Jaunā Gaita nr. 310. rudens 2022

 

L I T E R A T U R E

Amanda Aizpuriete, Nora Kalna, Andris Ogriņš and Lija Brīdaka offer selections of their latest poetry. Sergejs Moreino shares his translation from the Russian language of samples of poetry by contemporary German poet Wilhelm Bartsch.
 

Ēriks Kūlis' short story conjures a day in the hell of wartorn Ukraine. Sandra Dieziņa imagines a woman’s long life, surviving the dross of a Soviet collective farm and now the Covid pandemic. Uva Kaijaka pays homage to her father – poet, writer, and translator Jāzeps Osmanis (1932-2014). Inese Pētersone translates an excerpt from Zudušais kvartāls (Quartier perdu), a 1984 novel by contemporary French writer Patrick Modiano. Silvija Ģibiete translates a short story by German writer Jens Bahre (1945-2007), taken from his collected stories Der Mörder macht Eintopf. Kriminalerzählungen, 1984.

F O L K L O R E

Writer, translator and philosopher Paulis Birznieks offers examples of ten moral values inherent in the Latvian folk tradition: (1) be good to other people, (2) be good to yourself, (3) be good to all animals, (4) learn the difference between good and evil, (5) resist evil, (6) apply reason in all matters, (7) take care of your health, (8) pursue education lifelong, (9) secure material well-being, and (10) learn the meaning of life.
 

V I S U A L  A R T

Artist, educator, and head of the American Latvian Artists Association and JG art editor Linda Treija describes the exhibition of art she helped organize at the XV Latvian Song and Dance Festival in St. Paul Minnesota last summer. Treija also writes about the life and artistic testament of painter and poet Voldemārs Avens (1924-2022). Juris Šlesers, also a member of our editorial staff, writes about an exhibit of the work of artist/scenographer Ardis Vinklers (1907-2000) in the town of Staicele, Latvia. Illustrations of art works are displayed throughout this issue. The cover design is by Linda Treija.
 

M U S I C

Dace Aperāne, chairperson of TILTS, an organization for cultural interaction and enrichment between Latvians in Latvia and Latvians abroad, reports on the concerts at last summer's XV Song and Dance Festival in St. Paul, MN.
 

A B O U T   B O O K S

Anda Ogriņa reviews Elīna Kokareviča’s collection of short stories Rēgi (Ghosts).

Jūlija Dibovska – Ramona Indriksone’s novel Es biju cita (I Was an Other).

Silvija Ģibiete – Daiga Mazvērsīte’s Mirgo mana Margarita (My Sparkling Margarita), a biography of popular singer/songwriter Margarita Vilcāne (1940).

Ingus Barovskis – Rihards Bargais’ novel Nemodernās Slampes meitenes (Unmodern Girls of Slampe Township).

Sanita Dāboliņa – Iveta Troalika’s Tūlīt paliks labāk (It’ll Get Better Right Away), a novel.
 

I N   M E M O R I A M

Poet Maija Meirāne shares remembrance of Agate Nesaule (1938-2022) a writer of novels and literary criticism who achieved worldwide acclaim for her 1995 memoir, A Woman in Amber. Healing the Trauma of War and Exile.