Latvian Literature Research Articles

Regional Identity and Multiculturalism: the Baltic Germans of Latgale in the Early 20th Century Latvian Literature

In the studies of Latvian culture and history, there is a number of investigations dedicated to the influence of Baltic German culture on Latvian culture. Hence the Latgale region was not given due attention in this regard. The role of the Baltic Germans in this region is peculiar due to its specific history, and it is important to study how the Baltic German culture influences the multicultural identity of Latgale. A project of the Latvian Science Council The Baltic Germans of Latgale in the context of socio-ethnic relations from the 17th until the beginning of the 20th century (2020–2021) is devoted to this topic. One of the tasks of the project is the analysis of the image of the Baltic Germans in fiction. In the framework of the research, the works written in the Latvian literary language, the action of which is set in Latgale, are analysed. The focus is on fictional works about Latgale written by two authors – Antons Austriņš (1884–1934) and Ādolfs Ers (1885–1945) – in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The said writers are the first currently distinguished authors narrating in the Latvian literary language, who describe Latgale in a number of their works. Compared to other nationalities (Poles, Russians, Jews), the Baltic Germans are mentioned minimally in their works; moreover, it is a commonplace that in some cases protagonist’s belonging to German descent is not mentioned, which can only be inferred. Although the Baltic Germans belong to the Latgale past, their culture is imperceptibly and harmoniously apparent in Latgale, i.e. it is evident in the castles (castle ruins) and manors as well as in the use of Germanisms by the Baltic Germans, it has determined the location of the Latgale cities and influenced the worldview.

CONTENTS OF STUDY COURSES “HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY” AND „LITERATURE DIDACTICS” IN THE 40IES AND 50IES OF THE 20TH CENTURY – PROMOTER OF STUDENTS’ HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE

During the soviet times pedagogy in Latvia develops in difficult and controversial conditions. It becomes a specific area of influence and a propaganda tool, in which ideologised guidelines of soviet pedagogy prevail. So far Soviet experience in education theory and practice (1940–1941, 1944–1990) has not been fully identified and evaluated because it is “recent” history. People living during the soviet times have developed self-experience, based on which conclusions can be made. At the same time young people develop this experience in their daily life (communicating with people, watching and reading in the mass media), thus based on other people’s experience. One of the sources promoting teachers’ historical experience is study courses The History of Pedagogy and Literature Didactics, in which future teachers gain knowledge about the historical development of pedagogy, learn different ideas proposed by famous educators, acquire skill in analysing pedagogical ideas in the context of a particular historical period, assess different offerings of pedagogy and their application in nowadays pedagogical situations. At the same time in the study course Literature Didactics future teachers enrich their knowledge about the development of Didactics of Latvian Literature during the soviet period, master their skills in critical evaluation of study contents, study programs, materials, additional materials, study aims, methods and approaches as well as teacher student interaction during the lesson.

Kārlis Hūgenbergers 19. gadsimta sākumā latviešu literārās kultūras vēsturē

In the article, the literary works of Baltic German writer Carl Hugenberger have been explored. Anthology of his poetry translations, “Derrigs laika kaweklis” (Useful Pastime, I–II, 1826–1827), has been analysed. The anthology was significant in the emancipation of Latvian literary culture and liberation from moral didacticism as well as the development of the self-sufficient aesthetic value of literature. Thus, the anthology prepared the way for the formation of Latvian national literature in the mid-19th century. Special attention has been turned towards Hugenberger’s translations of poems by Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. Besides, the evaluation and reception of Hugenberger’s works have been explored. The article concludes that despite the innovative role and poetic achievements of Hugenberger’s poetry, it did not gain popularity among wider circles of the Latvian reading public and met criticism regarding the shortcomings in the translation techniques that can be explained by the limits of the underdeveloped Latvian language at the time. The most important episodes in Hugenberger’s biography have been outlined as well as his religious hymns and works of popular enlightenment, including translations of “Schillings-Bücher des Rauhen Hauses”, a book series of German Inner mission, works by Jeremias Gotthelf, August Kotzebue, Gottfried August Bürger et al. Special attention has been paid to previously unidentified originals of Hugenberger’s translations – works by Matthias Claudius, Johann Hinrich Wichern, Heinrich Alexander Seidel, and Adolph Krüger as well as previously underexamined partial translation of Johann Peter Hebel’s “Allemanische Gedichte”. The literary works of Hugenberger have been interpreted within the context of the literary praxis of the late popular enlightenment in the Baltics.

