Latvian Literature

[Eric]

I'm perhaps not the best cicerone for Latvian literature. I can't read the language, and all I've read has tended to be in anthologies of short prose and poetry, translated into French, German or Swedish. But I know a few names.

I shall expand on some of them in due course, but suffice it to say that contemporary Latvian authors (and modern classics) exist. I can't do the all the accents on my computer, but here are some of the names of serious Latvian literary authors:

Vizma Bel?evica, Imants Ziedonis, Regina Ezera, Nora Ikstena, Uldis Berzins, Juris Kronbergs, Arvis Kolmanis, Gundega Rep?e, Amanda Aizpuriete, Mara Zalite, Knuts Skujenieks, Klavs Elsbergs, Andra Neiburga, Maris Caklais, Janis Einfelds, Leons Briedis, Alberts Bels, Aleksandrs Caks, Zenta Maurina.

Googling can reveal more. The last of these was a Dostoevsky expert and wrote in German. This has tended to mask her own writings.

The Estonians and Lithuanians have, since the post-Soviet era starting in 1991, been much better at promoting their respective national literatures than the Latvians. But this does not mean that the books written in Latvian are any less interesting, just that the national will is lacking to promote them with vigour.

[Patrick Murtha]

Here are some helpful web sources on Latvian literature:

History of Latvian Literature

http://www.li.lv/index.php?Itemid=48...tent&task=view

Latvian Literature and Authors

http://learning.lib.vt.edu/slav/lit_...s_latvian.html

Latvian Literature Centre

http://www.literature.lv/en/index.html

Latvian Academic Library

http://www.acadlib.lv/e/

Latvian Literature in Exile

http://www.lituanus.org/1972/72_1_03.htm

(Money quote: "Latvian bibliophily, or perhaps bibliomania, evidenced by the fact that we have the highest per capita rate of books published, must have some relation to our cyclopean literary productivity.")

Literature (Ministry of Culture of Latvia)

http://www.kultura.lv/en/heritage/33/

(Money quote: "Yet a typical Latvian is like a radish ― red on the outside and white inside.")

[Eric]

Thanks Patrick; Leons Briedis and others have done a good job - in making lists.

I just wonder if anyone that knows something about contemporary Latvian literature has supplemented the URLs you list with a complete list of which specific contemporary Latvian novels and poetry collections have appeared in Britain and the States over, roughgly the past 15-20 years.

I think that Lituanus may be more knowledgeable about Lithuanian literature, given its name. The two countries don't necessarily know much about one another's literature, although the exile communities in the USA and Canada are perhaps closer than writers within the countries themselves.

My problem with Latvian literature is as follows: they are good at listing who, in their opinion, are the "greats" of Latvian literature, but don't give those of us who can't read Latvian much of a clue as to what to read in, say, English translation. The magazine "Latvian Literature" doesn't appear to have been published for a year or two.

I read my first Latvian poetry and short prose, by Vizma Bel?evica and Imants Ziedonis, thanks to Juris Kronbergs' Swedish translations back in the late 1970s. But I can't name one Latvian novel that has appeared in English since then. And I mean one written by someone living in Latvia itself, not an exile Latvian who has lived in the USA, Sweden or Australia for half a century.

I'm hoping that some of the genuinely serious Latvian novelists such as Ezera, Ikstena and Rep?e have been translated into English, a language we can all read. But up to now I have no proof of this.

We have enough scholars and librarians that make lists and more lists of "minor" literatures. Now what we need is six of seven novels, published in translation by mainstream publishers, in order to show the English-speaking world that there is more to Latvian literature than lists of lists of untranslated books.

Even the Latvian Literature Centre, although willing and serious, has not yet successfully solved that problem.

[Eric]

I'm again investigating Latvian literature, just down the road from Estonia, about whose literature I know a good deal more. But there are several interesting Latvian authors, most of whom are listed in the various issues of the periodical "Latvian Literature", which you can find on the following website in the left-hand column:

LLC

There, you can find various excerpts, too.

