Fantastical Imagining of Artistic Madness
Review of the Estonian hardcover edition (2019) published by EKSA

Andrus Kivirähk's Sinine sarvedega loom (Horned Blue Animal) is another winner by the prolific children's & adult fiction writer which is based on a wild expansion of Estonian and FinnoUgric Mythology. This follows on from his other major adult fantasy novels Rehepapp ehk November (The Old Barny or November) (2000) [not yet available in English, but a film version exists with subtitles called November (2017) dir. Rainer Sarnet] and Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu (translated as The Man Who Spoke Snakish) (2007). Although a back cover synopsis is provided, it actually explains nothing about the book except for setting the scene of an imagined diary and fictional life of Estonian artist Oskar Kallis (1892-1918), best known as a painter of Estonia's mythological hero Kalevipoeg (The Son of Kalev).

I bought myself a notebook today. What a beautiful notebook! With ruled lines on the inside, but the covers are mottled, so it is as if it was the skin of some unique animal. Of course, it's not real leather, it's still cardboard, but it is like leather. Dark blue spots on light blue like rain clouds in the summer sky. I imagine that it would be a proud beast that would grow such a skin. He would have horns on his head, but he wouldn't be a goat or a moose, he would be something different. In the morning, he would be seen somewhere on the edge of the forest when he comes out of the trees onto a dewy meadow. You would look - and your mouth would drop open.

Are you wondering what sound this animal would make? He would certainly make a sound when he appeared out of the woods like that. I definitely believe that. I don't know if he is an evil animal that would eat small cattle, or if he is as calm as a sheep or a rabbit. I would like to believe that he is calm, but proud. He wouldn't hurt anyone, but he wouldn't allow himself to be tampered with. And his call would be like that of a big trumpet. It would ring out across far distant lands, just like a church bell. That's right, he would make a sound like a bell ringing in the church tower! And everyone who heard it would think: Oh-oh-oh-oo! This beautiful blue animal has woken up. - Translation of the back cover synopsis (which is also the first 2 paragraphs of the book) of Sinine sarvedega loom

Kivirähk's story adheres to only the bare bones of Oskar Kallis' life in the 1910's. Oskar's daily work is a drudgery as a draftsman for the Tsarist Naval Fortification ring around the Gulf of Finland. He studies at the home art studio of Ants Laikmaa (1866-1942) who is only identified by the proxy name of Õpetaja (Teacher) throughout the book. With Laikmaa he draws and paints characteristic national "types" such as farm labourers and peasants while making occasional outings for landscape and forest scenes.

It would be a spoiler to completely discuss the details of the otherworldly life that gradually begins to encroach on Kallis' reality. Suffice it to say that it is somewhat like adventures such as Peter Pan, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where a passageway is found from this world into another whole dimension or universe. It is only that for Kallis, that dimension is the actual world of Finno-Ugric mythology and that in this book's reality Kallis' paintings or designs of Kalev, Linda, Kalevipoeg, the three-headed King of Snakes, the Siuri Bird, the Maiden of Manala, etc. were drawn from actual live models. Yes, that is how wild this book is, where the cover of a notebook can be imagined as the skin of a fantastical horned blue animal whose cry is like that of a church bell ringing across distant lands.

Trivia and Link
A small selection of Oskar Kallis' work (each of which is tied into the plot of the book) is available in a gallery at the back of Sinine sarvedega loom. An expanded selection of works can be viewed at an online gallery at the Estonian Art Museum website. ( )