians
– played a vital role in resisting Soviet
rule. After the change of power, it soon
became clear that the desired freedom had
brought with it a great deal of uncertainty
for cultural figures. Most of them failed to
adapt to the new situation, and that led to
scepticism and disappointment. How did
those who managed to fit into the new
system find a balance between the values
they used to live by and the values they
now had to follow? Why did everything end
up the way it did?
As the pages fly by we meet dozens of
colorful characters, all members of the
Estonian cultural elite. The central meeting
point of these characters is a pub located in
the heart of Tallinn. The pub is called The
Cave, and readers will recognize this as the
famous Kuku Club. Fictionalising prominent
people always creates a desire to recognize