Andrejs Dripe’s Journalism about the Federal Republic of Germany and Its Impact on Societal Change in the 1980s

Abstract

This article examines travels outside the Soviet Union by Latvian writers who were recognized by the occupation regime and acclaimed by the public during the Brezhnev Era, as one of the privileges enjoyed by the so-called creative intelligentsia, and how those travels were reflected in their literary and journalistic writings. Journeys abroad elicited conflicting emotions, and writers had to be relatively affluent to travel. Still, they often experienced humiliation when confronted with the reality of their meager financial means outside the U.S.S.R. and the fact that they remained in imprisonment even in the free West. The surge in popularity of literary periodicals in the 1980s played a crucial role in shaping a new culture of the press and journalism, as they provided large masses of readers with essential information about living abroad. Notes on the travels include observations on the socio-economic situation, environment, and political events and documents that have facilitated trips to the West. The case study explores the travelogue by Andrejs Dripe from the 1980s. Dripe’s journalism records the rapid transition from the Brezhnev Era to Gorbachev’s perestroika. It becomes the first official source of information about the West only a few people among his readers have visited.