Academic literature on the topic 'Poets, Latvian'

The authors of the article have gathered literary works of poets and writers – former students of Riga Polytechnicum (RP) and Riga Polytechnic institute (RPI), and have characterized them. Several Latvian and foreign literary workers have studied at the institute. Only six of them – Alfrēds Andersons, Jānis Bergs, Rihards Ērglis, Ernests Eferts, Jānis Miķelsons and Arvīds Valdmanis – received diplomas in engineering after graduating from Departments of Engineering, Commerce and Agriculture. A. Valdmanis has written course books and literary works. Latvian poet Jānis Poruks and Russian writer Mihail Prishvin (Михаил Михаилович Пришвин) have also studied at the institute, but just like few others did not become engineers and are known due to their achievements in literature. RPI graduate admiral Teodors Spāde also wrote poems.

Visual poetry in Latvian literature is still an extraordinary phenomenon. In this case, by extraordinary is meant its scarce appearance among the corpus of Latvian literary texts – only very few examples of it exist in Latvian literature even in the 21st century, though it has gained a visible presence in other literatures of the world since at least the era of Modernist poetry, and experienced in most cases a turn of critical attitude towards it from disregard or denial to acceptance and consideration. At first evaluated only as a pastime on the margins of serious literature, since Apollinaire it has evolved into a serious genre of poetry and art of its own, and is no longer considered a childish game. Given this situation in contemporary criticism, it is quite a peculiar situation that Latvian literature and literary criticism still does not pay adequate attention to it, thus visual poetry has stayed an outsider genre up to this day. In this paper a concise historical account of Latvian visual poetry will be given and some examples of visual poetry from various decades of Latvian literature will be given, as well as quotations from Latvian literary critics and scholars regarding visual poetry will be provided, in order to illustrate the overall situation in Latvian visual poetry and the possible reasons why it is still being mostly neglected and disregarded both by poets/artists and critics, though there seems to be slight indications of a visual turn.

Between 1962 and 1963 the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev launched several campaigns against abstractionists and formalists in Moscow, thus marking the end of the so-called Thaw throughout the Soviet Union. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia also started a campaign against national abstractionists and formalists. On the 22nd and 28th of March 1963 the works of the new poets Vizma Belševica, Monta Kroma, Ojārs Vācietis as well as writer Ēvalds Vilks came under the criticism cross-fire at the Intelligentsia Meeting of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. After the criticism from the Communist Party the above mentioned authors also had to be discussed at the Board meetings of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union and the local organization meetings of the Party. The article examines the attitude of the Board of Soviet Writers’ Union towards the campaign initiated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia in March 1963 by looking at the documents of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union and the Union’s local organization of the Communist Party that are available at the State Archives of Latvia. Crucial and artistic aspects of the works of the above-mentioned authors have not been included in the analysis. Examining the debates that evolved in the Writers’ Union within the ideological campaign, it is possible to state that the Board, which was loyal to the Communist Party, kept its official stance in line with the Party principles, hereafter paying special attention to the ideologically artistic achievements of particular authors. Generally, the position of the Board of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union in respect to the criticized authors can be evaluated as passive, because no repressions were carried out against the new authors and no creative activities were completely suspended by the Board. The campaign of 1963 strongly demonstrates the differences between the generations and the views of the writers. It also reveals the older generation’s struggle for keeping their position and prestige in the field of literature while the younger generation took an increasing opposition.

