Latvian writers and poets

[Peerkons]

Aleksandrs Grīns
http://www.jzb.lv/files/images/krajumi/novadnieki/Grins.jpg

Aspazija
http://www.jzb.lv/files/images/krajumi/novadnieki/Aspazija.jpg

Auseklis
http://www.skolenam.lv/content/images/Auseklis.jpg

Krišjānis Barons
http://data.lnb.lv/digitala_biblioteka/atklatnes/Portreti/Lielie/nba04_5292_0.jpg

Fricis Bārda
http://www.literature.lv/en/dbase/img/179.jpg

Baumaņu Kārlis
http://www.vilkene.lv/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/baumanuk.jpg

Vizma Belševica
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/lv/thumb/d/d4/Vizma_b.jpg/225px-Vizma_b.jpg

Ernests Birzenieks Upītis
http://www2.la.lv/images/text/thumb/257x349.73195876289__30dec_Birznieks_2.jpg

Rūdolfs Blaumanis
http://data.lnb.lv/digitala_biblioteka/atklatnes/Portreti/Lielie/nba04_4941_0.jpg

Anna Brigadere
http://www.jzb.lv/files/images/krajumi/novadnieki/Brigadere.jpg

[Peerkons]

Fricis Brīvzemnieks
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/lv/thumb/d/d4/FricisBr.jpg/200px-FricisBr.jpg

Aleksandrs Čaks
http://data.lnb.lv/digitala_biblioteka/atklatnes/Portreti/Lielie/nba04_4942_0.jpg

Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš
http://www.roots-saknes.lv/Album/culture/artists/Portraits/JaunsundarbinsJ.JPG

Atis Kronvalds
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/lv/thumb/8/85/Kronvalds.jpg/175px-Kronvalds.jpg

Zenta Mauriņa
http://zagarins.net/jg/jg26/JG27_lpp69.jpg

Vilis Plūdonis
http://www.literature.lv/lv/dbase/img/107.bmp

Andrejs Pumpurs
http://www2.la.lv/images/gallery/608x350/301x500_PumpursAndrejs.JPG

Rainis
http://data.lnb.lv/digitala_biblioteka/atklatnes/Portreti/Lielie/nba04_5308_0.jpg

Anna Sakse
http://visualrian.com/storage/PreviewWM/0919/99/091999.jpg?1112612580

Kārlis Skalbe
http://www.roots-saknes.lv/Album/culture/artists/Portraits/SkalbeK.jpg

[Peerkons]

Sudrabu Edžus
http://www2.la.lv/images/text/thumb/257x355.21281464531__3aug_SudrabuEdzus_2.jpg

Andrejs Upītis
http://www.literature.lv/lv/dbase/img/117.bmp

Ojārs Vācietis
http://www.jr.lv/objs/shop/9789984331218.jpg

Eduards Veidenbaums
http://files.myopera.com/sandis_reinvalds/albums/196685/Eduards%20Veidenbaums.jpg

Māra Zālīte
http://www.f64.lv/projekti/albums/iespejama_misija/zalite/normal_f64_zalite_080219_019.jpg

Imants Ziedonis
http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/hs463.snc4/50254_54267115162_6048799_n.jpg

Klāvs Elsbergs
http://www.literature.lv/lv/dbase/img/30.JPG

[Crossbow]

Are there English or German (or another language) translations of the works of some of these writers? Or have some of them fallen into oblivion? How about today's writers?

[Peerkons]

At the moment i just found translations from Zenta Mauriņa.
* Tālais brauciens (Die weite Fahrt) (autobiogrāfija)
* Dostojevskis (Dostojewskij) (biogrāfija)
* Sirds mozaīka (Mosaik des Herzens) (esejas)
* Sākumā bija prieks (Im Anfang war die Freude) (stāsti)
* Mīlētā dzīve - dzīvotā dzīve (Geliebtes Leben - gelebtes Leben) (esejas)
* Krievu rakstnieku portreti (Porträts russischer Schriftsteller) (esejas)
If u are interested i could find more.

I posted only major writers and poets. Most of them are pre-war era. Its because in soviet regime all non pro-sovietic literature was banned. For example last poet in my list was killed by KGB.(Officially he fell down from balcony, but that case is very suspicious which leads to think that he was killed.)
There are new writers but they are not significant.

[Crossbow]

Among the pre-war writers there must be some who are worth reading too. I guess there have to be German translations of them.
Writers of the pre-war era were most probably attached to some literary movement like Romanticisim, Naturalism, Expressionism and so on. And much of today's literature may be characterized by criticism on the Soviet era.
I understand that the Soviet-era was fatal for an author's creativity, and that the production of literature met his lowest point then.
What do you recommend, I don't know anything about the literature of your country.

[Peerkons]

I like Zenta Mauriņa, Aleksandrs Čaks, Ojārs Vācietis, Aleksandrs Grīns. But i doubt that you can buy any latvian book, for example, in your local bookstore.
Rainis is famous, but i haven read him.
Ill ask my literature teacher when ill meet her this week and give you some update.

