Grand Postcommunist Narratives? 
A Postcolonial Perspective on 
Latvian Historical Fiction
Benedikts Kalnačs
Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, University of Latvia, Mūkusalas iela 3, Rīga, LV-1423 Latvia
benedikts.kalnacs@lulfmi.lv
87
Primerjalna književnost (Ljubljana) 38.3 (2015)
The article provides an insight into contemporary Latvian historical fiction. It focuses 
on a new series of historical novels, which aims at the interpretation of crucial 
transformations in the life of society during the 20th century. The first three novels in 
the series are discussed through a synchronic as well as a diachronic perspective. The 
introductory part of the article deals with recent general transformations in the literary 
scene in Latvia and with changes in the interpretation of history during the period 
of postcommunist transition in particular. A retrospective of the history of Latvian 
literature helps to explain the relevance of historical topics in the process of nation 
building. The novels under discussion are interpreted from the point of view of their 
literary genre and their use of time and space as constitutive factors in the creation of 
a literary text.
Keywords: literature and history / Latvian literature / literary genres / historical novel / 
time and space / postcommunism / nation building / Zebris, Osvalds / Bankovskis, Pauls 
/ Bērziņš, Māris 
Introduction
The period of the postcommunist transformation in Latvia at the turn 
of the 21st century has left a substantial impact on the development of 
Latvian literature. After the initial rise of application of postmodernism 
in literary theory and practice especially during the 1990s, a gradual return 
of interest to social and political issues, and, among other themes, to the 
interpretation of history has been noticeable over recent years. One ex-
ample of this recent trend is the series of historical novels under the title 
“We. Latvia, the 20th Century” (“Mēs. Latvija, XX gadsimts”). Publications 
in the series started in 2014 with the aim of initiating a discussion of the 
crucial transformations in the history as well as the mentality of Latvian 
people during the last hundred years. These works also have a close re-
lationship with other texts, which have determined the development of 
PKn, letnik 38, št 3, Ljubljana, december 2015
88
Latvian letters; therefore, in this paper I focus on both the textual and 
contextual aspects of the contemporary historical novel viewed through a 
synchronic as well as a diachronic perspective.
From the textual point of view, I will focuse on three recently pub-
lished historical novels, In the Shadow of Rooster Hill (Gaiļu kalna ēnā, 2014) 
by Osvalds Zebris, 18 (2014) by Pauls Bankovskis, and The Taste of Lead 
(Svina garša, 2015) by Māris Bērziņš. Attention will be paid, first, to the 
changes in the construction of the narrative in these texts. I observe how 
the stable linear flow of historical novels gradually yields to fragmentation, 
and the perspective of the narrator is narrowed. I also discuss how the 
choice of plot interacts with changes in the narrative. Instead of portraying 
grand historical figures and events, these works of contemporary fiction 
are more focused on the depiction of the everyday, and historical situations 
are represented as seen through the perspective of ordinary people in daily 
circumstances. Specific characteristics of time and place are also dealt with.
This perspective is complemented by the discussion of contextual as-
pects, which have determined the development of Latvian fiction. In this 
respect, in the first part of the paper I will pay attention to the position of 
the historical novel in the genre hierarchy. The history of Latvian literature 
does not provide sufficient background for foregrounding the genre of 
the novel. Not only did it appear comparatively late, but in most cases it 
has also remained aesthetically tainted. Therefore, I argue that the histori-
cal novel has been rather marginally positioned in the history of Latvian 
literature, and the task of identity formation of the nation has been as-
cribed to other, predominantly shorter fictional forms, thus mirroring the 
comparatively late rise of Latvian fiction. Within the line of this argument, 
I also introduce broader regional and East-Central European contexts; in 
this process, the concepts of postcolonial criticism are involved as well. 
Especially important for my argument is the idea that, even if the grand his-
torical narratives might be losing strength with the advent of postmodern-
ism, their presence is still crucial in the cultures trying to recover their sup-
pressed subaltern voices after having experienced the trauma of coloniality.
A diachronic perspective on contemporary historical novels
The growing self-reflexivity of Latvian literature became especially im-
portant during the late 19th century, and attempts to create a major Latvian 
novel were exhibited when the very first texts ascribed such stature ap-
peared as late as 1879.1 In the context of the development of European 
literatures, this happened not only at a very late date but at a time when 
Benedikts Kalnačs:     Grand Postcommunist Narratives? 