During the 90s of the 20th century revival of Latgalian literature took place in the Republic of Latvia. It was a gradual process; in 2001 in “History of Latvian Literature" created by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (ILFA) Ieva E. Kalniņa wrote about poetry of the 90s where she admitted that “it is already quite customary that poetry can be read in Latgalian written language”. Recent studies of Latvian literature in the 90s of the 20th century show that authors have different attitude towards Latgalian literature: Guntis Berelis has not included the revival of Latgalian literature in his list of the new phenomena of Latvian literature in his book “History of Latvian Literature”; among the ILFA researchers only Ieva E. Kalniņa mentions Oskars Seiksts, Anna Rancāne, Andris Vējāns, Osvalds Kravalis along with Vends and Livs among other phenomena of the 90s poetry; meanwhile in the review of prose and drama Latgalian literature is not mentioned at all. In 2007 Māris Salējs in his essay “Reflection on Latvian Literature 2000–2006” included Latgalian poets in the description of Latvian poetry, thus Valentīns Lukaševics and Juoņs Ryučāns together with Kārlis Vērdiņš and Marts Pujāts make up a characteristic trend. In the description of other genres Latgalian literature is not mentioned in this publication either. In this article the similarities and differences of Latvian and Latgalian literary revival process of the late 80s and the 90s of the 20th century are examined with special attention to the literary monthly magazine „Karogs” (Flag). The article deals with the development of literary process, cultural and historical methods are used to reach the aim of this paper – to find out what elements constitute the way to the establishment of Latgalian literature in Latvian cultural space and the importance of literary magazine „Karogs” in this process. There are several common trends of Latvian and Latgalian literary renewal in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century literary process: 1) return of repressed Latvian and Latgalian writers and their work to Latvian culture (such as Marta Skuja); 2) broad entry of exile literature into circulation for Latvian readership (Jānis Klīdzējs Marija Andžāne, etc.); 3) reprinted works, written during the 20s and 30s and unpublished in the Soviet time (Aleksandrs Adamāns); 4) in both traditions a number of exile periodicals begin to come out and some Latvian time periodicals are restored („Acta Latgalica”); 5) return of exile archives to Latvia („Latgaļu sāta”). Postmodern tendencies are observed not only in works of Aivars Ozoliņš, Jānis Vēvers or Gundega Repše, but also in creative work of O. Seiksts. Latgalian language and literature in Latvian cultural space has a special situation: there are important tasks to complete – to create a new alphabet, restore confidence in Latgalian literature in both traditions, the young and middle generation have to start writing in Latgalian tradition. Monthly magazine “Karogs” vividly reveals the new trends in Latgalian literature of the turn of the 80s and 90s, an important role is played by editor Andris Vējāns. It was „Karogs” which published one of the most influential texts of national awakening in Latgalian tradition – poem by O. Kravalis „Brōļ, pīmiņ!” (Brother, remember!). This publication is undeniably regarded as programmatic in Latvian and Latgalian literary traditions, declaring the return of Latgalian tradition and accepting the existence of both literatures. Among important publications in 1988 in the magazine about remembrance of Latgale cultural week, there was an article by Antons Stankēvičs „Atkusnī uzplaucis zieds” (A thaw flower) and Juris Pabērzs’ article „Skan joprojām” (It still sounds) where the role of the minister of culture Voldemārs Kalpiņš was emphasized. Poetry section published a poem of Antons Kūkojs „Atceroties Latgales kultūras nedēļu pirms 30 gadiem” (Remembering Latgale cultural week 30 years ago). The 1989 concept of magazine „Karogs” is obvious in publications of Latvian and Latgalian texts as a desire to respect the two literary traditions and present them to readers throughout Latvia. In 1990 and 2000 when the editor is Māra Zālīte, works of Roberts Mūks, A. Rancāne, J. Klīdzējs are published, some of them are in Latgalian, but mainly publications are in the Latvian literary language. There are two important articles in „Karogs”. Issue No.4, 1994 published Janīna Kursīte’s article „Latgaliešu literatūra – kas tu esi?” (Latgalian literature – who are you?), where the importance of dialects was emphasized and their ability to enrich the Latvian language, also this article pointed out the importance of periphery for the development of centre. Regarding recent Latgalian literature J. Kursīte’s assessment is blunt:”If one looks more carefully at what is published in the Latgalian literary language, one cannot overlook that artistically much of it is “rubbish”.” In 1997 was published Ilga Muižniece’s elegant review „Rūgtais pieradums – (ne dzīvot)” (Bitter habit – (not to live)) about O. Seiksts’ and V. Lukaševics’ novel „Valerjana dzeive i redzīni” (Valerjan’s life and opinions). The 90s mark two cultural traditions of Latgalian literature: 1) to some extent in the Latvian tradition Latgalian literature is viewed as an ethnographic tradition, which shows the possibilities of the Latvian language, diversity of traditions, complements Latvian literature with Latgalian vitality and charm, marks its catholic orientation, shows the natural beauty of Latgale; 2) Latgalian literature is considered an independent literature, writing in Latgalian is authors’ way of self-expression, it does not try to add anything to Latvian literary tradition, and it is based in Latgale and together with the Latvian literary tradition forms Latvian literature. Revival of Latgalian literature is one of the brightest features of culturally restored independent Latvia.

