Literatura académica sobre el tema "Latvian American literature"

The article discusses the continued relevance of the Čikāgas Piecīši (The Chicago Five), an American-Latvian musical-comedy troupe that toured Latvian exile communities and performed in Soviet and post-Soviet Latvia over the span of some fifty years. It asks the question: Given the diverse and contentious nature of their global audiences, how did the Čikāgas Piecīši sustain their appeal and their authority as spokespersons for Latvians worldwide? Five sources fundamental to their success are identified and analysed. In their concerts, the Čikāgas Piecīši offered a lively new form of social communication to their audiences. While their biographies connected them with the culture and values of their elders, the cultural authenticity they brought to the stage foregrounded Latvian and American experiences and presented a more inclusive worldview than the one they had inherited. As they gently challenged prevailing boundaries, including those that forbade contact with Soviet Latvia, they changed the register for speaking about Latvian exile life by adding humour to the accustomed solemnity of community programming. Their work extended the notion of intertextuality beyond that of verbal texts to include musical sounds and images. My sources derive from participant-observation over many years, both in the Latvian community in Indianapolis and at Latvian Song Festivals in North America where the performances of the Čikāgas Piecīši were regular crowd pleasers. I consulted reviews and interviews published in the U.S. and in Latvia, articles in exile publications (such as the literary journal Jaunā Gaita), and conducted interviews with members of the group.

The proverb ‘Where barley is kept, rye cannot fit in’ (Kur miežiai guli, rugiai netelpa), or its variant ‘Where barley is stored / kept, no rye is necessary’ (Kur miežiai telpa / guli, nereik rugių), which means that those who drink do not usually eat much, did not have oral tradition in Lithuania, being spread via publications instead. It belongs to an international type. The Lithuanian text, although written down by Jokūbas Brodovskis (1692–1744) in the first half of the 18th century, became publicly known only since the beginning of the 19th century, along with the dictionary compiled by Christian Gottlieb Mielcke (1800). Later this proverb made its appearance in works by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (1847), Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann (1851), and Friedrich Becker (1866). It reached the American Lithuanians in 1904 thanks to Jonas Šliūpas. In Lithuania, this proverb started its dissemination with the Lithuanian reader compiled by August Schleicher (1857), in which two variants of this proverb were printed: one copied from the manuscript dictionary of J. Brodovskis, while another one recorded by A. Schleicher himself in the Lithuania Minor. From this reader, the proverb was reprinted in the dictionary by Mykolas Miežinis (1894) and found its way into the collections of the Lithuanian Science Society, thus being spread wider. Vincas Krėvė published it in Tauta ir žodis (‘Nation and Word’, 1927). Both variants of this proverb were included into the anthology Lietuvių tautosaka (‘Lithuanian Folklore’, vol. 5, 1968).In the second half of the 18th century, a very similar variant of this proverb appeared also in Latvian. It was published in the grammar book by Gotthard Friedrich Stender in 1761: Kur miežu grauds guļ, tur rudzu grauds nevar gulēt (‘Where a barley grain lies, no grain of rye should lie’). In the 19th century, it also found its way into various collections of Latvian folklore, both printed and manuscript ones. Nevertheless, according to the researchers, the oral tradition of this proverb is absent in Latvia as well.It is almost certain that original source of this proverb should have been in German. Still, the German tradition prefers versions with opposition between brewery / distillery and bakery (Brauhaus – Backhaus) rather than between barley and rye. According to various researchers, the German publications containing opposition between grains of barley and rye were mostly published in the 19th century, i.e. considerably later than authors recording the Lithuanian and Latvian versions lived. On the other hand, earlier German publications available to us now are very old (published in 1606 in Hamburg or 1616 in Augsburg) and could have hardly been traceable to the authors of the 18th century sources mentioned above. Therefore the text noted down by J. Brodovskis could have originated not from a published source, but from a spoken German in the Prussian territory. The origins of the Latvian analogue seem even more enigmatic, though. The German speaking area is separated from Latvia by the Lithuanian territory. Could Latvians have picked this proverb from the Baltic Germans? The direct link between the Lithuanian and Latvian versions is difficult to establish. There is a slight possibility that the Latvian version (or perhaps the Lithuanian one as well?) could have originated from an unknown printed German source. Otherwise the similarity of the Lithuanian and Latvian versions can only be regarded as a coincidence.

