Sailing Against the Wind (Estonian: ''Vastutuulelaev)'' is a 1984 Estonian novel about the astronomer
Bernhard Schmidt by
Jaan Kross. An English translation by Eric Dickens was published in January 2012.
Synopsis
This novel is about the ethnic Estonian
Bernhard Schmidt (1879–1935) from the island of
Naissaar
Naissaar ( sv, Nargö; german: Nargen) is an island in Estonia. It is situated in the Gulf of Finland, northwest of the capital city Tallinn, and is administratively part of the Viimsi Parish, Viimsi parish. The island covers an area of . It is ...
who loses his right hand in a firework accident during his teenage years. He nevertheless uses his remaining hand to work wonders when polishing high quality lenses and mirrors for astronomical telescopes. Later on, when living in what had become Nazi Germany, he himself invents large stellar telescopes that are still to be found at, for instance, the
Mount Palomar Observatory in California and on the island of
Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
. Schmidt has to wrestle with his conscience when living in Germany as the country is re-arming and telescopes could be put to military use. But because Germany was the leading technical nation at the time, he feels reasonably comfortable there, first in the run-down small town of
Mittweida, then at the main
Bergedorf Observatory just outside Hamburg. But the rise of the Nazis is literally driving him mad.
[This novel is also available in French, in Jean-Luc Moreau's translation, 1994]
References
{{reflist
1984 novels
Estonian novels