Letonica issues 55th and 56th

The latest issues of Letonica, the interdisciplinary scholarly journal of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (ILFA UL), compile research in the humanities and social sciences in both Latvian and English.

The journal issues are available online here: https://lulfmi.lv/zurnals-letonica-numuri

In issue 55 of Letonica, Arnolds Klotiņš (ILFA UL) examines the development of modernism in 20th-century music in the Baltic states and its role in overcoming Soviet normative aesthetics (1940–1990). Benedikts Kalnačs (ILFA UL), in an article in English, discusses local identity and comparative aspects in 19th-century Latvian literature, while Sanita Duka (Art Academy of Latvia) has published an article titled "The Political Stage for Women’s Rights: Productions by the Riga Workers’ Theatre and Debates on Changes to the Abortion Paragraph in Latvia’s Criminal Law in 1930–1932."

Contributions from foreign researchers in English include:

• Alfie Howard (University of Leeds, UK), with an article on colonialism, resistance, and (anti)nationalism in the novel The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Estonian author Andrus Kivirähk;
• Vitalija Truskauskaitė (Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania), with a study on Lithuanian writer Balys Sruoga's vision of theatre’s future from the Nazi concentration camp in Stutthof;
• Roma Bončkutė (Klaipėda University, Lithuania), with research on Herder’s Frieden Frau and the concept of the “Lithuanian wife” in Simonas Daukantas’ work;
• Panagiotis G. Krimpas (Democritus University of Thrace, Greece), with an article titled “Mother Asks Her Little Son”: Translating Latvian War Folk Songs into Contemporary Greek in the context of the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution;
• Gonzalo Preciado-Azanza (University of Zaragoza, Spain), with the article “Spanish Influence in Latvian Ballet (1923–1941): Exoticism, Identity, and Propaganda.”

Vita Zelče (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Latvia) has dedicated an extensive in memoriam article to the historian Andrejs Plakans (1940–2024).

In issue 56 of Letonica, Olga Senkāne (Rezekne Academy of Technologies) compares the semiotic representations of identity in depictions of a small Latgale town by Gunars Janovskis and Viesturs Kairišs. Ilze Ļaksa-Timinska (ILFA UL) offers insights into the identity of Soviet Latvians in the 1920s and an imagological reading of Roberts Eidemanis’ novella. Juris Urtāns (Institute of Culture and Arts, Latvian Academy of Culture) has published a study on dogs in the folklore of Latgale hillforts. Signe Šēnfelde (Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia) explores alternative reading culture in the Latvian SSR in the 1950s based on the diaries of Kaspars Aleksandrs Irbe. Jānis Veckrācis (Ventspils University of Applied Sciences) and Mārtiņš Mintaurs (National Library of Latvia, Faculty of Humanities UL) co-authored a study on historical terminology discourse and the origins of some key terms in the Latvian language. Linda Zulmane (RTU Liepāja Academy) has published an article titled “A Path in the Time of Transition in Andrievs Niedra’s Fairy Tale 'The Peasant's Son’,” while in an English-language article, Sergejs Kruks (Riga Stradiņš University) examines ambiguous grammatical forms in Latvian language corpora.

In the journal’s “Archives, Documents, Facts” section, Gonzalo Preciado-Azanza (University of Zaragoza, Spain) presents a guide to information sources for researchers of the Latvian ballet diaspora.

Editor-in-chief: Jānis Oga.
Literary editors: Evelīna Zilgalve, Ilze Antēna (Latvian); Dace Strelēvica-Ošiņa and Terēze Svilāne (English).
Design by Tatjana Raičiņeca.
The issues are published with the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation and the University of Latvia.

Letonica has been published since 1998 and features original, previously unpublished research articles in the humanities and social sciences based on scientific inquiry. The journal is indexed in Scopus, ERIH PLUS, and EBSCO databases.

Printed issues will be available from June 16 at the “Friends’ Room” in the National Library of Latvia and at ILFA (3 Mūkusalas Street; more information: https://lulfmi.lv/apgads).

Last time modified: 04.06.2025 10:36:51