Enlightenment Culture and Baltic Germans: A New Book Exploring Latvian Literary History in the 18th Century
In May 2017, Cambridge Scholars Publishing has released a book by Pauls Daija titled the Literary History and Popular Enlightenment in Latvian Culture.
For the first time, the international reading public can read a study devoted to the Latvian literary history of the late 18th and early 19th centuries — a period of time when the German Volksaufklärung (popular enlightenment) project was imported to the Baltic provinces of Russia. While previous studies on the 18-century Baltic enlightenment history have focused on socio-economic debates of this era, as exemplified in works of Garlieb Merkel and others, this book offers a closer look at the printed media written in the vernacular for Latvian peasants in order to enlighten and educate the lower classes of Baltic society. Read more...
New Book: Mapping the History of Folklore Studies: Centers, Borderlands and Shared Spaces
At the end of April Cambridge Scholars Publishing released a collection of articles prepared by ILFA Mapping the History of Folklore Studies: Centers, Borderlands and Shared Spaces (ed. by Dace Bula and Sandis Laime). Articles are based on papers presented during the conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Archives of Latvian Folklore which was held in Riga in October 2014.
The collection of articles provides rich and diverse insights into the historical dynamics of folkloristic thought with its shifting geographies, shared spaces, centres and borderlands. By focusing on intellectual collaboration and sharing, the volume also reveals the limitations, barriers and boundaries inherent in scholarship and scholarly communities. Read more...
International Conference "Literary Canon Formation as Nation-building in Central and Eastern Europe (19th to Early 20th Century)"
Call for Papers for the International Conference "Literary Canon Formation as Nation-building in Central and Eastern Europe (19th to Early 20th Century)" on 3–4 May, 2018 in Vilnius at Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore.
Sharing a common culture is one of the most solid grounds for acquiring a sense of community.
During the rise of modern nations, literature had an important role in consolidating national
communities and shaping their values, even becoming the medium through which the identity of
a national community is formed. Literary works of various genres took part in the collective
imagining of national communities. Thus, a constant need in Central and Eastern Europe of the
19th and early 20th century was to define the national literature and form the national literary
canon, and it was directly related to the development of national conscience and cultural selfconsciousness.
The national literary canon, which would be established and promoted by
institutions of education, research, criticism and publishing, would function as an important and
influential instrument in creating national cultural identity and shaping historical memory.
