[mattkrause]

So...having read the article (honestly!), I'm still not sure why this is the title.

He bounced around Europe as a young man (due to WWII), but he did the vast majority of his work in France. However, Wikipedia says he was technically stateless because he held off on applying for French citizenship.

I would guess the title an allusion to that--and his reclusiveness later in life, but I still feel like I'm either missing something or something was lost in translation. Is it a quote or paraphrase of something?

[thedailymail]

About midway through the article, Cartier (the author) says that "Grothendieck had a taste and a talent for naming things, which he used as a major intellectual strategy. Thus, my title, “A Country Known Only by Name,” is an homage to his way with words."

I agree with others that it's not the most straightforward title he could have used (although I don't think it's the same thing as clickbait). But personally I enjoyed the sense of mystery it lent to an article I might otherwise have skipped.

[mattkrause]

I read that but the country part still confuses me--it's a very odd way to refer to a person. This made me wonder if it was a reference to something. "No Country for Old Men", for example, is from the first line of "Sailing to Byzantium", a poem by Yeats.