JG261: IN THIS ISSUE

LETTERS AND THE VISUAL ARTS

Poems by Marija Briede, Leons Briedis and their son Adrians Briedis-Makovejs evince three distinctly singular poetic sensibilities, all sparkling with the shared verbal artistry displayed in their collectively authored play, Plato and Marija, or The Third Mind (JG 255, 2008).
Indra Gubiņa fondly remembers a friend who accompanied her on trips to Tenerife, Crete and Greece some 20 years ago.
Laima Kalniņa recounts a childhood lesson on the joys of philanthropy.
Art historian Ruta Čaupova, senior researcher at the Latvian Academy of Art, describes the challenges and opportunities confronting sculptors in Latvia during the ongoing economic crisis. Her lavishly illustrated article features the work of Gļebs and Kirils Panteļejevs, Kristaps Gulbis, Aigars Bikše, Ivars Drulle, Juris Švalbe, Igors and Ansis Dobičins, Jānis Karlovs, and Ojārs Feldbergs. Čaupova concludes that hard times have not dampened the creativity or the productivity of these artists.
Linda Treija, our newest contributing editor, writes about an art exhibit held in Philadelphia last February, and presents colorful samples of the work of each of the three participants: Sarma Muižniece-Liepiņa, Krista Nīgale and herself.
The cover art is by Ilmārs Rumpēters, whose myriad contributions over several decades have drawn acclaim from the international design community.

LITERARY COMMENT

Ojārs Zanders writes about the profound influence of Kārlis Skalbe’s writings on Latvian culture. His life (1879-1945) spans perfectly the gradual, turbulent rise and abrupt fall of the first independent Republic of Latvia. Skalbe was a guiding light of the national awakening and his poetry and fables have never grown old-fashioned or irrelevant to the Latvian people.
The period of perestroika and glastnost’ (1987-1991) was a time of intensely amplified cultural contact between Latvians living inside and outside of Latvia. In her continuing account of these contacts, Eva Eglāja-Kristsone begins with the Chautauqua conference of 1986, which spawned the dissident group Helsinki-86, and ends with the Worldwide Congress of Latvian Writers at the University of Stockholm, in June 1989.

ACTUALITIES, HISTORY, MEMORIES

Rolfs Ekmanis takes up the thread of his serialized history of radio broadcasting into Latvia from the West during the Cold War. Having outlined in past issues the history of broadcasting from Madrid (1955-1965; 1969-1972) and from Frankfurt (1965-1972), he now presents a synopsis of the genesis of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

Laimonis Purs, a prose writer and playwright on the other side of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, recalls the importance of RFE/RL during the Cold War: It was as much a part of daily nourishment as breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Sniedze Ruņģe pays homage to Dr. Valdis Muižnieks (1927-2009), an influential voice among Latvian political exiles.
Jānis Krēsliņš, Jr. reminisces about theologian Father Kazimirs Vilnis (1907-1988).
Jānis Krēsliņš, Sr. remembers Columbia University professor Sigurds Grava (1934-2009): architect, city planner, and founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies.
In his continuing saga of life at DP Camp Alt-Garge, Germany, Uldis Siliņš remembers the year 1945 as a year of girls and American cigarettes.
Juris Žagariņš gets interviewed by Juris Zommers on the occasion of receiving two important awards for devotion to Latvian culture, and offers a fresh installment of Kiberkambaris, an internet discussion tangent to the topic of aid to the needy in Latvia.
Baiba Lapiņa Strunska makes an appeal to common sense on the issue of double citizenship for Latvians residing and working abroad.
The Marginalia section, as always, is chock-full of news shorts relating to the culture and actualities of Latvia as well as other Nordic, Central and East European lands.

BOOK REVIEWS

Anna Velēda Žīgure’s Viņi.Ceļā, a study dedicated to bringing together those who fled the Soviet occupation and those who stayed (reviewed by Aina Siksna and Astra Roze)

Jānis Elsbergs’ book of poetry panti (Juris Silenieks and Anna Auziņa)
Margita Gailītis’ (ed.) Tilti vol. I and II, separate anthologies of prose and poetry in exile (Juris Silenieks)
Zenta Mauriņa élete és esszéi, a collection of Mauriņa’s essays in Hungarian and in Latvian published as part of Folia Baltica, edited by Pusztay János (Lāsma Ģibiete)
Modris Zihmanis’ novel Bandu bērns (Lāsma Ģibiete)
Leonhards Latkovskis’ Aglona: A History of the Church and the Monastery (Juris Vīksniņš)
Ilze Ziņģīte’s (ed.) Tautas lietišķā māksla Latvijā – the proceedings of a conference on folk art (2007) at the Latvian National Museum (Māris Brancis)
Journal of Baltic Studies XL/4, 2009 (Gundars Ķeniņš Kings).

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