The article “Motherhood in contemporary Latvian poetry: Inga Gaile, Anna Auziņa” brings attention to and analyses a woman’s specific experience – motherhood, the mother’s role and identity in the works of Inga Gaile and Anna Auziņa, two bright Latvian poets, revealing the characteristics of a woman in contemporary social reality. The different experiences of women, intimate and other, reflection about the topical societal and cultural problems, which influence women’s lives, as well as protests against the inherited societal stereotypes regarding different women’s roles, including the many layers of a mother’s role, are all brightly depicted by both poets. The study looks for answers to topical, meaningful questions – what is motherhood, and how is it constructed? Can motherhood be only experienced by a woman? How does the experience of motherhood in real and literary terms differ from the cultural and societal view, in which mother is a symbol of selflessness and gentle care? What are the specific criteria for a mother’s role and how does reaching or failing to reach such criteria affect a woman? The analysis of poetry works is based on the theoretical and methodological field of feministic literature and criticism. The experience of motherhood reflected by the poets is divided and reviewed in four gradations: a woman’s attitudes towards the role of the mother, the fulfillment of her duties and her relationship with that experience; bodily experience (pregnancy, process of childbirth); the mother-child relationship (upbringing, a child’s role in women’s lives); motherhood and different familial models (the experience of a single mother, etc.).

Dievturība (dievturi - "God keepers", "people who live in harmony with God") is a newly created religious tradition having appeared in the second part of the 1920s – 1930s, its most essential source includes materials of Latvian folklore and folk traditions. These are interpreted by construing a religious ethical theory and creating a religion which is alternative to Christianity, with its own doctrine and rituals, and the conception of Latvianness in culture and politics. Latvianness is the most essential concept of cultural politics to which all activities of the dievturi are subjected (exaltation, family celebrations (krustabas, vedības (marriage), bedības (funeral)) as well as seasonal rituals, cultural historical excursions, tidying and spiritual restoration of the sacral sites (sacred places, castle mounds), folklore activities, article publications in mass media, summer thematic camps in the countryside marked by intensive mastering and cultivation of history and culture, celebration of Latvian public holidays and the most important remembrance days. Contemporary dievturi groups are seeking for new ideas in order to develop and popularize their conceptions, which can partly be characterized as a cultural political programme for theoretical (doctrine) and practical (exaltations, ceremonies, seasonal rituals) realization of Latvianness and its components. Within this publication, creativity means the system of ideas and values that promotes the development and perspectives of dievturi groups as well as includes them into a wider cultural political environment thus performing a culture-creating job. A special attention is paid to the essential ideas and values guiding the creativity of contemporary Latvian dievturi groups, making ample use of storyteller habitus, thus intentionally allowing the domination of group participant discourse. The two main directions of dievturi group participant creativity are the development of their doctrine (teaching) and the ritual practice (exaltations). These directions allow to attract wide attention of the society and mass media, new participants and supporters, to influence the political and cultural processes in Latvia. An important part in the doctrinal reflections of the dievturi, especially in the ritual practice (exaltations), has always been taken by Latvian literature writings. A selective choice of these supplement the textual canon of the dievturi continuing the tradition in line with “the mood of Latvian folk songs” and attributing a more modern shape and world outlook concepts to dievturi undertakings. The aim of an exaltation is always associated with the main cultural political concept of the dievturi – Latvianness, namely, to make Latvianness more active, to offer an opportunity to approach Latvianness, make efforts for deeper comprehension of it, being aware and living through it, although thematically it may be dedicated to separate components of Latvianness (people, land, language, God, Māra, Laima, work, virtues, human life, and the like). Also, the most essential ideas and values of dievturība – gender equality, domesticity, antiglobalism, ecology, traditional marriage formula, life style and appearance, environment (for example, use of Latvian language), music, art and literature priorities (classical and/or national music, use of local building materials and ornaments (all ornaments have been observed in Latvia’s nature), writers, poets and playwrights who most precisely depict the “Latvian spirit” – derive from folk songs and the cultural concepts deriving thereof. Activity in the field of Latvianness (ethnicity conception) is in accord with the activity in favour of the future of the Latvian people, symbolical non-forgetting of culture correspond to generating of culture. This attributes a political and social dimension to the cultural activity of dievturi. Dievturība does not perform an official cultural politics of cultural values, heritage, traditions etc., this is a task for politicians; however, it is at least a marginal participant of the cultural political sphere. Placing ethnicity, or the Latvian discourse, at the centre of cultural politics encompasses the range of further impact when the seeming encapsulation within the margins of culture are replaced by reflections on Latvian economy, guidelines in education and science, health care system, axiological juxtaposition of the countryside and city. Also, the evaluation and criticism of the activity of the Christian Church by the dievturi is connected with the conception of Latvianness. Dievturi strongly disclaim Christianity and any chance of mutual cooperation (and also vice versa), protest against its monopoly position in Latvian society, consider Christianity a historically alien religion having been forced upon Latvians and demanding the status of a traditional religion in Latvia also for dievturība including, for example, the right to wed, to celebrate religious festivals. The results of field research do not allow to speak about dievturība today as a strong and united manifestation of Latvian religious experience and way of life. Rather, it is possible to register (after the decline of the movement at the end of the 1990s and at the beginning of the 2000s) a quite consistent and sufficiently active revival which is connected with the appearance of new persons and creative ideas among Latvian dievturi. The future events depend on the fact whether dievturi themselves would be able to solve the protracted inner inconsistencies and find a uniting grounds for further development of the movement. The article is based on the study results obtained during the 2006–2008 field research carried out in dievturi groups (interviews with group leaders, participants and individual representatives, transcripts of audio and video materials). The study was carried out with the financial support of the project “Society and lifestyles” and using its accepted methods – ethnographic description, semi-structured interviews and methods of visual anthropology (photography, filming) and instructions by the Ethical Commission (for example use of assumed names for storytellers).