***

One important author, in my opinion, is Regīna Ezera (1930-2002). I shall start a separate thread for her. As usual, you can find her works in German and one or two other languages, but English is conspicuous by its absence. So, at present, I'm reading a series of her short-stories involving animals in German translation: "Der Mann mit der Hundenase". Most of these stories were written in 1974:



Source: Author

***

A second woman author from Latvia that I've been investigating is Laima Muktupāvela (born 1962). This author has written a novel about being a migrant worker and mushroom picker in Ireland. I've just obtained the German version, as once again, an English version of "Mushroom Covenant", beyond a couple of excerpts on the internet, does not appear to exist:



***

As I also read Swedish, I have access to the works of various poets translated into that language: Knuts Skujenieks, Uldis Berzins, Vizma Belsevica and Imants Ziedonis. This is mainly thanks to the Swedish Latvian, Juris Kronbergs, himself the son of Latvian exiles, who has built up a reputation over the past 30 years as the most important literary translator from Latvian into Swedish. He is also a poet in his own right.

[kpjayan]

I have picked up a book in one of the sale here. Written by Alexander Garros and Aleksei Evdokimov ; Headcrusher ( haven't read this book yet).

The author details given in the book says, they both work as journalists in Riga, Latvia. Not sure if they are of Latvian or Russian origin.

[Eric]

I found this out recently from the Latvian Literature Centre publication, Latvian Literature (partly reproduced from another thread):

Valentīns Jākobsons
I read, last night, a biographical note about of a Latvian author who really did suffer under Stalin. On the Latvian Literature Centre website, the story I read was not that spectacular, but his biography alone speaks volumes:

Jākobsons was born in 1922, went to the French Lyceum in Riga from which he matriculated in 1941. Alas, during that same year, the one in which the Soviet Union had annexed all three Baltic countries, he and his family were sent to Siberia. In 1947 he was given, on top of this, the standard GULag prison sentence in those late-Stalinist years - 25+5 - which meant 25 years of labour camp, plus a further five years of exile outside of your homeland. The intention was, of course, to work such people to death. So the last five years would be rendered unnecessary.

Luckily for him, he was freed and rehabilitated in 1955 and was allowed to return to Latvia the following year. It doesn't say why he got this sentence, but it will have been for one of the most heinous crimes you could commit in the Stalinist Soviet Union - being a "cosmopolitan". This was coded language for "educated Jew". Anyone of Jewish background that knew a Western language was already damned dodgy in the eyes of the KGB and Russian overlords. He must have been a spy, as the paranoids of the day would have concluded.

Anyway, Jākobsons then worked in a puppet theatre and in film and starting writing stories about Siberia and his sojourn there when he was 64 years old.

*

I still can't get over the fact that you can read in the newspapers these last few days (i.e. late December 2008) that Mr Cattle Trucks, i.e. Joseph Stalin, is the third most popular Russian ever. The same pathological figure that caused this Latvian author, and millions like him from throughout the Soviet Union, including occupied countres, to be shipped off to do slave labour in Siberia. It is time that the Russians woke up from their illusions of having great leaders. As I have said elsewhere, imagine if the Germans had Adolf Hitler as their third most popular German ever! Why is Stalin cuddly and hero?c, whilst Hitler is the Devil Incarnate? Why are people so blinkered?

[Eric]

Kpjayan, this is what I found on the internet, a review by a Latvian:

Violent cyberthriller takes social protest to extremes





Alexander Garros and Aleksei Evdokimov
London: Chatto & Windus, 2005
ISBN 0-701-17757-8

Headcrusher
Andris Straumanis
September 22, 2007
Alexander Garros and Aleksei Evdokimov, two Russian journalists working in Latvia, wrote a ?cyberthriller? that in 2003 won the Russian Literary National Bestseller Prize. Headcrusher, now translated into English, provides an unsettling and at times absurd entrance into Rīga?s underbelly and leaves me wondering what I dislike most: the human garbage depicted in the book, the book itself and its authors, or myself for at times sympathizing with the book?s anti-hero, Vadim Apletaev.