[Radola]

Do you use Č instead of Ch? (I mean English - Ch of course) - eg. Cherepanov = Čerepanov?

[Crossbow]

No, probably it is difficult to find, and it has to be in English or German of course. But I'll bear in mind some names, and maybe I might find something on book-markets for instance, where many books of all places are brought together.

[Peerkons]

Do you use Č instead of Ch? (I mean English - Ch of course) - eg. Cherepanov = Čerepanov?

Yes we do.
Aa, Āā, Bb, Cc, Čč, Dd, Ee, Ēē, Ff, Gg, Ģģ, Hh, Ii, Īī, Jj, Kk, Ķķ, Ll, Ļļ, Mm, Nn, Ņņ, Oo, Pp, Rr, Ss, Šš, Tt, Uu, Ūū, Vv, Zz, Žž

[Radola]

Yes we do.
Aa, Āā, Bb, Cc, Čč, Dd, Ee, Ēē, Ff, Gg, Ģģ, Hh, Ii, Īī, Jj, Kk, Ķķ, Ll, Ļļ, Mm, Nn, Ņņ, Oo, Pp, Rr, Ss, Šš, Tt, Uu, Ūū, Vv, Zz, Žž

It´s interesting that you use it in the same way as we do...

[Äike]

It´s interesting that you use it in the same way as we do...

Well, Balts and Slavs come from a common Balto-Slavic homeland, this might be one of the reasons.

Both Eriks and you are Balto-Slavs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto-Slavic_languages).

[Peerkons]

Well, Balts and Slavs come from a common Balto-Slavic homeland, this might be one of the reasons.

Both Eriks and you are Balto-Slavs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto-Slavic_languages).

Yes, and estonians come from my asshole.
You don't have to remind me that on every post. :)

[Radola]

Well, Balts and Slavs come from a common Balto-Slavic homeland, this might be one of the reasons.

Both Eriks and you are Balto-Slavs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto-Slavic_languages).

The problem is that until the 15th century, we wrote CZ instead of Č (CZechy insead of Čechy), so the theory about the common language is a bit misplaced in this case.

[Peerkons]

Also here we started to use those ņ, č, š signs only since 1920/30s :)
for example: latvieši (now), latveeshi(then)

[Radola]

I googled it a bit and have found something really strange and interesting:

Lotyština převzala při své gramatické reformě z češtiny čárky a háčky nad písmeny. Source: http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/cz/encyklopedie_statu/evropa/lotyssko/index.html (Our ministry of foreign affairs, so I guess it should be correct).
It means that Latvian language has overtaken Czech symbols like Č, Ž etc. during its reforming...

[Peerkons]

^^

[Peerkons]

Some look as Chuvash. It is interesting to know genotype of their offspring at 23andMe .

What are you talking about? :)

[Simonsson]

I reckon he's talking about them dudes on the previous page.

[esaima]

I googled it a bit and have found something really strange and interesting:
Source: http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/cz/encyklopedie_statu/evropa/lotyssko/index.html (Our ministry of foreign affairs, so I guess it should be correct).
It means that Latvian language has overtaken Czech symbols like Č, Ž etc. during its reforming...

Interestingly,even Estonian language has overtaken some Czech symbols like ž and š. Truth must be told- these symbols are used in words of foreign origin like šaakal (jackal), režissöör (film director) and etc

But, that´s all for now and sorry for out-of-topic comment. ;)

[Nurzat]

i've read books by visvaldis lams (trase) and zigmunds skujins (memuary molodogo 4eloveka) that remained in my top 20 reads. any pictures of them?

[GeistFaust]

1st Guy: West Baltid Predominantly
1st Lady: West Baltid/Baltid + East Nordic admixture
2nd Guy: West Baltid predominantly + Nordic influences
3rd Guy: East Nordic + Balto-Cro Magnon influences
4th Guy: East Nordic + Baltid influences
2nd Lady: East Baltid/West Baltid + Nordic influences
5th Guy: West Baltid/Baltid + Nordic influences
6th Guy: West Baltid predominantly + East Nordic influences
3rd Lady: Predominantly East Baltid + Nordic influences
7th Guy: Norid + Balto-Cro Magnon
8th Guy: West Baltid + Nordic admixture
9th Guy: East Nordic + Balto-Cro Magnon influences
10th Guy: West Baltid + Nordic admixture
4th Lady: West Baltid predominantly + Nordic influences
11th Guy: West Baltid + Nordic admixture
12th Guy: Baltid + Nordic admixture
13th Guy: East Nordic + East Baltid influences
14th Guy: West Baltid + East Nordic admixture
15th Guy: West Baltid/Baltid predominantly
16th Guy: Faelid/West Baltid + Nordic admixture
17th Guy: Norid + Balto-Cro Magnon admixture