Kārlis Frīdrihs Vatsons latviešu literārās kultūras vēsturē

Abstract

In the article, an insight into the creative work of Baltic German pastor, historian, ethnographer and writer Karl Fredrich Watson is provided by turning special attention towards previously understudied traits. His only belletrist book in Latvian, “Lasāma grāmata” [A Reading Book] (1816), has been analysed in great detail. It was based on Friedrich Eberhard von Rochow’s work and written in collaboration with Courland physician Johann Heinrich Lichtenstein. This book attempted to include the Latvian reading public in the network of European modern pedagogical ideas and popular enlightenment trends and promoted the development of a new mindset in rural society. It is also valuable as a source of cultural history, as many everyday life observations were included in the book. Watson’s work in the German periodical press has been explored in the article as well as his studies in history and ethnography besides his involvement in establishing the Latvian periodicals – he established and edited the first Latvian newspaper “Latviešu Avīzes” [Latvian Newspaper]. An overview of Watson’s participation at the 1819 debates on Germanization has been provided. The work of Watson has been explored within the context of expanding of ideas and themes in popular enlightenment during the early 19th century by integrating historicism and traits characteristic to Biedermeier age. These developments brought closer radical and moderate wings of enlightenment by integrating ideas outlined by Garlieb Merkel in the views of moderate enlighteners. By exploring these topics, the main turning points in Watson’s biography have been described in the article.