Erotiskās prozas fenomens Latvijā un pasaulē

The present paper “The Phenomenon of Erotic Fiction in Latvian and World Literature” is devoted to the fiction genre acquiring immense popularity in Western literature while having attracted only fragmentary attention in Latvian literary scholarship, namely the erotic fiction, which is currently among those genres of literature most widely read among Latvian readers and therefore titled as somewhat phenomenal. The first part of the paper provides insight into the history of the erotic world literature and the most common division of the genre into the three basic categories; this part also provides a short overview of the erotic aspects in the Latvian original fiction during the 20th century. It has been possible to decide that the erotic prose has had only a limited representation in Latvian literature, mainly due to historical and socio-political factors, because the common tendency was to euphemise the said aspects, which were often met with an open reproach of the more Puritan part of the society. Erotic aspects in poetry and prose somewhat flourished during the epoch of Decadence (the first decade of the 20th century) and after that, only during the turn of the 20th/21st centuries when the prohibitions invoked by the Soviet censorship were lifted. Nevertheless, even during these periods, the more free approach resulted in only a few prose works of this kind or else episodes in works of other genres. The conclusive part of the paper is devoted to four novels by currently the most popular author of erotic romance in Latvian literature, Karīna Račko, inviting at the same time the discussion about the reasons for the popularity of these novels which might proceed from their common structural characteristics. It is possible to observe that the novel’s structures are notably similar to the basic plotlines of fairy-tales that the readers recognise on an archetypal level. Consequently, this makes it possible to view these novels as a sort of fairy-tales for modern grown-ups whose attraction is multiplied by the fact that the texts include specific aspects of visualisation that make it possible for the readers to identify closely with the characters.

Žurnāla „Inostrannaja Literatura” rezonanse Latvijas literārajā telpā politiskā atkušņa laikā

The paper is devoted to a parallel description of the literary processes in the Soviet Union and Soviet Latvia during Nikita Khrushchev’ reign, also known as the period of political thaw or the liberalisation of the communist regime (1953–1964). The main object of the research is the literary magazine Inostrannaja literatura (Иностранная литература), issued in the Soviet Union since 1955, dedicated to foreign literature and its translations; the principles of creating its content and structure during the political thaw period. The aim of the research: with concrete examples, to show the role of this legendary Russian literary periodical in the Iron Curtain period, expansion of freedom of thought, decanonization of socialist realism dogmas in general in the USSR, and also in the Latvian SSR. The methodological basis of the research consists of a comparative literature approach and a new historicism position that the literary text is important in studying different lines of history. The analysis of the publications clearly shows the replacement of the so-called periods of thaw and freezing. The article proves that the appearance of translations, reviews, previews, and research articles of foreign literature in this journal is closely connected with various political peripeteia of the USSR. In Latvia, there is a great resonance of Inostrannaja literatura, and it had an eventual influence on overcoming the dogmas of socialist realism in Latvian literature. The publications about the journal in Latvian literary editions and the study of the reception of one text example, a comparison of various editions of the writer Ēvalds Vilks’s (1923–1976) story “Twelve Kilometers”, prove it.

Egīla Ventera fenomens latviešu literatūrā

The article aims to study Egīls Venters’s latest works from the point of view of text semiotics and interpretation to make conclusions about the possibilities of interpretation of texts written by this author and his place in Latvian literature. In this article, a semiotic analysis of Venters’s fiction is applied as well as research of the book reviews on his recent prose texts. The present paper deals with the factors determining the popularity of a work of fiction; these factors may be related to the text itself or the readers’ ability and desire to read such texts. The most innovative work of Venters, “Mainīgā intervence” (2012), which received Dzintars Sodums Prize for Innovation in Literature, has been semiotically analysed in terms of its literary form. This work of fiction is a complex, multi-layered message, although outwardly it seems laconic and aphoristic. The possibilities of interpreting fiction depend on the language used by the author to express the content and the language available to the reader for decoding the text. Thus, the reader needs the experience of reading texts, a desire to gain new unprecedented experience, and the ability to evaluate the language and form of the work of fiction. Venters’s writing does not belong to the popular literature of easy reading; it has fewer readers who can accept the world created by Venters’s texts and are open to the unpredictable in literature.

