A Journey to Nowhere: Among the Lands and History of Courland - Hardcover

Jean-Paul Kauffmann

3.58

64 ratings by Goodreads

9780857050366: A Journey to Nowhere: Among the Lands and History of Courland

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0857050362 ISBN 13: 9780857050366

Publisher: Quercus Publishing Plc, 2012

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Courland is an entity that no longer exists. With the Gulf of Riga to the north, the Baltic to the west and Lithuania at its southern border, and now part of modern Latvia, the region was by occupied by Nazi Germany and returned to Soviet Russia after the war, remaining largely inaccessible until 1991. Once ruled by descendants of the Teutonic Knights, it is now a nowhere land of wide skies and forests, deserted beaches, ruined castles and ex-KGB prisons. For years Jean-Paul Kauffmann has been irresistibly drawn to this place, the buffer between the Germanic and Slav worlds. His digressive travels at the wheel of a Skoda become an investigation into the whereabouts of a former lover, a search for an excavator of tombs, and he follows in the footsteps of Louis XVIII, for whom Courland was once a place of exile. Author of Voyage to Desolation Island and The Dark Room at Longwood - 'a remarkable book which defies classification' (New Statesman), which won six prizes on its publication in France - Kauffmann has come to be known as an erudite and witty observer of the world's most desolate reaches.

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Review:

'A seductively exciting historical exploration of a country that no longer exists ... Kauffmann is the ideal literary detective' Irish Times. (Irish Times)

'A triumph ... superbly translated by Euan Cameron, provides a vivid amalgam of opinion, history and travelogue; I was absorbed from start to finish' Financial Times. (Financial Times)

'Curiously engaging and even tantalising book ... this book is something of a tour de force' Spectator. (Spectator)

'Kauffmann is a gripping narrator. The minute he lands in Riga ... you're hooked' The Lady. (Lady)

'This wonderful writer has come up with another winner' Giles Foden. (Giles Foden)

From the Back Cover:

Jean-Paul Kauffmannn is irresistibly drawn to Courland, a buffer between the Germanic and Slav worlds. With the Gulf of Riga to the north, the Baltic to the west and Lithuania at its southern border, and now part of modern Latvia, Courland was once occupied by Nazi Germany and returned to Soviet Russia after the war; this nowhere land of wide skies and forests, ruined castles and ex-K.G.B. prisons remained largely inaccessible until 1991. Kauffmann's digressive travels at the wheel of a Skoda become a search for an excavator of tombs and an investigation into the whereabouts of a former lover, and he follows in the footsteps of the French monarch, Louis XVIII, for whom Courland was once a place of exile. With this book and The Dark Room at Longwood, he has come to be known as a witty and erudite observer of the world's most desolate reaches.

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