Short Outlines of Books by Estonian Authors
by Rutt Hinrikus and Janika Kronberg
* All the Stuff (Kogu moos)
by Peeter Sauter
 
Tallinn: Tuum, 1997, 206 pp.
 
 
Many younger Estonian writers have taken pains to establish themselves, thus
obtaining a certain identity: Kauksi Ülle is the writer who uses a
South-Estonian dialect, Emil Tode is the 'Eurowriter', Sven Kivisildnik and
Peeter Sauter are the writers who use obscene language. If we deconstruct
the obscenity of those two, we can find at least two different ways how they
do this.
 
To make it simple, we could say that the heroes of Peeter Sauter are of the
kind who hide a sensitive soul behind their outward roughness and obscenity.
Sauter very remarkably avoids romanticism, pathos, big and empty words, and
beautiful things of all kinds. The so-called obscene language means, in his
case, using the words of low style in the position of neutral style. Some
critics have said that he uses the words of pornographic (i.e. masculine)
discourse in a neutral position.
 
"All the Stuff" is a collection of short stories, containing Sauter's best
texts so far, and continues to express the same ideas as his novel
"Loafing". "Loafing "(See Est.Lit.Mag. 1998, Spring) drew together short
stories to form a novel. Some of the texts of the present book would have
fitted into the novel as well, but the author decided to publish them
separately.
 
"All the Stuff" consists of six stories of equal length (about 30 pages).
They are a kind of travel story, which can not be woven into a continuous
text, as each story has different characters. Sauter's main hero is a man,
the city his environment. He isn't active in achieving any certain goal, his
course runs the trajectory of everyday life: office, shop, bar, hospital,
etc. The scenes describing everyday activities are accompanied by
meditations that are often centred on the absurdity of being.
 
The most controversial story of the collection is 'Stomach-ache', which
tells about a man and a woman who go to a maternity hospital, taking their
other child with them. The birth of the child is described as seen by the
dispassionate eye of the man. This intimate, private, physiological act,
which is traditionally considered ennobling, is depicted in a harsh and
naturalistic way. The woman giving birth is deaf, she only moans in pain.
The man notes anatomical changes using vulgar words. The child is born with
blood and shit.
 
Sauter vulgarises the process, but his hero keeps close, he participates and
tries as much as he can to familiarise himself with this otherness (being a
woman). He is caring and attentive, and tries to use as exact words as
possible to describe all he can.
 
Sauter's prose describes his fellow human beings. Its strong points are its
directness and exactness, and its disillusioning effect. He knows and
depicts the often described world of the so-called small people much better
than many other authors. His illusionless and unpoetical world is never
hostile or cold, on the contrary, it is as comfortable and homely as
everyday life.
 

©Estonian Literary Magazine