Apsīšu Jēkabs un Rūdolfs Blaumanis: salīdzināmie aspekti

The topic of the paper reflects an interest in potential sources of Rūdolfs Blaumanis’s literary output. Blaumanis himself did confirm that he considered Apsīšu Jēkabs among the most important Latvian writers of the 19th century. Both authors focused their attention on the historical period later labelled the age of transition. In this context, several important aspects are discussed. The paper pays attention to the infringement of moral laws in society and the reflection of this trend in literary texts. An important topic is the stratification of society, including the relations among the nobility, peasants, and servants, and their changing patterns. The role of money, including the rise of calculated marriages, is also an object of discussion, as well as the issues of upbringing in families and schools. In this paper, aesthetic parallels are discussed within the context of the impact of popular literature on both writers. Both of them often used exaggerated situations in order to raise the appeal of their texts to their respective audiences. The principles of the creation of comic effects are also scrutinised. One of the issues discussed in the paper is that of intercultural relations. Whereas Apsīšu Jēkabs points toward the juxtaposition of Latvian and Baltic German literary cultures, Blaumanis is much more open to their coexistence and extracts positive aspects out of the position among different cultures as reflected in the wide range of his literary sources. However, it is important to point to the impact of Latvian 19th-century literature on the development of Blaumanis’s ideas and his creative potential.

Draugos ar zinātni: zinātniskie aspekti Jāņa Veseļa daiļradē

Writer Jānis Veselis is a classic of the Latvian literature, one of the most peculiar prose writers from the 1920s to 1940s. Initially, the artistic style of Veselis was heavily influenced by World War I poetics of collision and expressionism, later by the ideas about neopagan movements. The writer has an active imagination. His writing style is characterised by fabulous neo-mythical tendencies. Despite that, Veselis was friends with science. Many of his texts are filled with delight about the achievements of modern science. He is taken away by the explosive growth of the exact sciences, especially astronomy. In the centre of many of Veselis’s works (“Sun’s Cemetery” (Saules kapsēta, 1921); “People of Fields” (Tīrumu ļaudis, 1927); literary cycle “Soul of Steel” (Tērauda dvēsele, 1934–1946)), there is a representative of engineer’s profession. Scientific aspects in the most concise way are integrated into the literary cycle of novels called “Soul of Steel” (“Human Uprising” (Cilvēku sacelšanās, 1934); “Soul of Steel” (Tērauda dvēsele, 1938); “Big March” (Lielais gājiens, 1946)). The novels are interspersed with science-fiction motifs. The first two novels of the cycle revolve around an engineer-constructor named Rudājs. He postulates ideas about man’s ability to control natural processes, and he also dreams about expanding into the universe. The novels “Human Uprising” and “Soul of Steel” are saturated with reflections about different modern science problems. For example, about obtaining energy from splitting atoms, endless lengths of space, and the universe’s eventual border. Scientific concepts and terminology from physics, chemistry, and astronomy are all common in the novels. At the end of the cycle’s second novel, the main character goes into the vast universe in his self-constructed rocket. The trilogy shows the writer’s power of insight and his rich imagination. In the context of the time, that is considered a rather innovative occurrence in Latvian novel. The dissonant mixture of scientific and mythological elements is regarded as a misleading element.