The theme of the article is evolution of the popular folklore image of the vampire in world literature. From the monster of folk narrative the image of the vampire entered literary culture at the beginning of the 19th century when writers of the age of Romanticism sought material for their work in folk tales. The novel “Dracula” written by the Irish writer Bram Stoker set a large part of attributes for the image of the vampire in readers’ consciousness. It became a turning point in the evolution of the vampire. In the following years the vampire was a popular symbol in the 20th century literary experiments; however, it gained a considerable fame with a more rapid spreading of the cinema. Later, until the second half of the 20th century the image of the vampire was degraded to the level of a cheap horror monster. In the 1970s it was revived by the American writer Anne Rice in her series of novels “The Vampire Chronicles”. For the time being the latest tendency in the evolution of the vampire is represented by the novels of paranormal romance subgenre intended for young adults. In these novels the vampire has assumed the aura of a romantic character. In comparison with world literature vampire has not won a massive popularity in the novels of Latvian writers; however, some authors have occasionally used this image in their works. The image of the vampire appears in Latvian literature as a classical blood sucking monster, as a political symbol and also as a romantic hero in fantasy and adventure novels for young people. As we can see, the presence of the image of the vampire in Latvian writing reflects the same tendencies that have dominated world literature on a smaller scale. For this reason Latvian literature can be considered to be an interesting testimony of literary connections in the world.

The present research aims at investigating the pragmatic features of paratext and their functions in contemporary American and Latvian travelogues. The presence of numerous paratextual elements in travel writing often helps to differentiate the genre among other literary genres. This, together with the fact that Latvian travelogues are not frequently studied, adds novelty to the present research. In addition, paratextual apparatus plays an essential role in constructing the modality of a travel narrative; moreover, certain paratextual elements (photographs, illustrations, archival documents, etc.) serve as a witness for the veracity and authenticity of narration as well as create a communicative bond with a potential reader. Paratextual apparatus can be viewed from various perspectives due to the fact that its elements bear various functions from informative (preface, postscript, genre specification, etc.) to performative (dedication, epigraph, etc.). The research focuses on such paratextual elements as extended titles, genre specification, dedications, epigraphs, illustrative and archival materials used in several Latvian and American travelogues of 1962–2015. The research methodology was based on the analytical and cultural historical methods, which contributed to the deeper insight into the concept of paratextuality. The pragmatics of paratext in travel writing was investigated by means of synthesising the structural-semiotic method and the method of comparative analysis in the critical perception of travelogues under consideration.

The concept of efficiency is one of the most important categories of economic analysis; however, there are no unambiguous translations in English-American, Latvian and Russian. There are also contradictions in the interpretations and explanations of this concept. There are several terms used in the economic literature as well as other fields’ literature to characterize the concept of efficiency and effectiveness. However, these terms are not always similarly defined in different fields. There are several variants of the concept of efficiency, thus it is important to research the explanations of it. This study is based on the analysis of special literature as well as scientific publications in Latvia and abroad about business efficiency. The aim of this research is to research the concept of business efficiency. Common research methods are used in this research: monographic or descriptive research method and comparison method by conducting detailed research of the concept of business efficiency which is based on an extensive literature review. The results of the research show the improved definitions of the concept of business efficiency.

