Latgalistikys kongresu materiali, III. 2011. - Latvijas Universitāte

Contemporary writers who write in Latgalian most often have a divided
identity; they have a sense of belonging to the ethnic groups of both Latgalians and
Latvians. But there are also writers with a holistic identity, who perceive themselves
as being either wholly Latgalian or wholly Latvian. These write literary works either
exclusively in Latgalian, exclusively in Latvian or use both languages. Furthermore,
the adoption of an ethnic identity is a conscious decision for authors writing in
Latgalian, as evidenced by the choice of language when Latgalian is one of two
written languages and Latvian is the national language in another written form.
For understanding a writer’s decision to write in a particular language, dialect
or a combination thereof, the paper begins with biographical research and Paul
Ricœur’s theory of recognition as set forth in Parcours de la reconnaissance.
Ricœur’s postulates are applicable to any person’s relations with the world. Yet, they
are especially relevant when applied to authors of literary works, since authors not
only perceive the world and express themselves in it as everyone does, but also fix
this perception and its expressions in an unchanging written form accessible to others
in a particular language. With their choice of language, writers define their self,
express themselves and reflect the world, identify with certain groups of people and
separate themselves from others. At the same time, they address individuals who are
close to them and from whom they desire recognition. In the case of the Latgalian
language, it is also significant that Latgalian is a minority language; the decision to
write in Latgalian indicates a feeling of belittlement by the majority encoded in the
author’s self-image, the response to which is the author’s obstinate determination to
add texts in Latgalian when addressing the Latvian mainstream.
The lengthy ban on publishing in Latgalian led many writers with a Latgalian
identity to publish their works in Latvian. Authorship in this case can be viewed
through the prism of Gilles Deleuze’s and Félix Guattari’s postulates about minor
literatures. The renewed freedom to publish in Latgalian has not only offered
linguistic freedom of choice. It also means that authors can change their choice to
write either in Latvian or in Latgalian in different works and may translate a work
written in Latvian into Latgalian, thereby addressing the author’s ethnic group. On
the other hand, non-Latgalian writers have other possibilities when writing in
Latgalian, including the expression of a Latvian identity, a different world-view and a
different narration.
INESE PAKLONE
inese.paklone@akka-laa.lv
AKKA/LAA (Autortiesību un komunicēšanās
konsultāciju aģentūra/Latvijas Autoru apvienība)
A. Čaka ielā 97,
Rīgā, LV-1011, Latvijā
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