Land surveyor times
Landvermesszeiten is the German title of the first Latvian novel Mērnieku Laiki . The authors of this novel are the brothers Reinis Kaudzīte and Matīss Kaudzīte , also known as Kaudzītes Reinis and Kaudzītes Matīss in the old fashion.
History of the book
The work was published in 1879 as the first realistic novel in Latvian. The content reflects the situation of the rural population in Livonia after the abolition of serfdom. In the years 1867–1873, in the area of the communities Vecpiebalga (German: Alt-Pebalg) and Jaunpiebalga (German: Neu-Pebalg), lands that were previously owned were sold to Latvian farmers and surveyed for this purpose. This commercialization first brought awareness of the importance of financial assets and credit to these largely illiterate circles. This also created the possibility of financial influence and fraud. The simple Christian morality began to loosen.
The novel contains elements of a love story, a detective novel and a peasant swan. Drama and humor alternate. For today's generation it is a document of Latvian rural life in the second half of the 19th century.
The Latvian Literary Society awarded its prize to the authors in 1880.
Matīss Kaudzīte left an unfinished sequel in 1924 under the title Jaunie Mērnieku laiki .
The book saw many editions in Latvian and has been translated into Russian, Lithuanian, Estonian and German. In addition, stage versions were made in 1911 and 1926.
The material was filmed twice:
- Mērnieku Laiki 1968, directed by Voldemārs Pūce.
- Mērnieku Laiki 1991, directed by Varis Brasla.
Place of action
The authors lived in the hilly Livonian area of the Vecpiebalga district in the Kalnā Kaibēni courtyard and were eyewitnesses of the upheavals described. They depict the fictional communities of Čangali and Slātava with the Irbīši farmstead as the locations of the action .
Protagonists
The protagonists of the novel can be divided into four types: Latvians of the old type with a good rural disposition, Latvians of the broken old type who give in to the seductions of the economic upheavals, Latvians of the new type who follow the national uprising and finally newcomers, who as a rule Are Baltic Germans.
| Type | family | Surname | Protagonist in the novel (orthography from 1883) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old | Gaitiņi | Ilze Gaitiņa | Farmer's wife on Irbīši, mother of Kaspars |
| Old | Lapenieki | Lapenieku Annuža | Annusch, Lene's old baptismal mother |
| Old | Prātnieki | Prātnieka māte | Mother of Prāta Andžs |
| Old | Gaitiņi | Tenis Gaitiņš | Tennis gaiting, farmer on Irbīši |
| Old | Edes tēvs | Ede's father | |
| Old | Lielais Pēteris | the great Peter | |
| Broken | Oļiņi | Jēkabs Oļiņš | Father Ohling, farmer in Irbīši |
| Broken | Oļiņi | Oļiniete / Oļiņa māte | Mother Ohling adopts Lene |
| Broken | Ķencis | Kenz, the narrow-nosed farmer from Čangali | |
| Broken | Pāvuls | Pawuls, farmer, in prison with Kenz | |
| New | Prātnieki | Prātnieks / Prāta Andžs | Prahtneek / Prahta Andsch (Andsch from wisdom) |
| New | Bisars | Bisar, farmer from Čangali | |
| New | Švauksts | Schwaukst, pretends to be German | |
| New | Drekberģis | Dirt mountain, tailor | |
| New | Pietuka Krustiņš | Peetuk Krustin, teacher and "scholar" (the swollen one) | |
| New | Gaitiņi | Kaspars Gaitiņš | Kaspar, son of Ilse and tennis |
| New | Gaitiņi | Liena Gaitiņa | Lene, the Olings' foster daughter, marries Kaspar |
| Arrived | Grabovskis | Grabowsky, tramp, apparent auditor, actually Count Edelbert | |
| Arrived | Feldhauzens | Feldhausen, auditor | |
| Arrived | Raņķis / August tendril | Ranke, auditor's assistant, conspiratorial as "dumbbell" (Reibonis) | |
| Arrived | Šrekhubers | Schreckhuber, Müller |
Latvian editions
- Kaudzītes Reinis un Matīss: Mērnieku Laiki. Stāsts . Liesma Verlag, Rīga 1980. A Latvian edition with the illustrations by Eduards Brencēns.
- Mērnieku Laiki , available online, see web links.
- E. Zeltmatis: Mērnieku laiki Slātavā , Skatuves bibliotēka publishing house, Riga 1926 (a dramatized version).
- Digital copies
- Mērnieku laiki, part 1 as PDF, Latvian
- Mērnieku laiki, part 2 as PDF, Latvian
- Mērnieku laiki, part 3 as PDF, Latvian
German editions
- Rein and Matis Kaudzit: The Auditor's Time . Maria Guleke translated this novel into German and published it in an abridged version in the daily newspaper Rigaer Tageblatt in 1883 (No. 26–61).
- Reinis Kaudzīte, Matīss Kaudzīte: Landvermesszeiten , novel, translated from Latvian by Valdis Bisenieks. Kaspars Kļaviņš Publishing House, Salzburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-9503342-0-3 . The first complete German edition. With an introduction and comments by Kaspars Kļaviņš and the illustrations by Eduards Brencēns from the 1913 edition.
swell
- Friedrich Scholz: The literatures of the Baltic States. Their creation and development . Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1990, ISBN 3-531-05097-4 .
- JA Jansons: Brāļi Kaudzīši in: Ludis Bērziņš et al .: Latviešu literatūras vēsture sešos sējomos , otrais sējums. Literatūra Publishing House, Riga 1935.
- Ērika Zimule: Literatūra Rokasgrāmata skolēniem un studentiem . Zvaigzne Publishing House, Riga 2004.
- Raimonds Briedis: Latviešu literatūras hronika, pirmais sējums 1945–2005. Valters un Rapa publishing house, Riga 2006.
- Raimonds Briedis et al .: Latviešu literatūras vēsture, pirmais sējums . Zvaigzne publishing house, Riga 2000. Published by Latvijas Universitātes Literatūras, folkloras and mākslas institūts .
- Mērnieku Laiki . Table of contents in: Kindlers Literaturlexikon im dtv , 1974, Vol. 15, pp. 6240-6241.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Mērnieku Laiki in the Reading Europe canon
- ↑ About the Kaudzīte brothers and the follow-up work Jaunie Mērnieku laiki from 1924. ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Valdības Vēstnesis, 1922 : Performance of Mērnieku laiki Slātavā in the National Theater, dramatized by E. Zeltmatis and directed by Fr. Rode.
- ↑ 2007 theater performance at the Latvian National Theater : Director: Viesturs Kairišs, Dramaturgy: Ieva Jurjāne, Music: Raimonds Pauls .
- ↑ The film Mērnieku Laiki (1991, Varis Brasla)