In the period of postmodern culture, a lot of importance is attributed to mythological thinking and to the decoding of myths and current cultural signs. Therefore, the use of „talking” personal names which are perceived symbolically becomes relevant. As semiotic research points out: „For the mythological conscience it is common to see the world as a book, where cognition equals reading, which is based on the mechanisms of decoding and identification”. (Lotmans, Uspenskis 1993: 35) That means that for a better comprehension of prose, also in postmodern texts one has to pay attention to the choice of personal names, their frequency, and the presence and characteristics of cultural connotations. Bearing in mind that features of postmodern texts are the disregard of genre borders and marginalism, it can hypothetically be assumed that similar attitudes towards the use of personal names can be found in poetry. However, considering both recent studies of personal names and of poetry, it is possible to conclude that poetry pays little attention to the studies of personal names. Personal names are not very common in poetic texts, and poets use them quite precautiously (unless they link it to the tendencies within postmodernism as mentioned above). The objective of this article is to describe the functionality of personal names in latest Latvian poetry. The methodological basis of the work was obtained by studying the works of semioticians (R. Jakobson, Y. Lotman, B. Uspenskiy, Y. Levin, etc,), using the practical experience of philological text analysis (O. Nikolina, J. Kazarin), as well as by studying the attitudes of particular authors towards personal names (V. Rudnev, P. Florensky, A. Losev, G. Frege). The sources for the research for this article were anthologies of four young poetesses who were born in the 1970s and made their debut at the turn of the century, from which anthroponyms where taken for description: Inga Gaile’s „Laiks bija iemīlējies” (Time was in love, 1999) and „Kūku Marija” (Pastry Maria, 2007), Andra Menfelde’s „tranšejas dievi rok” (Gods dig trenches, 2005), Liga Rundane’s „Leluos atlaidys” (Great absolution, 2004), and Agita Draguna’s „prāts” (Mind, 2004). When analyzing the expressions of personal name in these anthologies, and thereby looking for mutual interconnections both within one anthology and from a comparative angle, a cultural sight of the generation born in the 70s (or at least of the „reading” intellectual part of that generation) could be identified. It turns out that the frequency and the uniformity/diversity of the usage of personal names can reveal tendencies of a particular trend. Clear spatial and associative semantic borders are revealed in the poetry of Agita Draguna and Liga Rundane, although it should be mentioned that personal names are very rarely used in the poetry. In contrast, the poetry of Inga Gaile and Andra Manfelde features a diversity of personal names, a tendency of appellativization, and a variety of interpretations of personal names. In the poetry of L. Rundane and A. Draguna it is possible to distinguish groups of personal names which unequivocally reveal the existence of their worlds, and mark the values of the lyrics. In the poetry of these authors two groups of personal names can be distinguished: 1) Poets: Andryvs Yurdzhs, Rainis, Oskars Seiksts (in the poetry of L. Rundane), Anthony McCann, Fjodor Tjutchev, Omar Hayam, Arseny Tarkovsky (in the poetry of A. Draguna) 2) Mythical characters: Shiva, Isida, Zuhra, Djemshid (in the poetry of A. Draguna), Virgin Mary (Jumprova Marija, in the poetry of L. Rundane). In the poetry of L. Rundane, one’s world has a Latgalian identity. In contrast, in the poetry of A. Draguna the world is more sought for, whereas one’s values seem to come from Eastern concepts of the mind and the meaning of a human life. In the poetry of I. Gaile and A. Manfelde the use of a personal name is aimed at: - marking one’s space, but unlike in the poetry of the authors mentioned above, it is full of doubts and controversies not only on the emotional level, but also regarding the values that one is looking for. Therefore personal names serve to reveal these controversies, not just to acknowledge one’s space; - a self-extinguishment of personal names and their change into simulacra, - or the process of mythologization of everyday life. It can be concluded that the limited use of personal names, of separate names, and of phrases which start with a capital letter, such as the lack of persistence in changing pronouns and generic names into the status of personal names (Miracle, You, Father of Noise, etc), proves the intensity of the perception of the mythical world, an expression paradigm common for postmodernism. (L. Rundane, A. Draguna). The relatively free and manifold use of personal names, their changes into generic names (contextual appellativization), the quest for general notions (lexical meanings), and the desire to create them (Barbie, harlequin, Aivazovsky, Lennon, Tanya, etc.) on the one hand create sumulacra, and on the other hand emphasize a mythologization of everyday life and the possibilities of its use in literary texts (through the use of figures or palimpsests).