Sabiedrības iesaistes akcija “Lasi skaļi”: estētiskie un izglītojošie dzejas ieskaņošanas aspekti

Keywords: children’s poetry, public engagement, reading aloud, recording of poetry, Veidenbaums The development of public engagement technologies has provided new ways of ensuring societal participation. Public engagement events developed by various institutions provide ways to combine learning about cultural heritage with individual participants. Poetry readings serve as one of the ways the sound of Latvian literature and particularly Latvian classical poetry can be updated. The authors of this article analyse the first two public engagement actions (“Skandē Veidenbaumu” and “Lasīsim dzejiņas” of the series “Lasi skaļi” (Read Aloud) launched by the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art of the University of Latvia. During these events, participants were given the opportunity to record thematically-selected poems in the audio recording booth of the Latvian National Library or, as an alternative, to record a poem on their computer or mobile device and upload them to the action site. The events combined the creation of a recorded body of poetry readings with related educational content and represent one of the newer educational methods for reaching the general public and some of its subgroups (children, pupils, students, etc.). Through these events, the public was given the opportunity to become acquainted with Latvian cultural heritage while simultaneously creating new cultural artifacts. The participants creatively used different approaches of performance, recording the poems in a variety of voices, singing, or even incorporating digital sound processing programmes. They actively seized on the opportunity to create new versions of poems that had already been set to music. The main reasons for rejecting any particular recording were buffoonery or cursing during the recording process, or having left the recording unfinished. Both events resulted in more than 4,500 audio recordings which were then stored in the digital archive of the Institute. The set of recordings could be of interest to researchers in the fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics and computer linguistics, as it provides a unique representation of pronunciation during a specific period of time performed by people of different ages, genders, and nationalities.

Uppsala Latvian Library and Its Donation to Latvia in 1989

In the USSR-reoccupied Latvia (1944−1990), almost all the Latvian literature, published abroad after World War II, was forbidden to the general public. There were only two incomplete and restricted collections of emigration literature, available to prominent scientists and highest Soviet officials. As the Soviet censorship weakened in the late 1980s, libraries could begin start a systematic acquisition of exile books and some periodicals. The donation of the whole library of the Uppsala Latvian society to the State Library of Latvia (now the National Library of Latvia) in 1989, before the renewal of Latvia’s independence, started the flow of emigration books, documents, and artefacts to the memory institutions of Latvia, where the most important cultural heritage from the Latvian exile has found its home. Using the documents of the Uppsala Latvian Society kept at the National Archives of Latvia, the National Library of Latvia, and the Academic Library of the University of Latvia, the history of the library and the importance of its donation in the accumulation of exile cultural heritage in Latvia has been characterized.
 The study shows that despite the library manager’s efforts to provide readers with the best emigrant Latvian literature, the library collection in exile was not properly valued − its readership gradually decreased as Latvians became more and more integrated into Swedish society. After the transfer to Latvia, the library became the basis of the of the unified collection of Latvian literature, in which exile publications are constantly utilised as an important part of the national cultural heritage.

Nostalgia and National Identity: Idea of Revisiting the Past in Latvian Fiction

One of the most popular themes in Latvian literature which has regularly arisen at different stages of its development since the 19th century is the idea of returning to the roots, the depiction of a mythological world scene when people lived according to the rhythms of nature, in full harmony with themselves and the world. Ancient times are depicted as a time when Latvians felt free living at their farms and followed the rules of the mythical time. This peculiar feature which we analyse on the basis of literary works, describes vividly the nation’s collective consciousness, desires, and needs. The need for emphasizing the idealised ancient times in the nation’s consciousness is related to the most significant transitional stages in the development of the country, which are characterised by the increased attention to the issues of national identity. During difficult stages in history, nosta lgia is a security mechanism which looks for stability in the past which we do not have in the present. The aim of the paper is to see how the nostalgic reflection on the idealized ancient times in the Latvian literature is related to the pivotal stages in the country’s history when special attention was paid to the national awareness and identity issues.

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

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.