89
other genres, for example, drama and novella, were already starting to ac-
quire the principal role in terms of intellectual density moving away from 
the novel which had been the dominant genre for the first two thirds of 
the 19th century. This belatedness was at least partly grasped by Latvian 
writers. An interesting tension is noticeable if we briefly juxtapose a novel, 
The Smoke of Land Clearing (Līduma dūmos, 1899) by Andrievs Niedra, con-
ceived and written on a large scale and featuring protagonists who try to 
forge their own destinies, with a seemingly simple and unpretentious no-
vella, In the Shadow of Death (Nāves ēnā, 1899) by Rūdolfs Blaumanis, written 
and published in the same year.
Each of these texts might be examined from the point of view of au-
thorial intentions, genre and narrative peculiarities, and their position in 
the literary process. Special emphasis should be put upon the genesis of 
modern Latvian literature, but questions of cultural transfer could also be 
addressed. The mentioned texts provide ground for a theoretical discus-
sion of fin-de-siècle literary trends and their specificity.
In the treatment of Andrievs Niedra’s work, the desire of the author 
to create a modern, European-style novel is worth accentuating. The 
author traces the complicated relationships between the rising Latvian 
middle class and its aristocratic German counterpart. The explicitly mani-
fested ideology of the author’s so-called new nationalism forms the core 
of the conflicts portrayed in the novel, and psychological characteristics 
are subordinated to this main goal. Niedra also follows well-established 
conventions of the 19th century European novel, especially the tradition 
of Bildungsroman, which is well suited to his aim of revealing the potential 
strengths of the emerging Latvian industrialists and literati.
Compared to this rather pretentious text, Rūdolfs Blaumanis’s novella 
In the Shadow of Death most clearly portrays the doubts and insecurities of 
the colonial difference of the Latvian nation. The masterful portrayal of 
a group of fishermen, who happen to find themselves on a piece of ice in 
the open sea, might be considered as a metaphorical representation of the 
fragile existence of the subaltern stratum in a colonially divided society. 
Blaumanis thus uses poetic conditions of the novella genre to provide a 
cutting edge analysis of the inner experience of the fin-de-siècle Latvian 
population. Instead of Niedra’s novel where the protagonists often ex-
press opinions shared by their creator, in Blaumanis’s text we are intro-
duced to a situation, which is not followed by any sort of judgment; only 
the masterful groupings of the people on the ice allow us to speak about a 
cross-section of the contemporary society.
Literary works written at the end of the 19th century reveal the specific 
circumstances of Latvian society of that time in a comparative perspec-
PKn, letnik 38, št 3, Ljubljana, december 2015
90
tive. Still lacking the possibility of economic self-determination and being 
subjected to foreign rule, Latvian people are exposed to the problematic 
of existential uncertainty and the void, as well as a feeling of subalternity. 
This feeling of inferiority and difference in self-perception toward bigger 
powers even within the European Union is still to a certain extent char-
acteristic of contemporary Latvian society; and it is also mirrored by the 
current attempt of recreating the 20th century history of the nation in the 
series of historical novels.
The genre of the novel has repeatedly manifested its importance dur-
ing the 20th century, more in terms of political and social significance rath-
er than aesthetic. The novel in Latvian literature has been primarily linked 
to ideological issues both during the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the 1950s 
and 1960s, even if for different reasons. The first of these time periods 
was, following the establishment of an independent state, marked by an 
attempt to create a historically reliable narrative of continued and organic 
national history, which should be detectable even through the centuries of 
oppression. During the colonial period following the Soviet occupation at 
the end of World War II, a new kind of socialist grand narrative was again 
created to replace earlier representations, and historical tables were turned 
in order to demonstrate the deep and indispensable links between Latvian 
and Russian destinies, with the Russian people always portrayed as libera-
tors. During the 1970s and 1980s reaction to this dominance of socialist 
realism was provided primarily not by creating historically panoramic liter-
ary texts, but rather by linking alternative narratives with shorter literary 
forms, such as the novella or the so-called small novel, a common trend 
also in the development of Estonian and Lithuanian literatures. Only oc-
casionally such important authors like the Estonian writer Jaan Kross who 
considered the representation of history as a tool to discuss and negotiate 
the development of the nation in large-scale novels appeared. His oeuvre 
has stimulated discussion of the relationship between complicity and com-
mitment, as there is no doubt that “[t]he Communist regimes made ample 
use of the historical novel to gain support by appealing to nationalism and 
to generate a combative and ‘heroic’ mentality”. (Neubauer 467) But in 
a recent article the Estonian scholar Eneken Laanes argues that the level 
of complicity in Kross’s writing has been relatively low and that after the 
restoration of independence he continued along principally similar lines of 
commitment in his historical novels even if their more recent topics have 
been closer to the 20th century reality (62–71).
