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JG 61
EXILE AS A PERSONAL PROBLEM, Gunars Irbe, p. 17
Exile, originally a political problem, has in 21 years become
predominantly a personal one, demanding continuous personal decisions. The
individual member of an exiled group has made an adjustment to his
environment and is no more bound by necessity to his compatriots. There may
develop differences between his own and his group's attitudes to such basic
concepts as freedom and truth. An exiled writer faces conflicting loyalties
- to his colleagues in his homeland who are prevented from communicating
with him by strong repressions, and to his audience in exile which seems
imaginary and gives him little support. The exiled writer must continually
answer the question: Why am I here today? and face decisions in order to
retain his integrity. For him creative freedom is indivisible from personal
freedom.
FOUR SWEDISH POETS, Andrejs Irbe, p. 18
As the fourth installment of JG poetry in translation series, Andrejs
Irbe presents four Swedish poets, Harry Martinson, Stig Carlson, Sonja
Akesson, and Tomas Transtromer. A short essay accompanies the translations.
NEILIS IS THE LATVIAN PAUL KLEE, Antons Vorkalis, p. 30
A. Vorkalis interviews the painter Kārlis Neilis (b. 1906) who lives in
Austria. A recent one-man show in Stockholm marked Neilis' sixtieth
birthday. The artist talks on contemporary art, art criticism, buyers and
collectors, the Latvian element in art, and his own painting.
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE LATVIAN STATE, Ilgvars Spilners, p. 33
It is not idle to think about a future independent Latvian state, but our
concern at present should be with the ideals and ideas underlying it, not
its probability or practicality. An independent Latvian state is needed to
protect the Latvian nation from physical and cultural annihilation. But the
effectiveness of an independent Latvian state will depend largely on the
desire of its citizens to take responsible part in its government. Therefore
it is important to instill now into Latvians political ideals according to
which they may shape their state in the future.
MATTER, THOUGHTS, AND SUSPICIONS, Imants Bite, p. 35
The author takes issue with the symposium on abstract art in JG 41. He
points out the sensationalist element in modern art. He defines painting as
a static system of optic stimuli arranged on a plane, in which the given
qualities of matter are used to evoke complex psychic processes. Being made
of matter, a painting is never 'abstract'. It also always is a
representation and an imitation, regardless whether it represents an object
per se or the emotion produced by an object in the artist. If the image of
an emotion corresponds exactly to the emotion itself, i.e. the painting can
be 'understood', then it is not abstract, rather as much as imitation as a
'realistic' representation of a given object. If the emotion cannot be
objectified in an image, being too personal and private, then it belongs to
the field of psychiatry, not art. And if a spot of color is not to be
understood as representation of an emotion but as a stimulus to such an
emotion, then we have returned to the principle of association, so important
in painting objects per se.
THE EVOLUTION OF LATVIAN INDEPENDENCE ( IV ), Uldis Germanis, p. 38
Shortly after the occupation of Riga by German forces on Sept. 3, 1917, a
Bloc of Democratic Parties in Riga (BDP) was formed, which early in October
passed a resolution demanding an independent, indivisible, neutral Latvian
republic. From the BDP evolved the National Council which on Nov. 18, 1918
declared Latvian independence. The author discusses the role of the BDP and
the Latvian Social Democratic Party as well as their respective publications
under the Kerensky government. The strong Bolshevik element among the
Latvian riflemen backed the SDP and led to its victory in the province of
Vidzeme, where it established a majority dictatorship.
THE LATEST ABOUT TOTAL PROPAGANDA, Uldis Germanis, p. 51
Bruno Kalnin's doctoral thesis (University of Stockholm, 1956) has been
re-issued in a condensed version as Agitprop. Die Propaganda in der
Sowjetunion, Wien-Frankfurt-Zürich, Europa 1966. The author demonstrates a
total, permanent, and systematic propaganda machinery, doubtless the most
complex in the world. Its shortcomings are caused by shortcomings in the
Soviet system itself, - the restless and nationalistic aspirations of
non-Russian nations and the evident gap between reality and propagandistic
wishful thinking.
HAPPENINGS ON THE BORDERLINE OF IMAGINATION, Ojars Kratins, p. 52
Andrejs Irbe's second collection of short stories The Goat of Marisandrs
(Viisterās, Ziemeļblāzma, 1966) is less subjective and more concrete than
his first one. He is concerned with broadening the reader's consciousness in
unexpected directions and in revealing the manifold, often clashing private
world views of human beings. The stories fall into several very distinct
types, from a quasi detective story to a balladesque horror tale. Irbe,
foremost among the younger Latvian authors, is a master in the subtle use of
symbolism.
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF LATVIAN FOLKLORE - XXI, Laimonis Streips, p. 59
Laimonis Streips continues his humoristic investigation of Latvian
folklore, concentrating on the role of rivers. The drawings by Reinis
Birzgalis ably assist him.
