Latvijas dabas un latviešu attēlojums Herberta fon Blankenhagena memuāros

Abstract

The study analyzes the memoirs of the Baltic German Herbert von Blankenhagen (1892–1985) “On the Edge of World History. Memories from the old Vidzeme 1913–1923” (Am Rande der Weltgeschichte: Erinnerungen aus Alt-Livland 1913–1923, 1966), especially emphasizing one of their aspects – the depiction of Latvia’s nature and the people of Latvia, without critically delving into a detailed assessment of social and political developments. The author of memoirs, who is actually the only narrator in the literary work, as it turns out, is not only an attentive characterization of social conflicts but also an excellent observer of Latvia’s nature endowed with literary talent, an analyst of Latvians and their domestic life, psychological developments. The author’s narrative clearly reveals all the poetic elements of memoirs as a specific genre – facticity, fictionality and also metafictionality as a particular literary form of memories. However, he uses all the mentioned poetic outlines to evaluate personal experiences and historical processes from his a German-Baltic baron, point of view, as a representative of his native Livonia. The research provides a brief insight into German-Baltic literature, mentions its most important writers (Bernewitz, Josephi, Hubatius-Himmelstjern, etc.), as well as describes the problems of memoir literature, focusing especially on the works of Tartu University scholars. Blankenhagen, as the narrator of the text of the memoir, mercilessly depicts the repressions of the Bolsheviks while at the same time treating with respect the Latvian peasants who do not participate in terrorist actions. The article presents a description of Latvians as an ethnos: they are described in a metafictional literary form as honest and efficient people who do not rob manors but still fight for the establishment of their independent state. However, even this fact does not cause the German-Baltic baron to hate Latvians but is perceived with understanding, distancing himself from any ethnic segregation. The position of the narrator as the author himself in the memoirs is unchanged – it is a humane attitude towards his contemporaries and the masses of people involved in historical events characterized by the spirit of the Enlightenment.