Jaunā Gaita nr. 205, jūnijs 1996
JG 205
Against the background of Quebec's historical push for distinctiveness, if not outright independence, and the ongoing struggle of immigrants to Canada to maintain a diversity of cultures within an ill-defined Canadian whole or 'mosaic', JG contributing editor Juris Mazutis (Canada) surveys the impact of many factors that have traditionally divided society and others that are pushing its component parts closer together on a global scale - whether politicians and government bureaucracies like it or not. In his essay in this issue, Mazutis questions whether we can continue to function effectively on the basis of old assumptions and models in a rapidly-changing, interrelated world and urges renewed acceptance of personal responsibility in determining future directions across a wide range of debatable issues.
In the end-game of the ideological conflict whose outcome is already decided, Mazutis suggests that we still have to tread thoughtfully, calling on courage and innovation, when dealing with a host of problems that refuse to go away. We can leave a better world for future generations only if we become more informed and pro-active in making key decisions.
The conclusion of Mazutis' essay will be published in the next issue of Jaunā Gaita.
A central theme of Jaunā Gaita 205 is Latvian literature, past and present: authors from six countries and three continents analyze works ranging from Jānis Poruks to Juris Rozītis.
Aina Siksna Sweden) analyzes Jānis Poruks' short story "Čūska" ("The Snake", 1905) as a reflection of Poruks' difficult relationship with his mother. Her psychoanalytic interpretation is based on Melanie Klein's theory of a schizoparanoid stage in the development of children.
Gundars Pļavkalns (Australia) discusses the recent prize-winning novel Kuņas dēls by Juris Rozītis (Sweden), an odd work about Latvians and dogs, which Pļavkalns judges to be worthy of being compared to Guenter Grass and Salman Rushdie, although P4avkalns points out that the novel appears to be derivative of other recent literary works. However, as Grass himself observed, "Writers are never self-generated, but come from somewhere." (G. Grass, On Writing and Politics, Secker & Warburg, 1985.)
Four well known poets are represented in this issue: Ingrīda Vīksna (Canada), Gundars Pļavkalns, Voldemārs Avens (USA), who is also our visual arts editor, and Paulis Birznieks (USA). In our prose section two women writers from Australia, Erna Lēmane and Daina Šķēle offer distinctive and unflattering stories about men.
Biruta Sūrmane (USA) reviews the literary annual Varavīksne (1994), Juris Silenieks (USA) writes about two new works: Aina Kraujiete's (USA) Two Poems, and Aina Vāvere's (Australia) novel Why Love. Ildze Kronta (Latvia) contributes some interesting reflections about the 1995 reprint of Imants Ziedonis' Kurzemīte, which had a huge impact on Latvians in the seventies. Today, Kronta concludes, the moral crisis which it revealed has only deepened.
Indulis Kažociņš (England) analyzes the views of the former prime minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, as expressed in Bildt's essay in the erudite journal Foreign Affairs (1994) about the relationship between Russia and the Baltic states.
Composer Pauls Dambis (Latvia) concludes his three-part article about Latvian composers since the Second World War.
Juris Žagarinš (USA), an experienced "surfer" in the medium of computer networks; inaugurates a new section in Jaunā Gaita on cyberspace ("Kiberkambaris"). Claiming that the computer as a communications tool is destined eventually to become as important in the current renaissance of the Latvian nation as print technology was in the last century, Žagariņš proposes to bring regularly to the readers of Jaunā Gaita some flavour of this new medium. In this issue he presents his own translation of a report on communication between Archy the cockroach and the planet Mars from Don Marquis's The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel.
Voldemārs Avens describes the recent exhibition by Gita Treimanis, a Latvian textile artist living in the USA, in New York.
The frontispiece is by Gita Treimanis, and the cover is by Voldemārs Avens.
L.Z., J.Z.