Mikrostāsta jēdziens mūsdienu literatūrā

The glorious, overwrought, and ambitious modernism of the early 20th century has gradually been replaced by minimalism in art, architecture and other cultural expressions. In such a changing environment, minimalism trends also appear in the literature. Turning to the analysis of literary fiction over the last hundred years, critics of Romanic and Anglo-Saxon literature have come to the conclusion of the emergence of a new literary genre. In Anglo-Saxon literature, among many other names of this genre, the most recognizable name is flash fiction, while in Spanish, the term microrrelato has been established in the last decade. However, in Latvian literature, the characteristics of the genre correspond to minimas written by Aivars Eipurs. The paper aims to provide insight into the development and textual characteristics of flash fiction and to seek its equivalents in the literature of different Western nations. The study looks at the concept of flash fiction and its synonyms in English, Spanish, French, Russian, and Polish languages, includes definitions of flash fiction as an independent literary genre of a variety of authors and sets out the key features and examples. In addition to the concept of flash fiction, it includes concepts of intertextuality and ellipsis, which, along with humor and metafiction, are essential linguistic elements of flash fiction. Flash fiction merges different genres and their patterns into a new literary form consisting of certain linguistic, syntactical, and pragmatic texting techniques. In building the theoretical base of the study, the emphasis was placed on the critics of contemporary Spanish literature less known in Latvia, such as professor Irene Andrés-Suárez (b. 1948) of the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland), Argentinian writer and literary critic David Lagmanovich (1927–2010) and Mexican literary critic Lauro Zavala (b. 1954). Examples of the genre are mostly referred to by Hispanic authors.

Andreja Papārdes dzeja 20. gadsimta sākuma laikmeta un latviešu dzejas kontekstā

Andrejs Papārde’s real name is Miķelis Valters (1874–1968), he was born and raised in Liepāja in a family of dock workers. Valters is a versatile personality – a Doctor of Juridical Science, a social worker, a politician and a diplomat with outstanding accomplishments in Latvian history. Valters was also an art theorist and poet. He signed his literary works with a pseudonym Andrejs Papārde. In literature, Papārde announces himself in the 1890s with works of short prose and reflections, later also with poetry. In book shape, his poetry is published after the 1905 Russian Revolution. He has three collections of poems published. The first collection of poems “Tantris” was published in 1908 in Helsingfors. The collection consists of little poems in short verses, without titles, but listed with roman numerals from one to eighty-nine. The poems are written in free verse, without rhymes, and they are characterized by allegoric expression and symbolic characters. The poetry is allegorically symbolic, with no specific place and time. The inflecting sound of verses is dominated by a pessimistic and depressive feel. The common gloomy atmosphere of the poems in the collections is formed by the imagery of pessimistic expressions, the dominance of the black colour and a severely dramatic sense of the world of the main character. The scenes with depressive characters capture the horror of a global apocalypse as well as the fear of an individual threat. The atmosphere of misery and hopelessness is created by grim stylistics and negative semantic characters. The very few characters of positive expression cannot dispel the overall dreary and sorrowful mood. Andrejs Papārde’s second poem collection “Ēnas uz akmeņiem” comes out in 1910 in Riga. The collection consists of seventy poems numbered with Arabic numerals. Interestingly, the pages are not numbered, thus only the number of a poem can be indicated in the references. All of the poems are of small scale, ranging from five to twelve lines, most of them are poems of six to eight short lines. All of the poems from the collection are without titles, written in free verse and without rhymes. The form of the poems is almost compressed to a maximum. The free verse and the intelligent dimension of the poems allow perceiving Papārde’s poetry similarly to Japanese haiku or tanka. Verses filled with depressive feelings in a way persist in his second collection of poems, however this time in not so unvaryingly dull manner and not so fatally obedient. More often, but not entirely levelled, optimistic tunes are played. The night continues to reign, there is still a lot of black colour, but more often there are mentionings of mornings. Notably, for expressing optimistic feelings, verbs are used in the future tense. Papārde’s second poem collection “Ēnas zem akmeņiem” ends on an optimistic tune, but that is certainly not a naive optimism of non-existing problems. Papārde’s third poem collection “Mūžība” subtitled “Mana dziesma” was published in 1914 in Helsingfors. Unlike in the previous collections, in this one, all of the poems have titles, and they are no longer numbered. The author consistently keeps writing in a rhymeless free verse. Almost like with inertia, there is still skepticism and disappointment. But there is much more confidence than before, the willingness to withstand difficulties, hard times, and there is hope for the tomorrow, for the “Easter morning”, for a new day. In this poem collection, Papārde and the main character slowly turn into an ambassador of light and an admirer of the sun, thus joining the many sun worshipers and the light announcers in Latvian literature. The character system close to romanticism, individual sovereign subjectivity, intimate sounding verses, dynamic use of abstractions and symbols are all associated with the 20th-century romanticism, or in other words, the neo-romanticism. The dominance of the pessimistic atmosphere differentiates this poetry as a depressive neo-romanticism or so-called catastrophic romanticism poetry.