The premise of the book is simple. Twenty-six-year-old Apletaev works in the public relations department of REX International Commercial Bank, billed as the largest financial institution in Latvia. A former columnist for the Russian-language SM newspaper, Apletaev has gone over to the dark side?as journalists sometimes say of PR practitioners?and it?s about to get darker fast. Apletaev appears to suffer from the particular Eastern European ennui, which he nurses with emotionless sex and by playing a first-person-shooter computer game called Headcrusher.

And then one evening in the office, after his boss Andrei Vladlenovich Voronin (a.k.a. Four-Eyes) has discovered a violent anti-bourgeois diatribe on Apletaev?s computer, Apletaev smacks him on the head with a dinosaur statue.

That first murder leads to a series of other killings, as Apletaev sinks further and further into a private hell where the real world and its human filth comes to resemble the fantasy world of Headcrusher.

Other reviews have compared Headcrusher to a Quentin Tarantino film. It certainly has its similarities, what with the linguistic and physical violence. That may be enough to turn off some readers who have little stomach for such fare. And I cannot promise those who choose to engage the novel will come away any better.

Headcrusher has also been described as a work of social protest. In the context of a post-Soviet Latvia where dirty money, dirty politics and dirty crime were (and in some cases continue to be) an accepted condition, Vadim Apletaev takes things into his own hands, not unlike Danila Bagrov, the lead character in Russian director Aleksei Balabanov?s vigilante film Brat. Both are fed up with the way things are in the place they call home. However, Apletaev is so much more twisted.

Apletaev?s solution to what he sees around him is to kill. His killing at times may seem justified, but if you find yourself sympathizing with him, be sure to do a reality check and ask if killing another human being is ever justified. More unsettling is the abandon with which he kills, as if he were playing a computer game the perpetual goal of which is to make it to the next level, rather than encountering a real world in which there is no ?restart? button.

When Headcrusher first appeared, it was hailed by some critics as the next big thing in Russian literature. That may say more about the state of contemporary Russian literature than about this book. It is strong stuff, but I?m still not convinced its over-the-top nature makes it worthy of the accolades. Is make-believe violence appropriate social protest, even if it is cathartic?

If you make it through Headcrusher, be prepared to ask yourself the same questions.

Source: Latvians Online | Reviews

***

An American (?) review (aka Random House propaganda):

A Russian cyberthriller that has been a huge hit in Russia and now looks set to be an international cult novel.

26-year-old Vadim hates his job in the PR department of Latvia?s biggest bank. He spends his time playing his favourite shoot-em-up computer game, "Headcrusher," and composing insulting emails about his bosses. When his manager catches him writing one such email, Vadim is so overcome with rage that he kills him. Then he kills the bank?s security guard too, because he has seen him disposing of the body. Bumping people off comes to seem as easy as playing a computer game (or moving money between bank accounts) and Vadim embarks on a killing spree, putting paid to anyone who annoys him. But, as he becomes embroiled in the murky activities of the corrupt bank, which is laundering money for Mafia criminals, he starts to lose touch with reality. Where does truth end and fantasy begin ? and is life just one big computer game?

This high-octane debut novel has the energy of a Tarantino film, the game-playing of The Matrix and the philosophical quirkiness of Fight Club. Nothing quite like it has come out of Russia before. It has been a major bestseller there and has been picked up by publishers around the world.

Source: BookLounge.ca | Books | Headcrusher by Alexander Garros Aleksei Evdokimov

Just another bloody Russian thriller written by two journos, dressed up as super-exotic because it's written by Russians living in the former Russian colony, Latvia.

[kpjayan]

Thanks Eric.. It's Russian writers on Latvia..

Moving these books to the bottom of the stack...

