Woman of Mystery
A review of the Loomingu Raamatukogu Kuldsari paperback (January/February 2024) being a reissue of [b:Spioon armastuse majas|57304866|Spioon armastuse majas|Anaïs Nin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1614841573l/57304866._SY75_.jpg|624215] (1993 #36-#37) as translated into Estonian by [a:Anne Allpere|14568880|Anne Allpere|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] from the English language original [b:A Spy in the House of Love|133781809|A Spy in the House of Love|Anaïs Nin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1694799637l/133781809._SX50_.jpg|624215] (1954).

This was apparently Nin's most popular fiction work until the posthumous publication of the short story collection [b:Delta of Venus: Erotica|904270|Delta of Venus Erotica|Anaïs Nin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1279574169l/904270._SX50_.jpg|1369571] (1977). I read the Estonian translation out of curiosity but did find it hard going due to both the stream of consciousness style and the extent of the vocabulary (words that I simply wasn't familiar with, even though Estonian is my heritage language). I resorted to an English language edition [b:A Spy in the House of Love|248665|A Spy in the House of Love (Cities of the Interior, #4)|Anaïs Nin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1486617760l/248665._SY75_.jpg|624215] for support, which I read in parallel. That English edition did provide a key to the roman à clef nature of the work by listing which fictional character was inspired by which real-life love affair.

Although a breakthrough work at the time, A Spy... makes for pretty tame reading in the present day. The erotic nature of the several love affairs is glossed over in the most part, and it is the feelings of guilt and angst which dominate the proceedings. A translation of the Estonian synopsis provides a summary:

Anaïs Nin’s “A Spy in the House of Love” follows Sabina, a woman who loses herself in pleasures in search of love. Like an actor, she changes roles according to the person she spends time with, envying the ease with which real actors leave their stage selves behind each night and return to their everyday lives. Sabina considers each role a part of herself and declares early one morning that she understands Duchamp’s painting “Nude Descending a Staircase” for the first time, in which eight or ten silhouettes of the same woman walk down a staircase, like multiple revelations of her personality, skillfully divided into several layers. One cannot be separated from the other, just as we cannot peel off our skin when we return home.
Published in 1954, the story attracted attention because of its heroine, who displays traits previously attributed to male characters: she actively seeks love affairs but easily abandons them. All of this is accompanied by a fear of being overly committed and, at the same time, a contradictory search for a sense of security.
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) was an American writer best known for her diaries, as well as novels that often dealt with femininity and sexuality.
The new edition is accompanied by an afterword by translator Anne Lange, which reveals the principles and background of the author's work.

Trivia and Links
The LR Kuldsari (Estonian: Golden Series) presents readers with a selection of works published in the Loomingu Raamatukogu (Estonian: The Creative's Library) throughout the ages. These are favorites from over the past six decades which confirm that the classics never get old! Six books will be published annually, one every two months. - translated from the publisher's website.

The Loomingu Raamatukogu is a modestly priced Estonian literary journal which initially published weekly (from 1957 to 1994) and which now publishes 40 issues in about 20 volumes a year as of 1995. It is a great source for discovery as its relatively cheap prices (currently 8 to 9€ per issue) allow for access to a multitude of international writers in Estonian translation and of shorter works by Estonian authors themselves. These include poetry, theatre, essays, short stories, novellas and novels. The lengthier works are usually counted as several issues but printed in a single volume.

For a complete listing of all works issued to date by Loomingu Raamatukogu including those in the Golden Series (at the bottom) see Estonian Wikipedia at: https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loomingu_Raamatukogus_ilmunud_teoste_loend_aastak%C3%A4iguti