A similar pattern of development of the historical novel may be notice-
able in East-Central European fiction more generally. In History of Literary 
Cultures of East-Central Europe, Marcel Cornis-Pope and John Neubauer argue 
Benedikts Kalnačs:     Grand Postcommunist Narratives? 
91
that the rise of the historical novel in the region mostly refers to the 19th 
century and thus fits into the period of nation building. Characteristically, 
the authors of the book “have replaced the usual Romanticism/Realism/
Modernism/Postmodernism structure with a flexible tripartite division of 
(i) National Awakening [1800–1890], (ii) Modernism [1890–1945], and (iii) 
Literature during the Soviet-controlled period [1945–1989]. All nation-
al cultures went through these periods, though not always in synchrony 
with one another.” (6) In his book Atlas of the European Novel 1800–1900, 
Franco Moretti argues that the rise of (West) European novel has been 
closely connected to the process of nation building and the creation of 
the nation-state. (17–18) It appears that nation building, alongside related 
issues of anti-essentialism and inclusiveness, has played no lesser part in 
the development of the literatures of East-Central Europe and is still a 
task relevant even for the early 21st century in East-Central European and 
Baltic societies. Contrary to most cultures of the region, however, Baltic 
literatures have not considered the genre of the novel as the most impor-
tant instrument in the process of nation representation due to their com-
paratively delayed patterns of development. Even so, there are occasional 
attempts to provide a novel, and the historical novel more specifically, 
with the task of strengthening national identity and self-confidence.
Contemporary Latvian historical novels: contexts and genre
The current rise of historical fiction in Latvia and the neighbouring 
Baltic countries is closely linked with the development of history writ-
ing after the restoration of independence in 1991. In this context Larry 
Wolff emphasizes that “the recent and remarkable historiographic litera-
ture on Eastern Europe, works published a full decade after the end of the 
Cold War, have pointed the way toward new problems and paradigms for 
historical research and political reflection.” (118) Recent developments 
indeed mark a substantial change if compared to the history writing of 
the Soviet period, which was considerably altered to fit ideological propa-
ganda. Jaan Undusk has identified one of the main causes of this decline 
by pointing out that in Soviet times “[t]he morals of history writing was 
standardized on an official level. […] You could find and work through 
huge masses of new empirical data in the archives […] still your general 
conclusions could not be changed. […] And it is precisely this fact that 
had an immoral influence, and created an impression of unhistory.” (130) 
Taking into account the mentioned conditions, it is not a great surprise 
that following the restoration of independence in the Baltic countries 
PKn, letnik 38, št 3, Ljubljana, december 2015
92
there were attempts to look at the history from a reversed perspective. 
However, in the expression of Cornelius Hasselblatt, such an approach 
was also not free from a certain “postcolonial trap” when a new period of 
history and political development simply tried to replace previous assump-
tions by adapting completely opposite interpretations in order simply to 
rewrite earlier histories and their implicit narratives. (104–109)
In an attempt to summarize the recent changes in Lithuanian literature, 
Mindaugas Kvietkauskas also points to the inevitable peculiarities in the 
transition from communist to postcommunist reality:
The struggle against the totalitarian system required strong symbols and consoli-
dating beliefs, and Lithuanian literature directed much energy to win the battle 
with the Soviet ideology and the totalitarian mentality. Therefore, the reality of 
post-Soviet liberal democracy could not mean anything other than the breakdown 
of many cherished cultural myths and the crisis of numerous discourses that were 
formed in the situation of anti-totalitarian struggle. (Kvietkauskas 2)
However, the gradual return to normality in social life has also led to 
the reconsideration of the use of earlier established forms of literature 
and communication, perhaps providing them with a new shape. It is in 
this context that the return to the genre of the historical novel raises great 
public interest in the Baltic countries. The contemporary Latvian novels 
under discussion, In the Shadow of Rooster Hill, 18, and The Taste of Lead are 
all part of a joint project where thirteen Latvian authors have been asked 
to tackle a specific historical decade within the time span from the begin-
ning of the 20th century until today. The project was initiated by one of 
the authors, Gundega Repše, who sees it as a possibility to reflect upon 
history and contemporary Latvian society on the eve of the 100th anniver-
sary of Latvian independence which will be celebrated in 2018. The spe-
cific decades were distributed among the authors, and, even though some 
changes in the initial plan were made by way of negotiation, basically all 
authors agreed to work on what might be, at least to some extent, defined 
as the commission of a particular topic. Even more, each book is expected 
to provide an insight into specific historical circumstances also through 
the study of diverse documents, scholarly works, memoirs, etc.
