Latvian literature

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Latvian literature refers to the literary works of Latvians past and present that were written in Latvian .

history

Independent Latvian literature has only existed since the second half of the 19th century. The German-language learned Enlightenment in Riga , where u. a. Johann Christoph Berens and Herder worked, first met the uneducated "non-Germans", d. H. Latvians, and thereby acquired a colonial element. From the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, German was therefore the dominant language in education and science, and also in administration until the Russification policy that began in 1860 and increasingly after 1905 . However, through the efforts of predominantly German-born pastors from Protestant Livonia , a written Latvian language that transcended dialect borders had also been created since the Reformation , in which religious and edifying works ( catechism , hymn and psalms ) were written. This book production made it clear early on that parts of the economically strengthening Latvian population were no longer willing to attend German secondary schools.

Early translations and collections in Latvian

The first book in Latvian, a translation of the Catholic catechism of the Dutch-German Jesuit Petrus Canisius , was not published in Latvia in 1585, but in Catholic Vilnius , Lithuania . A year later the first evangelical catechism ( the Small Catechism of Martin Luther ) in Latvian appeared in Königsberg . It was translated by Johann Rivius († 1585) and published by a college of pastors from Courland and Semigallia. This college also published a Latvian hymnbook in 1587, which was also published in Königsberg: Undeudian psalms and sacred songs or chants, which are sung in the churches of the Principality of Churland and Semigallien in Liefflande . The most important role in the development of the written Latvian language in Livonia in the 17th century was played by the German theologian Georg Mancelius and the author of the first Latvian translation of the Bible (1685–1689) Ernst Glück . The first Latvian grammar, written by Georg Mancelius and Johann Georg Rehehusen, was printed in Riga in 1644. An improved grammar by Gotthard Friedrich Stender was published in Braunschweig in 1761. Stender has also published translations of German aesthetic literature into Latvian in order to try to replace the folk tales that were harmful to the Enlightenment .

Young Latvian Movement and National Romanticism

An important building block in the search for a national culture was the finding of “original” texts in what was then Livonia . However, these were not written in Latvian, but in the language of the Baltic German upper class. Until well into the 19th century, Latvian was viewed by the Baltic Germans as a peasant language that was unsuitable for expressing sophisticated thoughts. That changed with the movement of young people , which was linked to the rich folk poetry and national romantic poetry of the early 19th century. However, the original texts often had to be translated from German first.

Johann Gottfried Herder's (1744–1803) thesis of the folk spirit was of great importance for the young Latvian historical awareness . Herder said that although the Latvian folk songs had no epic features, they must have existed in the early days, only they were lost during German rule. The Latvian Literary Society , which was founded in 1824 by German-Baltic clergy, was soon committed not only to research and documentation, but also to the promotion of the Latvian language.

Juris Alunāns (1864)

The attempts by Ansis Līventāls (1803–1878) to found an art poem based on the Latvian folk songs, however, completely missed their character. Juris Alunāns (1832–1864), who created numerous neologisms that quickly spread in everyday language, published songs in Latvian in 1856. This date is widely considered to be the hour of birth of modern Latvian literature, which has developed under the influence of late romanticism since the 1860s. A major event in the "search for the heroic" at this time was the creation of the Latvian "pseudo-national epic" Lāčplēsis ("The Bear Ripper ", 1888) on the basis of old myths (especially Heinrich's Livonian Chronicle ) by the poet Andrejs Pumpurs (1841– 1902). Since then, the character of the belligerent bear-ripper has frequently been taken up again in Latvian literature and in the theater. Since Latvian folklore was actually poor in epic elements, Lāčplēsis is today understood by science more as an artifact of romantic literature and not as a real folk epic in the sense of the Kalevala or the Nibelungenlied . Also Miķelis Krogzemis (1850-1879) published under the pseudonym "Auseklis" pseudomythologische poems considerable literary level. Krišjānis Barons (1835-1923) was known for his nine-volume collection of Latvian folk songs ( Dainas ).

The bear-eared hero Lāčplēsis on a Latvian postage stamp from 1995

realism

In the second half of the 19th century, a strong, realistic , partly socially critical current developed. Important representatives were Andrievs Niedra (1871–1943) and Juris Neikens (1826–1868). The novel Mērnieku laiki (1879) by the brothers Reinis (1839–1920) and Matīss Kaudzīte (1848–1926) , which was probably influenced by Gogols , became particularly well-known among the Baltic Germans and now also in Germany . It is the first realistic novel of the Baltic literatures and at the same time a detective novel that deals with the decline of the old Latvian peasant morality in the 1870s and the change of mentalities in the phase of the development of the capitalist economy and the redistribution of the country. The Latvian 1 lat coin was dedicated to the novel in 2009 .

