JG289: IN THIS ISSUE

JG 289

L I T E R A T U R E

Indra Gubiņa presents five recent poems. Gubiņa has authored many books and contributed prose and poetry to Jaunā Gaita for over 60 years.

Agnese Rutkēviča shares selections from her yet to be published collection Prombūtnes (Absences). She works as a playwright/actress in Latvia and Lithuania.

We present seven poems of Emily Dickinson, almost universally considered to be one of the most significant of all American poets, in English and in Latvian translation. The translator Kārlis Vērdiņš is a poet and literary critic in Latvia, currently at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Historian Mirdza Kate Baltais pays poetic tribute to Solveiga Miezīte (1937-2015), a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and at the University of Latvia.

Benita Veisberga, author of many books and publications and a perennial contributor to Jaunā Gaita offers her personal musings and recollections in “Pieraksti” (Notations). Included are photos of paintings by her husband Ēris (Ervīns Antons, 1921-2001).

Poet/translator Uldis Bērziņš reflects on his collaboration with poet Knuts Skujenieks in translating an anonymous 13th century epic poem, The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, from Old East Slavic to Latvian.

“The Saddest Face in the Whole World” is a short story about a painful experience in child rearing, cheerfully told. The author, Sabīne Košeļeva lives in Latvia and recently published her first novel.

Lāsma Gaitniece, née Ģibiete shares an account of a young couple heading out from the city to a parental country home on Midsummer Night. Gaitniece is a doctoral student and language instructor at Rīga Technical University. She regularly contributes book reviews, including two in this issue.

Author/publicist Otto Ozols expresses optimism about the rebirth of a Latvian ethos in contemporary Latvian literature, but warns that this may not be sustainable in the long run.

V I S U A L A R T

Art historian Daina Auziņa of the Latvian National Art Museum describes an exhibit of Miervaldis Polis at the newly renovated National Art Museum in Rīga. Polis is a multifaceted artist, given to photorealism and trompe l’oeil as well as performance art. Photo-reproductions of three of the works displayed in the exhibit are on pages 54, 63, and 75.

Art editor Linda Treija reviews an exhibit by Ilmārs Rumpēters in Rīga, Latvia. Rumpēters reigned for many years as Jaunā Gaita’s art editor, producing many of its dazzling covers. The four exhibited paintings are reproduced on pages 1, 5, 15 and 38.

H I S T O R Y A N D A C T U A L I T I E S

The fourth installment of Madara Eversone’s meticulously researched history of the Latvian Soviet Writers Union (1956-1959) looks into the effects of the so-called “national communist thaw” on official attitudes toward pre-soviet literature. Eversone is affiliated with the University of Latvia Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art.

Agris Dzenis, a historian at Kandava Regional Museum in Latvia, writes that the ritualistic feasts of the ancient Balts were more important to them than prayers, sacrificial offerings or any other form of magic.

The section “In a Few Words” highlights recent Latvian cultural events in Latvia and in the diaspora.

B O O K S

Bārbala Simsone reviews Jānis Lejiņš’ historical novel Vīrieša sirds (The Heart of Man).

Juris Šlesers discusses the writings of Toms Kreicbergs, known as Tom Crosshill when writing in English.

Anita Liepiņa comments on Aiz šiem vārtiem zeme vaid (Beyond These Gates the Earth Moans), by Kārlis Kangeris et al., a study of the Nazi concentration camp established in 1941 in Salaspils, Latvia.

Lāsma Gaitniece reviews two historical novels, Bergs & relikviju mednieki (Bergs & the Relic Hunters) by Arno Jundze, and Virsnieku sievas (The Officers’ Wives) by Andra Manfelde.

We enumerate and briefly describe recently published books in the Latvian language as well as books about Latvians in other languages.