Latgalistikys kongresu materiali, III. 2011. - Latvijas Universitāte

eligious buildings, houses and villages and look for evidences of historical events. In
this, they are like strangers from the city who have arrived at a remote place.
Since the biggest part of the Eastern border of Latvia is in the region of
Latgale, the Eastern border and Latgale as the central images of the book are closely
entwined with each other. Ziedonis depicts Latgale as a sheltering wall for Latvia. In
this way, he is the first author in modern Latvian literature since the second half of
the 20th century who highlights such an image of patriotic protection of Latgale.
The depiction of different religions and ethnicities relates Ziedonis’ work to
Francis Kemps’ historical description of the „Latgalieši“. According to Ziedonis, the
mixture of different religions and ethnicities, which today also includes different EU
citizens, is the most essential feature of Latgale.
The author does not identify any problems (or he avoids them) concerning the
existence and usage of the Latgalian language/dialect.
Ziedonis beholds Latgale as the place where „life breeds“. Unlike writers of
Latvian literature and media who follow modern traditions, he does not show Latgale
as the poorest and the most unfortunate region of Europe.
IEVA KALNIŅA
ieva.kalnina@lu.lv
Latvijas Universitāte
Humanitāro zinātņu fakultāte
Latviešu literatūras vēstures un teorijas katedra
Visvalža ielā 4a,
Rīga, LV-1050, Latvija
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