The article provides an overview of publications dedicated to S.A. Esenin, in Spanish, Czech, Slovenian and Finnish, proving the interest in the poet by the audience of various diasporas that settled in America at different times. The materials identified by the author in the American newspapers La Prensa, La Opinión, El Imparcial (Puerto Rico), Toveritar, Svět, Telegraf and Glas svobode are introduced into scientific circulation. The changes made when borrowing publications from European publications are considered. The comparison of the work of E. Izvolskaya “Bolshevik poets-mystics” and the article “Bolshevik poetry” by M. de Marcos, in which Esenin is called “the furious Saint Paul of Bolshevism”, gives reason to talk about an individual creative approach to the translation and republishing of the material. Based on the study of the identified articles, new information about Esenin's entourage is revealed, previously unknown information is given about Esenin's communication with the Latvian journalist A. Toupin. While publications in the newspapers Toveritar, Svět, Telegraf, Glas svobode, concerning his personal life and more devoted to Isadora Duncan, only prove the presence of the Esenin theme in the sphere of interests of the Finnish, Slovenian and Czech diasporas, the analysis of materials in Spanish allows us to conclude that there is a certain trend in the perception of Esenin's personal and creative biography in the context of the social and cultural life of the Spanish-speaking audience on the American continent. Discovered articles for 1921–1922 allow us to talk about the lifetime reception of the poet's work, in which the mythical image of the poet was already laid, for whom Bolshevism became a religion. Having first appeared on the pages of newspapers in the form of a preacher of the new system, Esenin subsequently, together with Meyerhold and Mayakovsky, appears as its victim.

This article probes the nature of literary exchanges between so-called major and minor cultures. Postcolonial translation studies argue that translation is an asymmetrical cultural exchange where translation serves as a way of establishing and perpetuating the superiority of some cultures over others. In contemporary postcolonial contexts Anglophone cultures are the ones that receive the greatest amount of criticism for being aggressively monolingual and unreceptive of the foreign. However, although translation may be used as a manipulative tool for the major culture to domesticate the cultural other, translation into a major language may also serve as a gateway through which minor cultures may reach out. This has been the case of a compilation of an anthology of Latvian literature in English. Given the world market for English-language cultural products, such translations into English not only communicate British and American values but also submit them to local differentiation. That is, English is being used as a system of cross-cultural communication rather than a tool of power. In a situation where a new type of relation is emerging between cultures, the well-defined dichotomy of domestication and foreignization loses its distinctiveness. Instead, translators investigate asymmetries and power relations that surround the texts, responding to them in many different ways.

Invasive Non-Native Solidago Species in Latvia: Expansion History and Current Distribution Two non-native Solidago L. species of North-American origin are aggressive plant invaders in most of Europe. Solidago canadensis occurs frequently in most of temperate Europe, while S. gigantea lags behind in north and east Europe. For the first time the distribution and history of expansion of both Solidago species in Latvia were studied and reviewed in maps. The distribution data were gathered mainly in field surveys (2004-2007); other data sources include herbarium materials, literature and unpublished data. Both the widespread S. canadensis and rare S. gigantea are well adapted to a wide range of habitats mostly occurring in human-disturbed habitats in the vicinity of settlements and transportation routes. Over the last century, the dispersal success of goldenrods had been greatly facilitated by land use changes, human alteration of ecosystems, and development of transportation networks.