During ten years, since Latgalian popular music has returned to the mainstream Latvian music stage, 44 Latgalian music albums have been released. The lyrics of these songs are written by musicians, Latgalian and Latvian poets and as a result of teamwork of poets and music authors. The subject of the present research is represented by cultural signs in the song texts of Latgalian bands; the research object is song lyrics of Latgalian bands. Sources selected for the research are the song texts of Latgalian bands and performers: "Borowa MC", "Bez PVN", "Dabasu Durovys", "Green Novice", Laura Bicāne, "Kapļi". Some musicians and bands use Latvian and Latgalian folk songs in their music, yet they are not discussed in the present research. Other musicians use works of Latgalian poets, which are mentioned here only for comparison. Therefore, the key focus is on texts written by musicians themselves, collected from the released music album brochures and from correspondence with band members. The texts of schlager music bands are not examined here either, as they are worth making a separate research.It must be admitted that cultural signs in the examined texts do not occur particularly often, although the feature of the post-modernist culture is related to reassessment and mock of previous culture, the song lyrics are still rather romantic, traditional and compliant with the requirements of mass culture. The use of cultural signs is not characteristic of bands "Green Novice", "Bez PVN" and performer Laura Bicāne, therefore, the song texts of bands "Borowa MC", "Dabasu Durovys" and "Kapļi" are analysed the most. The research has been carried out based on the method of structural semiotics (J. Lotmans, R. Veidemane) by analysing cultural signs found in the selected texts.The signs related to cultural history are rather traditional: Latgale, Latgalians, rarely, some specific natural or geographical objects relevant to cultural historical events or associated exactly with the Latgale region. However, the search for territorial and ethnic identity and its construction for oneself and others (mostly, neighbours of other regions) is one of the main questions in the lyrics. As the mentioned bands "Borowa Mc", "Dabasu Durovys" and "Bez PVN" play popular, mass-oriented music, their texts are mostly intended for broad public, therefore, the first features that characterize the song lyrics of Latgalian bands are the cultivation and preservation of stereotypes. These stereotypes are divided into two groups:1) favourable, emotionally uplifting, sometimes even rousing self-confidence; 2) critical, prejudiced, causing negative atmosphere and emotions.The poetical rock band "Kapļi", which belongs to an alternative direction of Latgalian music and has ironic, sarcastic texts, sing about cultural signs related to Latgale in a completely different way. Their lyrics show a different view of things that are holy, inviolable, and indisputable to many Latgalians.Regarding cultural signs representing the folkloristic level, it must be noted that in this research ‘folkloristic’ is meant in the broadest sense of this word (not only folk compositions, but also events, objects, things that have become a part of folklore over time, often becoming subjects of literary tales), for instance, Pinocchio, the main character combines several characters: a fool, a body-builder, and even a lyrical ego seeking for its own identity. All character appearances, which are reflected in other songs about the modern hero, suggest that the character avoids activity or makes the new world unstable by drawing, making it from plasticine, using the phone, and consequently, creates a virtual world which is modern and transitory. "Dabasu Durovys" reveals their life philosophy and search for meaning with the help of historical cultural signs, for instance, the river Rubicon, known from ancient times, meaning the breaking of links to the past and not returning to previous situation, or the royal court of the Sun King, that symbolizes absolute monarchy, or Napoleon, etc.“Little man” and his daily life are related to another group of cultural signs. Depiction of daily life in poetry shows on the one hand that the author values the place and time of his life; on the other hand it demonstrates an artistic approach to everyday reality. These texts usually convey tragically ironical feeling and show modern typical dramas right beside us. Such characters most frequently appear in the texts of the bands "Kapļi" and "Dabasu Durovys".Even though cultural signs do not appear in the texts of Latgalian bands frequently, they are diverse. Cultural historical signs, which appear in patriotic and ironic lyrics, reveal authors’ homeland Latgale and Latgalians with their typical positive and negative stereotypes. Cultural signs related to Latvia and Europe highlight ironically sharp reality of emigration and infrequent visits to Latvia and are bound to several historical periods, which are mostly related to domestic, rarely social political situations.