Zeigma – viens no mazāk zināmajiem tropu veidiem: nosaukums, skaidrojums, piemēri

The terms of literary studies and linguistics concerning stylistics should be viewed in complex, i. e., in a joint concept system. If this is not the case, the acquisition of theoretical knowledge, the development of criticism, and scientific communication in the humanitarian fields as a whole are impeded. The article deals with one of the most unusual tropes – zeugma. For the background information, an insight into the comprehension of the system of tropes in Latvian stylistics is given where zeugma is insufficiently explained; therefore, it is crucial to clarify the main characteristic of the concept. Several terminological sources in English have been selected for the explanation of the concept and provision of examples. In Latvian theoretical literature and study books, there are ambiguous definitions of this term and also different versions of the term itself. In total, the word zeigma (and not zeugma) is considered to be the most appropriate equivalent in Latvian, and the explanation of the term could be as follows: zeugma is a kind of tropes in which a word (most commonly a verb) is used simultaneously in two or more meanings in the same sentence, with an unexpected transfer of meaning creating different semantic relations. Examples from Latvian poetry (Aleksandrs Čaks, Austra Skujiņa) and prose (Anšlavs Eglītis, Regīna Ezera, Andra Manfelde, Andris Akmentiņš) are used to present zeugma as a kind of tropes.

Latvju dainu atbalsis Veltas Sniķeres lirikā

The research “Echoes of Latvian Dainas in the Lyrics of Velta Sniķere” examines motifs and fragments of Latvian folk songs in the poetry by Sniķere. Several poems that directly reveal the montage of folk songs are selected as research objects. Linguistic, semantic, hermeneutical and historical as well as literary methods were used in poetry analysis. The research emphasizes the importance of Latvian folklore in the process of Latvian exile literature, the genesis of modern lyrics, and the philosophical conception of the poet. Latvian folk songs in the lyrics of Sniķere are mainly perceived as a source of ancient knowledge and as a path to the Indo-European first language, prehistoric time, which is understood only in a poetic state. Often, the montage of Latvian folk songs or their fragments in the lyrics of Sniķere is revealed as a reflexive reverence that creates a semantic fracture and opposition between profane and sacred view. The insertion of a song in the poem alters the rhythmic and phonetic sound: a free and sometimes dissonant article is replaced by a harmonic trochee, while an internationalism saturated language is replaced by a simple, phonetically effective language composed of alliterations and assonances. The montage of folk songs in a poem is justified by the necessity to restore the Latvian identity in exile, to restore the memory of ancient, mythical knowledge, to represent the understanding of beauty and other moral-ethical values and to show the thought activity. Common mythical images in the lyrics of Sniķere are snake, wind, gold, silver, stone etc. The Latvian folk song symbolism and lifestyle of the poet are organically synthesized with the insights of Indian philosophy.

Analītisks skatījums uz jaunākajiem latviešu zinātniskās fantastikas stāstiem

The present paper provides a brief look and an analysis of contemporary Latvian science fiction short stories. Three speculative fiction short story collections of the same series have been analysed: „Purpura karaļa galmā” (2013, Zvaigzne ABC), „Zilie jūras vērši” (2015, Zvaignze ABC) and to this day the latest collection of stories „Piena ceļa dvēseles” (2017, Zvaigzne ABC). These short stories are the result of a literary contest. All three books combined add up to fifty-two different stories of the speculative fiction genre. Some of the stories are the author’s literary debut. This article focuses on clearly defined science fiction stories, with the aim to make a precise comparison with science fiction stories published abroad or a comparison with global trends in the same period. To analyse all science fiction stories from all three story collections, specific guidelines were created. The title, the characters, the place and time, the topic and conflict as well as the originality and authenticity were all factors taken into account. Alongside with stating the facts, a comparison with global works and trends was made. The article ends with the author’s summary of the meaning of contemporary science fiction stories as well as their role in the field of Latvian literature.