The imprint of the Moravian Brethren in Latvia and their religious and didactic writings are attributed a melancholy, depressive tone in realistic literature (“peasant complaint”).

Early Latvian Modernism

Blaumanis farm and museum in Braki near Ērgļi (1999)

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the Latvian intelligentsia moved away from national romantic ideas and turned to Marxism , but also to symbolism . This intelligence has been called the New Stream (The New Stream, Jaunā strāva ). She was like B. the poet Eduard Veidenbaum (1867-1892), influenced by Russian and Western European socialism, tended to devalue romanticism, to criticize the previously unprejudiced Baltic German and to reject the transfiguration of the Latvian Middle Ages. Veidenbaum's satirical poems only circulated in transcripts; an attempt to publish them in 1908 led to the editor's arrest. The narrator and playwright Rūdolfs Blaumanis (1863–1908) was also influenced by symbolism and Chekhov , but his work also has naturalistic features.

Rainis and Aspazija (memorial plaque in Zurich )

The social democratic feminist Aspazija (Elza Pliekšāne nee Rozenberga, 1865–1943) fluctuated stylistically between the New Current and Neo-Romanticism in her poetry and plays . Her husband Jānis Rainis (also Jānis Pliekšāns, 1865-1929) is considered the most important writer in Latvia. He became known for his translation of Goethe's Faust, his poetry and the dramas Indulis un Ārija (Indulis and Arija) and Uguns un nakts (Fire and Night). Due to his engagement during the Russian Revolution in 1905 , he and Aspazija had to leave the country after its failure. After Latvia's independence in 1920, both were able to return to their homeland. The novels by Andrejs Upīts (1877–1970) show the influence of Leo Tolstoy . His works were banned under the dictatorship from 1934. Kārlis Skalbe (1879-1945) was known for poetry and art fairy tales in the style of Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar Wilde .

The time of the first statehood

Since 1918, Latvian has gained its current form as a highly developed, multifunctional language with a fixed system of styles and well-developed terminology. The orthography was also reformed from the German-based spelling to a phonetically and etymologically more appropriate version. Expressionism shaped poetry with a certain delay for a time, such as the work of Pēteris Ērmanis (1893–1969). Soon the struggles of the "old Latvians" for their freedom in the Middle Ages, the ethnography and folklore of an assumed "ancient Baltic society" received a positive rating, which was associated with the turning away from many authors from European modernism. But Jānis Medenis ' (1903–1961) attempt to develop new formal design methods from Latvian folk literature failed. In contrast to the national romanticism of the 19th century, the values ​​of war and the glorification of the heroism of the Latvians now came to the fore in a less literary form and served to support the right-wing conservative-authoritarian regime. Of all the territory of Latvia living peoples to was Semgallen special interest devoted as they counter to 1290 Teutonic Knights had fought. This motif influenced the literature of Latvia in the interwar period. One of Latvia's most popular poets at the time, Edvarts Virza (1883–1940), made the Zemgall leader “Nameise”, depicted in a Livonian rhyming chronicle, a national hero in his patriotic poem “The King Nameitis”. Also Aleksandrs Grins devoted to the Nameise myth. In addition, a neo-realistic literary movement developed, Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš (1877–1962), who grew up in the poorest of circumstances and who became known as a playwright, was in opposition to the regime of Kārlis Ulmanis , had a publication ban and became a member of the Soviet Latvian Writers' Union.

The Soviet time

During the Soviet occupation (1940–1941 and 1944–1991) the Latvian language existed in a socially bilingual situation alongside the Russian language. The official language of the state and the authorities became Russian. Aleksandrs Grīns and many other intellectuals were deported and victims of persecution. The standard of the texts sank except for the representatives of realism such as Anna Sakse (1905–1981). Older communist writers who had emigrated during the period of statehood also had their say, such as Andrejs Upīts (1877–1970), the "Latvian Gorky " who was active in all genres. His works were banned twice: once after the coup d'état by Kārlis Ulmanis in 1934, the second time in the Soviet era, the performance of his drama “Blooming Desert” and the distribution of his literary history.

Since the 1960s there has been a revival of literature, which found its expression above all in poetry, e. B. in the volume Šūpoles ("Swings", 1970) by Laima Līvena (1943–2006) and in the work Mirdza Ķempes (1907–1974). In the 1970s, the connection to exile and world literature was achieved. Important prose writers were Visvaldis Eglons (actually Visvaldis Lāms, 1923–1992) with his experimental novels, Regīna Ezera (1930–2002) and Andris Jakubāns (1941–2008). The Latvian theater of the 1970s anticipated many perestroika tendencies. Other authors such as Harijs Heislers (1926–1985) worked their way through the past - Heislers had been deported to Vorkuta for years . The works of the poet Knuts Skujenieks (* 1936), who had been imprisoned for years, could only be published after 1978, but only after 1990 in full.