[Eric]

We have to be clear here about the ethnic mix of Latvia. There is a website that covers this source. Notice the relative proportions of Latvians, Russians, Jews and others, and why these changed. It's a complicated history, but it should not be over-simplified:

Source: Latvia - Population

Latvia's population has been multiethnic for centuries. In 1897 the first official census in this area indicated that Latvians formed 68.3 percent of the total population of 1.93 million; Russians accounted for 12.0 percent, Jews for 7.4 percent, Germans for 6.2 percent, and Poles for 3.4 percent. The remainder were Lithuanians, Estonians, Gypsies, and various other nationalities.

World War I and the emergence of an independent Latvia led to shifts in ethnic composition. By 1935, when the total population was about 1.9 million, the proportion of Latvians had increased to 77.0 percent of the population, and the percentages for all other groups had decreased. In spite of heavy war casualties and the exodus of many Latvians to Russia, in absolute terms the number of Latvians had grown by 155,000 from 1897 to 1935, marking the highest historical level of Latvian presence in the republic. Other groups, however, declined, mostly as a result of emigration. The largest change occurred among Germans (from 121,000 to 62,100) and Jews (from 142,000 to 93,400). During World War II, most Germans in Latvia were forced by Adolf Hitler's government to leave for Germany as a result of the expected occupation of Latvia by Stalin's troops. The Jews suffered the greatest tragedy, however, when between 70,000 and 80,000 of them were executed by the Nazi occupation forces between 1941 and 1944. Latvians also suffered population losses during this period as a result of deportations, executions, and the flight of refugees to the West. By 1959 there were 169,100 fewer Latvians in absolute terms than in 1935, in spite of the accumulated natural increase of twenty-four years and the return of many Latvians from other parts of the Soviet Union after 1945.

The balance of ethnic groups in 1959 reflected the vagaries of war and the interests of the occupying power. The Latvian share of the population had decreased to 62.0 percent, but that of the Russians had jumped from 8.8 percent to 26.6 percent. The other Slavic groups--Belorussians, Ukrainians, and Poles--together accounted for 7.2 percent, and the Jews formed 1.7 percent. Indeed, one of the greatest concerns Latvians had during the almost half-century under Soviet rule was the immigration of hundreds of non-Latvians, which drastically changed the ethnic complexion of the republic. Even more, with each successive census Latvians saw their share of the population diminish, from 56.8 percent in 1970 to 54.0 percent in 1979 and to 52.0 percent in 1989. With each year, a net average of 11,000 to 15,000 non-Latvian settlers came to the republic, and such migration accounted for close to 60 percent of the annual population growth. The newcomers were generally younger, and hence their higher rates of natural increase helped to diminish the Latvian proportion even more.

The threat of becoming a minority in their own land was one of the most important elements animating the forces of political rebirth. There was a widespread feeling that once Latvians lost their majority status, they would be on the road to extinction. During the period of the national awakening in the late 1980s, this sentiment produced a pervasive mood of intense anxiety, perhaps best expressed by the popular slogan "Now or Never." It also came across very bluntly in "The Latvian Nation and the Genocide of Immigration," the title of a paper prepared by an official of the Popular Front of Latvia in 1990. By then, largely as a result of the great influx of new settlers encouraged by Soviet authorities, Latvians were a minority in six of the largest cities in Latvia. Even in the capital city of Riga, Latvians had shrunk to only about a third of the population. Thus, they were forced to adapt to a Russian-speaking majority, with all of its attendant cultural and social patterns. There was not a single city district in Riga where Latvians could hope to transact business using only Latvian. This predominantly Russian atmosphere has proved difficult to change, in spite of the formal declaration of Latvian independence and the passing of several Latvianization laws.