Oskara Rihtera „Meži šalc” – pirmais latviešu sociālistiskā reālisma romāns

In the 1920s–1930s a significant number of Latvians lived in the USSR (the number of Latvians in the USSR ranged from 120,000 to 200,000 in these decades). The USSR Latvian diaspora had a small contact with the Latvian population in Latvia, but despite this, a separate, unique Latvian culture was formed – a network of Latvian schools, technical schools, periodicals, theatres, publishing houses, etc. Literature was also of great importance – it helped to improve the Latvian language, as well as intellectually unite the wide-spread Latvian diaspora in the USSR. The choice of Latvians to live in the USSR rather than in Latvia in the 1920s–1930s, could be interpreted as submission to the Soviet regime and even betrayal of Latvia, therefore, even today, the life of Soviet Latvians, and especially literature, has been relatively under-researched. In the 1930s in the USSR, there were six novels published in Latvian. They were written in the context of the totalitarian rule when the process of literary control was intensified, so writers had to be subject to the principles of socialist realism. The focus of the research is on the last Soviet Latvian novel issued in the 1930s –“Meži šalc” (1936) by Oskars Rihters (1898–1938). In the analysis of the novel, attention is drawn to its creation, perception, cultural, and historical context, as well as its artistic structure and value. The novel is an apology of Marxist-Leninist ideology. “Meži šalc” has similarities with canonical Russian texts (for example, “How the Steel Was Tempered” (Как закалялась сталь, 1934) by Nikolai Ostrovsky (Николай Островский, 1904–1934)). The novel represents the USSR trend in art not only thematically, but also in compositional form. Hence, this novel should be regarded as the first consistent novel of socialist realism in the history of Latvian literature.

In The Eye of the Beholder – Attitudes towards Visual Poetry in Latvian Literature

Visual poetry in Latvian literature is still an extraordinary phenomenon. In this case, by extraordinary is meant its scarce appearance among the corpus of Latvian literary texts – only very few examples of it exist in Latvian literature even in the 21st century, though it has gained a visible presence in other literatures of the world since at least the era of Modernist poetry, and experienced in most cases a turn of critical attitude towards it from disregard or denial to acceptance and consideration. At first evaluated only as a pastime on the margins of serious literature, since Apollinaire it has evolved into a serious genre of poetry and art of its own, and is no longer considered a childish game. Given this situation in contemporary criticism, it is quite a peculiar situation that Latvian literature and literary criticism still does not pay adequate attention to it, thus visual poetry has stayed an outsider genre up to this day.
 In this paper a concise historical account of Latvian visual poetry will be given and some examples of visual poetry from various decades of Latvian literature will be given, as well as quotations from Latvian literary critics and scholars regarding visual poetry will be provided, in order to illustrate the overall situation in Latvian visual poetry and the possible reasons why it is still being mostly neglected and disregarded both by poets/artists and critics, though there seems to be slight indications of a visual turn.

Latvian Comic Science Fiction 1960–1990

The theme of the present paper is a tendency in Latvian literature that flourished from 1960s to the late 1980s and has so far not been subjected to research. It is the phenomenon of short stories with science fiction elements appearing in humor magazines of Soviet Latvia, mainly in Dadzis (The Thistle) and Dadža kalendārs (The Thistle’s Almanac) as well as in the short story collections by the regular authors of these periodicals. In these stories renowned Latvian satirists such as Andrejs Skailis, Žanis Ezītis, Miermīlis Steiga and others use the disguise of science fiction to ridicule the negative aspects of Soviet reality that the authors of “serious literature” rarely dared to touch upon. Although this phenomenon obviously existed only for a couple of decades, it must be recognized as a specific hybrid genre the writers created and used to talk about problems everyone knew and almost nobody talked about.