The visibility and success of Latgalian schlager groups in Latvia are of interest not only due to music composed by these groups, but even more regarding lyrics created by these musical associations, and especially concerning their relation to Latgale. The aim of the research is to describe the manifestations of the concept of Latgale in the lyrics of Latgalian schlager groups. The object of the research is the concept of Latgale, the subject of the study consists of the texts of Latgalian schlager groups (“Patrioti.lg”, “Galaktika”, “Ginc un Es”, etc.). The source of the study is 12 albums that have come out over the period of ten years (2008–2017). Both Latgalian (the Latvian language of Latgale) and Latvian texts are discussed. Latgalian groups sing about the same themes that are covered around the world – love, everyday life, reflection, quest for the sense of life, etc. The concept of Latgale is among them too. Taking into account that the term concept is often used in different linguistic and cultural spheres and its limits of understanding are quite extensive, in this study it is used in the linguacultural sense, i.e., concept is a unit of collective consciousness guiding towards higher spiritual values, which is linguistically expressive and which possesses ethno cultural features (Аngelova 2004). The first discoverer of the concept of Latgale is language. In this research it is the Latgalian language consistently used by some groups, for example, “Patrioti.lg”; also the last album of duet Inga and Normunds (2015) is completely in Latgalian, while other artists (“Galaktika”, “Ginc un Es”) use Latgalian lyrics only in separate songs written either by musicians themselves or by poets. In any case, at least some songs in Latgalian included in an album are positive examples of the liveliness and functionality of language. Geographical names are rather widely represented in the lyrics and serve as a confirmation of the territorial identity of Latgale. Several titles directly include an indication to Latgale, for example, the titles of the following albums – “Munai Latgolai”, “Latgaleite”, or the names of songs – “Latgale”, “Munai Latgolai”, etc. Latgale’s most famous geographical objects associated with our region in the rest of Latvia are mentioned in schlager songs. For example, Latgale’s largest lakes Rāzna and Lubāns, the river Daugava, the hills – Liepukalns, Mākoņkalns. The naming of geographic objects is inextricably linked with the sense of homeland. The lyrics of these songs acknowledge patriotism and pride about our land or region, partly attributable to the mentioned geographical objects; however, the manifestation of the concept of Latgale is often expressed in descriptive terms. Several authors successfully use the symbols of Latgale, thus influencing the listener’s awareness even more, for example, Latgale as the land of blue lakes – a traditional and positive stereotype of the region. Latgale is closely associated with Latgalians’ belief in God due to the strong Catholic traditions. Authors of lyrics include religious motifs truly believing in their hearts or emphasizing religious themes on purpose in order to particularly impress people of middle and older generation who make up one of the main parts of target audience. The song lyrics written by poets (Ineta Atpile-Jugane, Leontīne Apšeniece, etc.) stand out for their artistic and ideological qualities in contrast to texts created by musicians themselves. In their poetry too there is a call to stay, live and work in Latgale. It should be considered a positive trait that Latgale is not shown as a wictim, but it is a place that symbolizes hope and patriotism. As the main function of schlager music is entertaining the listeners, a number of texts depict cheerful social and party situations where beer belongs as one of the unwritten symbols of Latgale and Latvia. Also a significant part of Latgale is song, which gives strength and unites people. The portrayal of Latgale in lyrics mostly invokes nostalgic and positive emotions, confirming Latgalian values and objects that are known to common listeners.