Even in the countryside of certain regions, Latvians are under cultural and linguistic stress from their unilingual neighbors. The most multinational area outside of cities can be found in the province of Latgale in the southeastern part of Latvia. There the Daugavpils district (excluding the city) in 1989 was 35.9 percent Latvian, Kraslava district 43.1 percent, Rezekne district (excluding the city) 53.3 percent, and Ludza district 53.4 percent. For several decades, Latvians in these districts were forced to attend Russian-language schools because of the dearth or absence of Latvian schools. Not surprisingly, during the Soviet period there was a process of assimilation to the Russian-language group. With the advent of independence, Latgale has become a focal point for official and unofficial programs of Latvianization, which include the opening of new Latvian schools, the printing of new Latvian local newspapers, and the opening of a Latvian television station for Latgalians. A major thrust in Latvianization is also provided by the resurgent Roman Catholic Church and its clergy.
Most Latvians themselves are not aware that by 1989 they had become a minority of the population in the usually most active age-group of twenty to forty-four. In the age category of thirty-five to thirty-nine, Latvians were down to 43.0 percent of the total. The period spanning the years from the late teens to middle age usually provides the most important pool of people for innovation and entrepreneurship. The relatively low Latvian demographic presence in this group could partly account for the much smaller visibility of Latvians in the privatization and business entrepreneurship process within the republic.

This may throw light on why labelling something as Russian or Latvian is so sensitive, and can have major implications.

A further problem is that if people write in Russian, they have the huge machinery of publicity and bookshops in Russia, as well as the Baltic countries, behind them. So, someone such as Veller or Dovlatov benefit doubly from being Russian and Baltic (Estonian, in this case) writers. They get translated into Estonian.

However, the Balts only have their small countries. There are no famous Latvian, Lithuanian or Estonian authors living in Russia that continue to write in their mother-tongues. Add all three Baltic nations together and you get about 10 million people. Russia, population wise, is at least ten times as big.

The sad thing is that people that read thrillers usually want an exciting apolitical read, with a bit of dismemberment, sexual perversion and acid baths, but would rather not touch upon the vulgar realities of ethnicity and occupation.

[Eric]

After the Russian interlude, let's start 2009 with some real Latvian literature. I'm continuing to examine the work (one work, actually) of Laima Muktupāvela. Here's what someone in Northern Ireland has to say about her "Mushroom Covenant" novel, about migrant workers:

Slugger O'Toole

And in the Republic:

Blogh an seanchai: Exploited Workers: The Mushroom Covenant

And the background:

?Beyond Bolkestein ? new threats to labour standards in a liberalized Europe?

This book definitely deserves an English translation with a major publisher, to counter such books about tractors written about Peterborough in Sheffield, which turn everything into slapstick, and don't take the plight of migrant workers seriously.

And the following Transcript excerpt says a great deal about the way people treat one another in stress situations. Also ethnic differences, fur coats, hungry husbands, an inability to speak English, and a host of other things, all have significance:

Transcript (English)

Those people who think of the Balts as a bunch of folklore-ridden peasants, only coming to Western Europe because they're too dumb or lazy to work elsewhere, have got another think coming. This is the reality facing perhaps millions of East Europeans. A little compassion for the New Year would not be out of place.

[Eric]

Cross-fertilisation

As English is Number One World Language, with no contenders, you would expect more to be translated into English.

However, even if that doesn't happen, world literature is not paralysed because cross-fertilisation occurs.

So when the Bulgarians decide to produce an anthology of Latvian poetry, the Brits & Yanks should ask themselves: is our lack of translations from smaller languages disproportionate.

That term is used frequently in other contexts. But it seems funny to me that British authors expect to be translated, but people will think "Latvian into Bulgarian" as peripheral:

Bulgaria Publishes Anthology of Contemporary Latvian Poetry

With the support of the Latvian Literature Center and the State Culture Capital Foundation, the Bulgarian publishing house Foundation for Bulgarian Literature has released an anthology of contemporary Latvian poetry.

