Jaunā Gaita nr. 294. Vasara 2018

JG 294

L I T E R A T U R E

Four poets share their recent work: Inese Zandere, Māris Krautmanis, Dagnija Dreika, and Ingrida Tārauda. Juris Zvirgzdiņš, Lienīte Medne-Spāre and Guna Roze share short stories.

Paolo Pantaleo, whose publishing house “Damocle” in Venice has produced many Italian translations of Latvian literature, explains in an essay addressed to his son why he must learn the Latvian language.

V I S U A L   A R T

Dace Lamberga describes an exhibition of Baltic art, “Âmes Sauvages”, at the Orsay Museum in Paris last summer. She also describes an exhibition of tapestries by Egils Rozenbergs at the Latvian National Museum of Art, where Lamberga is a curator.

Art editor Linda Treija introduces Agnese Rudzīte, a painter whose work will be on display at Liepāja Museum in Latvia this fall. Many examples of the art of Rozenbergs and Rudzīte appear throughout this issue.

The cover art is from a painting by Vasara Rauda (9 years young) of Riga Castle on the bank of the Daugava River.

M U S I C

In an interview with her colleague, composer Anna Veismane, music editor Dace Aperāne discusses the choral ballade Gaismas pils (Castle of Light). It gave voice to the Latvian national awakening when Jāzeps Vītols composed it to the words of the poet Auseklis in 1899 and continues to do so to the present day, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Latvian nation-state.

A C T U A L I T I E S

Ojārs Spārītis, president of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, introduces a manifesto from the 4th World Congress of Latvian Scientists as “not a call to arms, but a cry of desperation” against politicians who fail to support scientific research and education. Publicist and commentator Otto Ozols warns voters against negativism and populism, and urges taking a broad view of national issues in the parliamentary elections on October 6.

H I S T O R Y

Juris Šlesers introduces recently discovered fragments of an apparently unfinished historical novel about the Russian-Livonian wars in the 16th century. The author, Valdis Zeps (1932-1996), professor of linguistics at the University of Wisconsin, was influential among counter-culture Latvians during the '60's.

Lāsma Gaitniece tells the life story of Elizabete Jakovļeva (1892-1955), a professor of forensic medicine at the University of Latvia.

B O O K S

Bārbala Simsone reviews Poseidona galva (The Head of Poseidon), a novel by Egils Venters. Included are some pages of Venter’s prose intended for his next novel, titled Tenebre.

Juris Šlesers reviews Māra Celle’s memoir, Mežaparka meitene uzaug Amerikā (The Girl from Mežaparks grows up in America).

Kristīne Ilziņa reviews a collection of poetry by Liāna Langa, Velēnu kleita (Dress of Sod).

Andrejs Grāpis reviews a collection of poetry by Imants Auziņš (1937-2013), Klusums nav mēmums (Silence is not Muteness).

Lāsma Gaitniece reviews a Latvian translation of Nikita Petrov’s Bendes, Viņi izpildīja Staļina pavēles (Никита Петров. Палачи. Они выполняли заказы Сталина) (Executioners. They implemented Stalin's orders). Not available in English.

B R I E F L Y   N O T E D

News shorts include In memoriam, awards, recent publications, cultural events, and miscellaneous.