Latvian literature in exile after 1944

Anšlavs Eglītis (1906–1993) first went into exile in Germany in 1944, then in 1952 in the USA. His artist novel Homo Novus , reflecting the bohemian atmosphere of Riga in the 1930s , was first published as a serial novel in occupied Latvia until October 1944. It was first published in full in the USA in 1946.

In 1944/1945 a total of around 200,000, often well-educated, Latvians left their homeland. More than 170 writers settled in West Germany alone, including Pēteris Ērmanis and Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš, who continued to publish only in Latvian and whose texts were never translated into German. The result was an extensive exile literature that initially turned to the past and, since the 1960s, increasingly to the problems of the present. The poet Gunārs Saliņš (1924-2010) became the spokesman for the Latvian New York artists' association Hell's Kitchen Artists , and Mārtiņš Zīverts (1903-1990) became the highly regarded representative of the Latvian theater in exile.

In the following years a "war of words" sparked between the writers who remained in the country and those who had fled. Those who stayed in Latvia made fun of the sentimental nationalism in the works of the exiled writers, while those in exile believed that those who stayed at home had submitted to the Soviet regime. Only today is there a critical examination of literature in exile as well as the literature that emerged in Soviet-occupied Latvia, and a partial revaluation.

David Bezmozgis (* 1973) immigrated to Canada with his parents as a child . In his novel The Free World (2011 in English) he describes the situation of Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union to Toronto and their conflicts in the capitalist West based on his own experience.

Latvian literature today

As always, almost sold out: The Riga Russian Theater Mikhail Chekhov ( Mihaila Čehova Rīgas Krievu teātris ) in November 2018

After the restoration of Latvian independence, some exiled authors returned to Latvia, including the poet Astrīde Ivaska (1926–2015), who had lived in the USA; however, the dividing line has not yet been overcome.

The “National Awakening” of the 1990s revived interest in the language itself and in playing with it. The most peculiar prose works of the 1990s were oriented u. a. to James Joyce , such as Aivars Ozoliņš ' Dukts (1991) or Valerjana dzeive i redzīni (“Des Valerjan's Life and Views”, 1996) by Oskars Seiksts (* 1973) and Valentīns Lukaševičs (* 1968) , written in the Latvian dialect . Alberts Bels (* 1938) experienced a renaissance in the late 1980s during perestroika of the novels he wrote in the 1960s and 1970s, which were then banned or censored. With his trilogy Latviešu labirints (The Latvian Labyrinth, 1998), Uguns atspīdumi uz olu čaumalām ( Fire reflection on eggshells, 2000) and Vientulība masu sarīkojumos (loneliness, 2005) , Bels presented a disillusioning literary analysis of Latvian society after the fall . The novels Ēnu apokrifs (1996, German title “Invisible Shadows”, Dumont 1998) by Gundega Repše and Kāpēc tu raudāji? (2003, German title “Why did you cry”, Ammann 2007; Fischer 2009) by Dace Rukšāne deal in detail with the Soviet era in secondary narrative strands. In 2011 Repše initiated the Mēs series of novels. Latvija, XX gadsimts (We. Latvia, 20th century) an - by 2018 thirteen novels were published by as many authors of the middle generation, each dealing with specific phases or sections of Latvian history in the 20th century.

Poetry is also strongly represented in modern Latvian literature; Mention should be made of Kārlis Vērdiņš (* 1979), Inga Gaile (* 1976), Marts Pujāts (* 1982), Pēteris Draguns (* 1976), Anna Auziņa (* 1975) or Māris Salējs (* 1971), who also wrote Polish poetry ins Latvian translated. Uldis Bērziņš and Pēters Brūveris (1957–2011) stand out among the experimental poets .

In the Latgalian or so-called “High Latvian” language, which is spoken in the Catholic, Russian-Orthodox and Jewish multicultural south-east of the country, one emerged from the 18th century to 1944, then in emigration and, since the restoration of independence, in Latvia manageable number of publications.