The new anthology features Bulgarian translations of poems by the following authors: Rainis, Fricis Bārda, Aleksandrs Čaks, Arvīds Grigulis, Mirdza Ķempe, Eriks Ādamsons, Austra Skujiņa, Veronika Strēlerte, Anatols Imermanis, Monta Kroma, Velta Sniķere, Linards Tauns, Gunars Saliņ?, Astrīde Ivaska, Daina Avotiņa, Vizma Bel?evica, Velta Kaltiņa, Egīls Plaudis, Lija Brīdaka, Pēteris Jurciņ?, Ojārs Vācietis, Imants Ziedonis, Knuts Skujenieks, Uldis Leinerts, Imants Auziņ?, Vitauts Ļūdēns, Jānis Sirmbārdis, Nora Kalna, Jānis Peters, Māris Čaklais, Margita Gūtmane, Uldis Bērziņ?, Pēteris Zirnītis, Velga Krile, Jānis Rokpelnis, Juris Kronbergs, Juris Kunnoss, Leons Briedis, Dagnija Dreika, Māra Zālīte, Amanda Aizpuriete, Pēters Brūveris, Māris Melgalvs, Guntars Godiņ?, Inese Zandere, Klāvs Elsbergs, Anna Rancāne, Maira Asare, Liāna Langa, Edvīns Raups, Jānis Elsbergs, Māris Salējs, Jo, Kārlis Vērdiņ? and Marts Pujāts.

The poems were compiled and translated into Bulgarian by Aksinia Mihailova. The book also includes a survey of contemporary Latvian poetry, written by Viesturs Vecgrāvis, an associate professor in the philology department at the University of Latvia, and Andrejs Grāpis, a specialist at the Latvian Museum of Literature, Theater, and Music.

In 2008, the Foundation for Bulgarian Literature published a selection of works by Latvian poet Dagnija Dreika, entitled Заклинания (?Wordings?). Bulgarian translations of Zigmunds Skujiņ??s novel Gulta ar zelta kāju (?The Bed with the Golden Leg?), Nora Ikstena?s novel Dzīves svinē?ana (?A Celebration of Life?), and a selection of poetry by Aleksandrs Čaks are all forthcoming.

***

[Eric]

I read the following in the press, from a month ago:

Latvian literature on exhibit at Frankfurt fair

Andris Straumanis

October 15, 2009

Latvian literature is getting exposure during the annual Frankfurt Book Fair(Frankfurt Buchmesse) in Germany, according to the Latvian Literature Centre (Latvijas Literatūras centrs).

The Latvian stand is highlighting the latest in translations of Latvian books into German and other languages, as well as telling the story of the Latvian book industry. Besides the literature center, Latvia is being represented by the Latvian Publishers Association, the Latvian Bibliophile Guild, the state Latvian Language Agency and the publishing house Jumava.

Also available at the Latvian stand is information about winners of several book competitions and about opportunities for learning Latvian abroad.

The fair, which this year marks its 60th anniversary, runs Oct. 14-18.

Andris Straumanis is editor of Latvians Online.

"German and other languages." I wonder whether any of these other languages include English?

[Stiffelio]

"German and other languages." I wonder whether any of these other languages include English?

And Spanish?!

[Eric]

Stiffelio, you can fight to get more things translated into Spanish; I'll do English. English, apart from being the language of North America and Britain, is also a potential route through which books can be translated. Obviously, it is unlikely that there will be a literary translator into Greek, Catalan, Dutch, Czech, or umpteen other languages who can do it directly from the Latvian. But via English? That should be a possibility.

[hdw]

Stiffelio, you can fight to get more things translated into Spanish; I'll do English. English, apart from being the language of North America and Britain, is also a potential route through which books can be translated. Obviously, it is unlikely that there will be a literary translator into Greek, Catalan, Dutch, Czech, or umpteen other languages who can do it directly from the Latvian. But via English? That should be a possibility.

See below.

Harry

FOUND IN TRANSLATION




In this issue's 'Found in Translation', we offer a round-up of Latvian literature available in translation.
The Toronto-based print journal Descant devoted a special issue to Latvian literature in Spring 2004 (Vol. 35 / No. 1) entitled 'In Latvia, Observed / Abroad / In Memory'. Descant, established in 1970, is a quarterly print journal publishing new and established contemporary writers and visual artists from Canada and around the world.


