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IN THIS ISSUE
LETTERS AND THE VISUAL ARTS are both
represented by our featured artist, Maija
Šlesere (nom de plume - Maija Meirāne). Her
latest poetry graces this issue, as well as color
reproductions of two recent monotypes.
Her collage, “Homage à Thomas Bezanson”,
is on the front cover. As a graphic artist
Meirāne is an abstractionist; her energyladen
images empower the viewer to visualize
more than the eye can see. Baiba Bičole
writes of Meirāne’s poetry: Being secure in
her latvianness, [she] is open to the rest of
the world, to its spiritual life on many levels.
In Meirāne’s own words: I believe in
the power of words / it burns brightly ever
anew / when Rilke and Elliot sing in foreign
tongues / when young writers somewhere in
Vidzeme / gather together at dawn. ••• An
abstract monochrome in India ink on wood
by Aigars Kildišs and several photographs by
Juris Kornets round out the formal visual offerings
of this issue. ••• Art historian Māris
Brancis reports on the retrospective exhibit
in Rīga of Voldemārs Avens’ art, which was
featured in the last issue of JG. ••• Indra
Gubiņa, author of 27 books as well as many
poems, stories and meditations published in
JG, describes her autumnal garden, naming
each flower and reminiscing on its connections
with her own life. ••• In a fragment
from a book in progress, Juris Rozītis
describes the hilariously different effects of
pot smoking and beer drinking on the social
behavior of Australian high school students.
••• Irēne Avena, writing about literary historian,
Dace Lūse (University of Latvia), and
her latest book Latvian Literature and the
Political Collisions of the 20th Century, concludes:
The more I think about Dace Lūse, ...
The more she becomes in my mind something
like the Bearslayer or Hercules cleaning the
Augean stables... ••• Juris Šlesers writes
about a doctoral dissertation (University of
Stockholm) by Anette Reinsch-Cambell on
the changing portrayal of Jews in Latvian
fiction in the decade 1934-1944. Although
overt anti-semitism was rare, there did take
place a passive distancing between Latvians
and Jews, which may have paved the way to
eventual dehumanization. ••• In a poem
written to honor the memory of Dr. Valdis
Muižnieks (1927-2009), who contributed
much of himself to the Latvian political exile
community, Juris Kronbergs likens Muižnieks
to a wheel which has been improved by reinvention.
SONG AND DANCE were celebrated for the
thirteenth time in Canada in the Latvian
Song and Dance Festival in Hamilton, Ontario,
July 1-5. Ivars Antēns reports on the
excellent time he had there as participant
and spectator, and two photographs by
Juris Kornets show the dancers literally levitating
off the floor. ••• Conductor and
composer Andrejs Jansons comments on a
tour of North America by three tenors of the
Latvian National Opera.
MEMORIES, HISTORY AND MARGINALIA.
Eva Eglāja-Kristsone, in Part 5 of her forthcoming
book on cultural contacts between
Latvia under the Soviets and the Latvian exile
community in the West, spotlights the years
1976-1979. ••• Nikolajs Balabkins relates
some personal experiences as a Latvian legionnaire
in West Prussia in January 1945,
and makes clear how hellishly muddled the
war had become by then. ••• In an essay
written on board a U.S. troop carrier ferrying
refugees from Germany to the United
States in 1949, Marģers Grīns bemoans loss
of personal identity and describes how fellow
countrymen instinctively gravitated to
each other. ••• The literal centerpiece of
this issue is a 32 page article titled “Working
at Latvia’s Radio 1938-1944” by Pāvils Ieviņš.
As a young clerk, and later as legal consultant
at the Radio, he had a unique perspective on
the turbulent events and popular personalities
of those years. The article is enhanced
by many fine photographs generously provided
by the Rīga Museum of Literature,
Theater and Art (RTMM). ••• Historian
Gatis Krūmiņš presents new evidence that
Latvia’s “benevolent dictator”, president
Kārlis Ulmanis, in 1940, formally requested a
pension from the occupying Russians before
being deported to Kazakhstan. ••• The
Marginalia section, as usual, covers deaths,
books, awards, art exhibits, theater, music,
film, periodicals and current events, not only
in Latvia and its diaspora, but also in Poland,
Russia, Belarus, and the Mideast.
REVIEWS. Māra Zālīte’s To mēs nezinām: conversations
with Imants Ziedonis (reviewed by
Ildze Kronta) • Lidija Dombrovska’s remembrances
and essays, Virzības viļņojums, and
Jānis Liepiņš’ essays, Tautas turētāji, (both by
Juris Silenieks) • The poetry of Fikret Demirağ,
Gaisos tālu medību balsis / Havada ince av
sleseri, translated from the Turkish by Uldis
Bērziņš (Juris Rozītis) • Viktors Hausmanis’
and Benedikts Kalnačs’, Latviešu literatūras
procesi un personības (Rolfs Ekmanis) •
Ilze Konstante’s monograph on artist Jānis
Osis (Māris Brancis) • Janīna Kursīte’s interviews
and essays, Sfumato nesfumato (Anita
Liepiņa). • Journal of Baltic Studies, June
2008 (Gundars Ķeniņš Kings). J.Ž.