Russian -speaking authors continue to be present in Latvia, according to the Орбита (Orbit) group of authors founded in 1999 with its diverse, partly multimedia activities, which publishes bilingual Russian-Latvian and Russian-English works. It includes the lyricist and dramatist Sergej Timofejev (Sergejs Timofejevs, * 1970), as well as Artur Punte, Semyon Khanin and Vladimir Svetlov. Founded in 1883 in the heart of Riga's old town, Mihaila Čehova Rīgas Krievu teātris (Riga Russian Theater Michail Chekhov) is one of the oldest Russian-language theaters outside of Russia.

literature

  • R. Ekmanis: Latvian Literature under the Soviets. Nordland Publ., Belmont (Mass.) 1978, ISBN 0-913124-32-4 .
  • Jānis Andrups, Vitauts Skalve: Latvian Literature . (Essays; Introduction by Arnolds Spekke) Publisher E. Goppers, Stockholm 1954
  • Aleksis Rubulis (Editor): Latvian Literature . Published by Daugavas Vanagi, Toronto 1964
  • O. Čakars, A. Grigulis, M. Losberga: Latviešu literatūras vēsture no pirmsākumiem līdz XIX gadsimta 80. gadiem . Izdevniecība Zvaigzne, Rīga 1990
  • Ināra Stašulāne (ed.): Latviešu rakstniecība biogrāfijās . Zinātne Publishing House, Riga 2003. ISBN 9984-698-48-3 .
  • Ērika Zimule: Literatūra Rokasgrāmata skolēniem un studentiem . Zvaigzne Publishing House, Riga 2004. ISBN 9984-36-839-4 .
  • Raimonds Briedis: Latviešu literatūras hronika . (2 volumes) Valters un Rapa publishing house, Riga 2006. ISBN 9984-768-40-6 .
  • Viktors Hausmanis et al .: Latviešu literatūras vēsture . (3 volumes) Verlag Zvaigzne, Riga 2000. Published by Latvijas Universitātes Literatūras, folkloras and mākslas institūts . ISBN 9984-17-033-0 .
  • Ludis Bērziņš / Kārlis Egle / Kārlis Kārkliņš / Zenta Mauriņa (eds.): Latviešu literatūras vēsture . (6 volumes) Literatūra publishing house, Riga 1935.
  • Friedrich Scholz: The literatures of the Baltic States. Their creation and development . (= Treatises of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. 80). Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1990. ISBN 3-531-05097-4 .
  • Friedrich Scholz: The Latvian Literature. In: Kindler new literature lexicon , Vol. 20, Munich 1996, pp. 361–367.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Silvija Pāvidis: Un- German Psalms . In: Ilze Krokša, Aina Balaško (ed.): Vācu kultūra Latvijā. Ieskats vācu-latviešu novadu kultūras un vācu biedrību vēsturē = German culture in Latvia. Insight into the history of the German-Latvian regional cultures and the German club history . Latvijas Vācu Savienība, Riga 2009, ISBN 978-9984-39-832-7 , p. 135.
  2. ^ The Baltic States in the linguistic and historical context of the European Reformation. ( Memento of November 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) AHF Information No. 056, June 25, 2003 (PDF; 91 kB)
  3. ↑ Scholz 1996, p. 362.
  4. ↑ Julija Boguna: Latvia as a translated nation. (= East-West-Express, Culture and Translation, Vol. 22.) Frank & Timme-Verlag Berlin 2014. ISBN 978-3-7329-0103-6 .
  5. ↑ Scholz 1996, p. 362.
  6. ↑ Scholz 1996, p. 363.
  7. ^ K. Klavins (Kļaviņš): The interpretations of the Middle Ages in Latvia during the Latvians' national awakening.
  8. ^ German excerpts edition under the title: "Die Revisorenzeit", editing: Maria Guleke , Rigaer Tageblatt No. 26–61, 1883, complete translation and new edition: " Landvermesserzeiten ", editor and publisher Kaspars Kļaviņš, Salzburg 2012, ISBN 978-3 -9503342-0-3 . A theater version directed by Viesturs Kairišs was performed at the Latvian National Theater in 2007.
  9. ↑ Kaspars Kļaviņš, Introduction to Surveyor Times , 2012, pp. 3 and 23
  10. ↑ a b K. Klavins (Kļaviņš): The idea of ​​the Middle Ages as an example of the changing value system in Latvia during the 20th century.
  11. ↑ Veidenbaum, Eduard Jekabovic. In: Great Soviet Encyclopedia . 1979.
  12. ↑ Liene Lauska: Pēteris Ērmanis and Janis Jaunsudrabiņš. The social and cultural integration of Latvian writers in Latvia and in German exile. Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 2011. ISBN 978-3-631-61087-9 .
  13. ^ Literature from Latvia. to: lettland-guide.de , accessed July 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ For these and other book publications, see translations from Latvian by Matthias Knoll at literatur.lv.
  15. ↑ Janīna Kursīte, Anna Stafecka: Latgaliešu literatūra . Zvaigzne abc, Riga 2015; Download from Wordpress.com
  16. ^ Website of the Орбита group of authors
  17. ↑ website Mihaila Čehova Rīgas Krievu teātris