Artist, Traveller, Scientist…

The Presentation of the Book “Master“ Translated into Estonian

Milvi Aasaru
Translator, Secretary of Estonian Roerich Society

«Sodruzhestvo» № 28–29, october 2008 – march 2009.

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On January 16, 2009 in “Kodulinn” city club of Tallinn there took place the presentation of the book “Master“ translated into Estonian. The book was written by Lyudmila Vasilievna Shaposhnikova - an indologist, a historian, a traveler, a talented writer, a researcher and a popularizer of the Roerichs family creative activity. The guests of the evening were listening with interest to the stories of the translator Milvi Aasaru about the work on the book, the editor Aime Kons, the book designer Tiina Alver. The journalist and the writer Kerttu Soans, a co-author of the Estonian book about the children of indigo, compared heartily her notes of the book “Master” with the guests. Those presented had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with all the trilogy “Great Travel” in Russian language, to appreciate the beauty and significance of these books - “Master”, “En Route of the Master”, “The Universe of the Master”. They learnt also about the history of the Estonian Roerich Society, about Pavel Fedorovich Belikov, about the ties of human pedagogics with the Roerich family heritage, because on the presentation there were volumes of Sh.A.Amonashvili’s “School of Life” translated into Estonian, edited by the same Publishing House “Ilo”.

Up to now only two N.K.Roerich’s books “Altai - Himalayas” and “The Heart of Asia” based on his diaries and published in 1990 were translated into Estonian. But there was no other literature about N.K.Roerich himself in Estonian language. That’s why the appearance of the book “Master” in Estonian – is the event of culture in Estonia which is difficult to overemphasize for many readers will get the opportunity to touch the world of the Master for the first time. We’d like the entire trilogy certainly to come to Estonian readers, though “Master” itself is a complete work, here in one book the vast scientific material is concentrated and the life and creative activity of one of the greatest enigmas of the last century, N.K.Roerich, is shown.

Books as people have their own fate. The fate of this book both the original and the translation – the first translation into foreign language - is a kind of displacement in time. 12 years separate the time when it was written from the time of its publishing, just as different circumstances detained its translation into Estonian for some years.

Probably it is explained by the fact that as the Master himself – the great worker of the world culture Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich (1874-1947) - the book about him is really original and leaves its time behind. Most likely now, at the time of the crisis, when people begin to realize what is transient and what is imperishable, when they seek for the meaning of life, it is the best time for its appearance.

The reader can see the continually moving panorama of historic events in words and pictures and on its background – the private life of N.K.Roerich and his family. We see N.K.Roerich, unselfish worker in the name of Culture, striving incessantly for the search of Truth.

The Honorary Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sh.A.Amonashvili said: “…the book introduced me into the life of the great Master, /…/ I perceived the Master, so wonderful, great and ingenuous, and another master helped me in it, she, who created these pages with the gift of her soul. /…/ The book “Master” is the golden key to comprehend the mission of Nikolai Konstantinovich and Elena Ivanovna, the whole family of the Roerichs.

The book is of great importance for it convinces us in the existence of imperishable values. “Master” contains the information about scientific understanding of man, history and the space. The author suggests those who fearlessly look for truth to make a travel into the wonderful world of the future going through the past, through the main milestones of the mankind.


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