Karadag October 13

"In October, I saw the Black Sea for the first time." So begins this unusual exploration of Crimea, that peninsula between Asia and Europe, between ancient grandeur and romantic cliché, between poverty and pageantry. Together with the Scottish translator and writer Martin Chalmers, Esther Kinsky undertook a journey into this in-between world in October 2013, which the reader can experience directly through her gaze and thanks to her extraordinary powers of perception and description. Rough winds, rattling windows, stray horses, and bawling drunks: we find ourselves in a foreign nature and exposed to a foreign culture. The second voice in this virtuoso landscape book is determined by Chalmer's very different interest in knowledge: Where do we come from, where are we going? His thoughtful historical depths complement Kinsk.