This article proposes to discuss the voluminous literary correspondence of the Estonian poets Marie Under (1883–1980) and Ivar Ivask (1927–1992), with a focus on its first year, 1957–1958. The whole correspondence comprises 550 letters, with an average length of 4000 (later 3000) words; it is held in the Cultural History Archive of the Estonian Literary Museum in Tartu. Both Under and Ivask had been war refugees, with Under and her husband, poet Artur Adson, finding an exile home near Stockholm, Sweden; Ivask and his wife Astrīde, a well-known Latvian poet emigrated to America after some years spent in DP camps in Germany. Marie Under was already a renowned poet during the Siuru movement in the Estonian Republic, and became a symbol during the Second World War, continuing to publish and hold a large reading audience in exile. In addition to her own poetry, she was a versatile translator of poetry from several languages into Estonian. Ivask, two generations younger than Under, had begun writing in Germany, but continued to search for his linguistic and cultural identity for some time: his mother tongue was Latvian, and the language of his father was Estonian; German was spoken at home. At length and around the time of the beginning of his correspondence with Under, he decided that Estonian would be his poetic language. Since coming to the United States, Ivask completed a PhD in comparative literature and established himself as a scholar and critic in Germanic Studies. He became associated with the publication Books Abroad, later renamed under his editorship as World Literature Today. Under’s and Ivask’s letters are rife with exchanges about core values in poetry, art and worldview, stylistics and poetics, as well as practicalities of publication. After a brief introduction to theoretical approaches to the analysis of letters and correspondences, the article turns to a topical close reading of the letters from Under and Ivask’s first year: main foci included translations of the poetry of Karl Čaks, translation priorities, discussion of the aims and planned trajectory of a new cultural journal in Estonian named Mana (to which both contributed), perspectives on Ivask’s debut as a young poet, the future of Baltic literatures abroad, and the cultural politics in the exile communities over what attitude to take toward literary production from the homeland. The second part of the article applies methods of digital humanities toward an extensive study of the Under-Ivask correspondence as a linguistic dataset, aiming to arrive at a thematic analysis of the text as a whole. The methods enable the identification of key words, word frequencies and thematic clusters, while making the whole corpus digitally accessible to the scholarly reader. The article concludes with proposals for a further study of the Under-Ivask correspondence, using the methods of digital humanities.

In three studies we test whether three key predictors of collective action (i.e., group identification, anger, and efficacy) also predict whether and how members of third groups are willing to undertake collective action. Little is known about this, particularly about whether and how third-group members may engage in collective action to protect their own group and/or to protect an outgroup in need. In three studies that employed different three-group contexts, we found that the three predictors contributed to third-group members’ collective action intentions aimed at protecting the ingroup as well as those aimed at protecting the outgroup. Study 1 found this among Latvians ( N = 89) in response to the Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory; Study 2 found this among residents of a Dutch village ( N = 98) located nearby a gas-extraction-related earthquake region, in response to authorities’ inadequate protection of the residents of that region; and Study 3 found this among Latino Americans ( N = 278) in response to police brutality against Black Americans. Moving beyond replication and application of previous work, our set of studies show first evidence for ingroup and outgroup protection as motives of third-group members’ collective action. We discuss the implications of our findings for the broader social psychology of collective action literature.

Digital revolution, pandemics, market-orientation, and massification in higher education, as well globalization – a worldwide challenge in economics, politics, societal structures, and health systems – completely changes the “age landscape” in universities. Over the last 20 years, universities around the world have seen an increase in the number of non-traditional or mature-age students and are facing complex and challenging problems. In the literature these “non-traditional” in terms of age students are called mature-age students (by some scholars also second chancers, independent students, adult learners). Social inclusion equation is highly complex concept, including variables as class, ethnicity, gender, age, subject of study, location etc. In this article, we will focus specifically on the age of students as a variable of social inclusion. The article is motivated by the aim to find out what are the challenges faced by mature-age students in the context of social inclusion to ensure equal opportunities. Purposive sampling is being used, participants with “intensive” experience – 4 master-level students in the age from 40 to 49 from two Universities in Latvia and one University of United States of America. Individual, semi structured, in-depth interviews as a data collection method is being used. Narrative analysis has been chosen as an extension of the interpretive approach within the social sciences. The study concludes that the most significant group of challenges related to the age of students, both in Latvia and in the US, are socio-emotional challenges. Three out of four respondents have experienced emotions such as “feeling like old people, pressure, uncomfortable, rusty, behind”. The inclusion of mature-age students should be on the university agenda, alongside other social equity issues in higher education.