Reclaiming Latvian Realism: Literary Innovation as Identity Quest

Projekt No: lzp-2024/1-0341

Implemetnation period: 2025 - 2027

Project funding: 300 000 EUR

Head of the Project: Dr. habil. philol. Benedikts Kalnačs

Project team: Benedikts Kalnačs, Pauls Daija, Zanda Gūtmane, Ilze Jansone, Zita Kārkla, Artis Ostups, Ginta Pērle-Sīle

The project opts for a contribution in the revitalization process of the study of realism in literature seen as an important catalyst for both aesthetic innovation and social change. The main goal of the project is a reinterpretation of Latvian literary realism. We focus on realism in postcolonial and post-Soviet Latvian literary culture in a broad temporal perspective and approach our topic through several case studies that examine major aesthetic transformations and their social relevance. The innovative aspect is our focus on the particularities of so-called peripheral realisms important for the understanding of realism’s diversity. Theoretical tools for our investigations are provided by postcolonial criticism, feminist and gender studies, as well as trauma studies. Our research traces two trajectories of analytical thought that all too often have been discussed separately: analysis of realism’s theoretical oeuvre in relation to its rich and diverse literary output. The project proposes a thorough investigation of the specific role of realism’s representational strategies in Latvian literary history and asks whether realist innovations in their interplay with other aesthetic trends reveal the potential of literature to strengthen various forms of individual and collective identity, to promote resilience, as well as to stimulate social transformation and change.

Keywords: Realism, literary theory, Latvian literature, small literature studies, postcolonial criticism, resilience, trauma studies, feminist and gender studies, individual and group identity
Image: Felix Nadar's balloon "Le Géant" takes off in Brussels in September 1864.