The use of folk and legendary motifs in Aspazija'sThe Serpent's Bride

Abstract

In the fall of 1927, Latvia's famous poetess and dramatist, Aspazija (18651943), 1 and the wife of the foremost Latvian writer, Jānis Rainis (1865-1929), wrote a drama entitled The Serpent's Bride (ZaKa ligava). It was performed in the National Theater in Riga on 31 March 1928, but made no great impression. It was published serially in a popular magazine, Atpūta (No. 165-176), in 192728. The first publication in book form was in 1928 in Riga by Gulbis; a second printing followed in 1938. In 1968, the play was included in a small collection of Aspazijai plays (Aspazija, Lugas [Riga: liesma]). In the fall Gf 1979, after a 50-year hiatus, The Serpent's Bride was staged again, this time in Jelgava, and was very well received. A critic in Literatūra un Māksla states that the discovery of this play was like finding a rare gem.2 About the time that the rehearsals in Jelgava must have taken place, I (after obtaining the above mentioned collection in Riga) began a translation of the obscure drama. I did it really for no other reason than the pure pleasure of indulging in yet another exotic creation by Aspazija. As the translation took shape and gained its own life, I felt that I too had found something rare (not merely a gem, but a whole box of jewels): lovely lyrical verse, old wives' tales, proverbs, allusions to legends and mythologies, philosophy, psychology, religion; in short, the wide-ranging manifestations of Aspazija' s Sturm und Drang spirit. The Serpent's Bride may well be one of those rare literary and dramatic works that somehow has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and miscast and then was lost in the confusion of the shifting and turbulent post-World War II rubble. But who knows? Once resurrected it might have a second life.