Poetry
Elpa
Not translated into English
Ojārs Vācietis · 1966
Synopsis
The collection turns the tragedies of the century and of the totalitarian regime into choices of conscience that each person settles alone, between the defence of the human and the slope of indifference and conformism. The poem Einšteiniāna questions the double face of civilisation and progress and man's responsibility on a world scale; Nicināšanas pamatojums and Partijas piederība reject hypocrisy, demagogy and totalitarian thought. Hope and joy sit alongside pain.
Context
The book appears with Liesma in Riga in 1966, illustrated by Oļģerts Ābelīte, and ends six years without a volume: nothing had appeared since Krāces apiet nav laika, in 1960. Einšteiniāna, published in a journal as early as 1962, had brought its author harsh criticism and several years away from publishers; the censors still remove from the poem Gadsimts the address to the sculptor Ernst Neizvestny. Imants Auziņš reviews it in February 1967 in Literatūra un Māksla, and the National Encyclopedia of Latvia sees it as a turning point.
Who it is for
A direct, precise poetry, which gains from being read with some idea of Soviet censorship in the sixties.
Prizes and reception
Awarded the State Prize of Soviet Latvia on 10 December 1967, it was its author's first book after six years without a collection.