Savādības pievilcība: diskusija par Viktoru Igo Latvijas kultūrvidē 19.–20. gadsimta mijā

Abstract

In the early stages of the development of the Latvian national literature, periodicals used to publish information, reflections, and overviews on foreign culture and literature parallel to (or sometimes even before) the appearance of the corresponding translations in the Latvian cultural space. The material selected for publication determined whether the rendition of the facts was factual or imaginative, saturated with details familiar to the reader, or introduced new information. Furthermore, periodicals quite often reprinted information on situations and characters found in foreign press that seemed curious or odd to their Latvian readership. The popularity of these publications, like that of light fiction, stemmed from the widespread interest in exotic narratives. Narratives about the literary works of foreign authors held a very distinctive position among this idiosyncratic material. A prime example is the overview of Victor Hugo’s writings and biography in the Latvian periodicals at the end of the 19th century, predating the translations of his works in Latvian. The discussion which took place in the public space offers an insight into the contradictory reception process of foreign literature, revealing that the formation of Latvian national identity and literature was influenced both by the openness to otherness and a variety of hermeticism or distancing from otherness.