Latvijas tiesību zinātnē līdz šim nav pietiekoši pētīta ostu tematika. Aldis Dreiblathens savā rakstā analizē pašvaldību tiesības Latvijas ostu tiesiskās aizsardzības jomā. Nozīmīgākie problēmas aspekti ir saistīti ar valsts institūciju un pašvaldību kompetences noteikšanu. Little research so far has been done in Latvian jurisprudence regarding the subject matter of ports and harbours. Aldis Dreiblathens analyses municipality rights for legal protection of Latvian ports in his article. The most problem areas concern defining the competencies of the state and local municipalities.

The article is dedicated to the legal philosophical views of poet Jānis Pliekšāns (Rainis) about freedom, the people and the state. For Rainis, these concepts constitute a united philosophical system, founded on the idea of a free, happy, socialist State of Latvia. Of course, all nations, not only Latvians, are entitled to a state of their own. However, the idea of a state is not eternal. With time, states will voluntarily unite in one socialist global state. Freedom, democracy and genuine respect for nations’ rights differentiate Rainis from Pēteris Stučka and other communists. The author believes that, in the contemporary understanding, Rainis’ socialist state would be a socially responsible state.

After he was sent to a Siberian labor camp in 1941, Formakov lost contact with his family. They remained behind in Nazi-occupied Latvia, and he could not contact them by mail until Soviet forces recaptured Daugavpils and Riga in 1944. This chapter contains the letters that Formakov wrote to his family beginning in the summer of 1944 and also some poems, addressed to them, that he had composed in 1941-1943 and sent in early communications. The letters provide a detailed view of Formakov’s living conditions in Kraslag, a labor camp in Kansk in the Krasnoiarsk region. They offer information about the operations of Kraslag’s Cultural-Educational Sector, which put on film screenings, concerts, and theatrical productions in camp. They also describe a special cafeteria for inmates who exceeded production targets and Formakov’s efforts to secure adequate food for himself.

The development gap between regions and even countries has always been actual problem in field of regional policy. Regional development disparities especially are important problem in territories with unfavourable socio-economic situation. To minimize this problem, many Eastern Europe countries, including Latvia, implemented special economic zones and free ports as regional development instrument with aim to mitigate regional development differences between regions by attracting investments and creating new jobs. Experience with special economic zones in Latvia are likely close with Poland’s case, thus experts from Poland affirms that, every 100 jobs given in special economic zone create on average about 72 jobs outside the special economic zone hosting territory and 137 jobs in neighboring counties. Latvia, since the restoration of sovereignty, established five economic zones in total – two of them are situated in Latgale, which is the least developed region of Latvia. Researchers have not been widely contributed to analysis of special economic zones impact to regional development. Authors evaluated impact of created job places of special economic zones in Latgale region to unemployment level. Results of research show that special economic zones as regional development instrument creates significant impact to regional development in territories with unfavourable socio-economic situation.