The Review of Contemporary Fiction, affiliated with the Centre for Book Culture in the USA, had a special focus on New Latvian Fiction in Vol. XV111. No. 1, 1998. The Review is a tri-quarterly journal that has a special affinity for the works of foreign writers who may otherwise go unread in the United States.


The special focus of the recent Edinburgh Review No. 115 is 'Poetry and Prose from Latvia'. The issue was edited by Donal McLaughlin, who spent the summer of 2003 in Riga as Scottish PEN's writer-without-borders. The issue includes prose by Martins Zelmenis, Ieva Lesinska, Nora Ikstena, Inga Abele and Andre Neiburga; poetry by Knuts Skujenieks, Maris Salejs, Liana Langa, Edvins Raups, Amanda Aizpuriete, Janis Elsbergs, Karlis Verdins and Inga Gaile; and some Latvian folk songs in translation. Donal McLaughlin's introduction 'A Right Good Riga' includes a bibliography of Latvian writing in English, French and German translation. ER No. 115 (ISBN 1-85933223-4) can be ordered by sending an e-mail to: edinburgh.review@ed.ac.uk


Juris Kronbergs' Wolf One-Eye, translated into English by Mara Rozitis and with an introduction by Jaan Kaplinski, is forthcoming in a bilingual edition from Arc Publications in November 2006. Arc Publications is now in its fourth decade of publishing contemporary poetry from new and established writers in the UK and abroad, with special emphasis on the work of world poets in English, and the work of overseas poets in translation.


And don't forget the website of the Latvian Literature Centre for all the latest news on Latvian literature.

[Eric]

Thanks for that, Harry. As I'm in my Latvian mood, I'll order that issue of the Edinburgh Review. I've seen the Contemporary Fiction one and the Wolf's Eye on the internet, but not the Edinburgh Review one.

Here's a recent translation into Latvian:

There's something to be said for having a translation with the same cover as the original. A kind of brand label.

[Stiffelio]

Eric, would you please recommend one novel by a Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian writer that I should read, and that is available in English? I only want one at this moment, sort of to dip my toes into this new world for me. I would love to include a few Baltic novels in my next Amazon order. I know it will be nearly impossible for you to narrow the choice down to just one novel per each nationality, but thanks in advance!

[Liam]

Eric, would you please recommend one novel by a Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian writer that I should read, and that is available in English?

Watch out now: he's going to recommend you something he translated himself.

Seriously, though: I read Eric's translation of Mati Unt's Things in the Night last year, and liked it a lot. You're in good hands.

[Eric]

Stiffelio, your question presents a problem that shouldn't exist. I personally am interested in what is being written in Latvia and cannot yet read Latvian, but happen to have a good reading knowledge of the Swedish language, so I have access to Juris Kronbergs' numerous translations of poetry and prose into that language. When I put my mind to it, I can read translations by Matthias Knoll and others into German.

But English? I only know of one modern novel available in that language (see below). There are a few stories and poems in anthologies, but no novel that I know of. However, I believe that the British translator Chris Moseley is working on translating a novel by the leading Latvian author Nora Ikstena; though I know no details of progress. See:

Author

The one Latvian novel I do know of in English is a fictionalised autobiography called "With Dance Shoes in Siberian Snows" by Sandra Kalniete, and the author describes her childhood as the daughter of Latvian deportees to Siberia. Kalniete later became a diplomat, served for a short while as Latvian Foreign Minister and was the first Latvian EU Commissioner. The cover:



You can find details in English about numerous authors of the LLC (Latvian Literature Centre) website, as Harry has already pointed out. The only problem is that there are so few English translations, and these are rarely, as I mentioned, of novels. And the website is a little difficult to navigate. Main website:

LLC

I'll do Estonia and Lithuania in separate postings.

[Stiffelio]

Thanks, Eric!

It will take me a little while, though, to navigate the LLC site. I do read French and there seems to some things translated into that language.