A typical example of this approach is already provided by the first book 
in the series, In the Shadow of Rooster Hill, where the author, Osvalds Zebris, 
has included endnotes explaining the sources of some important episodes 
of his novel as well as mentioned literary texts, which have been suggestive 
for particular character traits of the protagonists of the work many of whom 
are historically real. The author of the second novel, 18, Pauls Bankovskis, 
also mentions important works which have been influential for his own 
Benedikts Kalnačs:     Grand Postcommunist Narratives? 
93
concept as well as the truthful interpretation of historical realities, while 
Māris Bērziņš, in The Taste of Lead, makes extensive use of quotations pre-
dominantly taken from the press of the period. Each novel is supplemented 
by an explanatory afterword, also provided in English translation.
From the perspective of literary genre, each of the novels utilizes a dif-
ferent approach even if there are occasional overlaps. The main patterns 
are those of an adventure novel (In the Shadow of Rooster Hill), a psychologi-
cal novel (The Taste of Lead), and a philosophical inquiry (18).
The main character of In the Shadow of Rooster Hill, Rūdolfs Reiznieks, 
has become a member of the local revolutionary committee in the Latvian 
countryside during the 1905 mutiny; and, in the course of events, he unin-
tentionally kills an innocent child who happens to be in the place where two 
different groups of adults, rural neighbours, quarrel about propriety issues. 
This event appears to be the turning point in the life of Rūdolfs, and leads 
him to the bizarre idea of kidnapping three unrelated children in order to 
provide them with new happiness. This initially unexplainable deed holds 
together the plot of the novel, which also allows us to have an insight into 
the everyday circumstances of the rebels as well as the daily routines of the 
official state secret police, which investigate not only this accident, but also 
the activities of the rebels more generally. Only gradually it appears that the 
story we read is actually created by the main character, who writes down his 
notes while hiding in a separate city apartment with the kidnapped children. 
What we encounter here, thus, is a narrator whom we definitely cannot 
trust; and, the more the story continues, the more we doubt not only how 
sound the mind of this person might be, but we are increasingly encouraged 
to figure out our own interpretation of the events.
In the philosophical inquiry of Pauls Bankovskis, 18, there are two 
parallel story lines, both designed as diary excerpts. One of these diaries, 
written during the second half of 1917 as well as in the following year, 
portrays the political visions of the protagonist, who actively reflects on 
the events which take place around him while, on the other hand, being 
rather poorly informed about the real historical circumstances due to the 
lack of sufficient information. The author makes his protagonist leave 
Riga in order to escape German invasion in the fall of 1917, and thus the 
narrator, who even avoids telling his name, and refers to himself simply 
as “Someone”, flees to the eastern part of the country, Vidzeme. Later 
on, when he is assigned a mission to get more information from behind 
the lines, he also makes a trip to the western part of Latvia, Kurzeme, 
thus symbolically covering the territory of the potential new state. His 
sources of information, however, still remain rather sporadic. Bankovskis 
writes in his afterword to the novel that he himself also made the journey 
PKn, letnik 38, št 3, Ljubljana, december 2015
94
he ascribes to his protagonist, and did it on foot, in an attempt to catch 
the different rhythm of the previous century; another discovery for him 
has been the lack of information which he immediately felt after leaving 
his usual place in front of his laptop. The second story line of the novel, 
provided by a diary written by the 21st century narrator, who suspiciously 
enough reminds us of the author himself and his publicly known habits, 
is in mysterious ways linked to the experience of the other narrator, and 
features a contemporary reflection not so much of earlier events, but also 
of the importance of an independent state or rather of the role contem-
porary Latvia plays in the formation of individual destinies and reality per-
ception. Bankovskis also points to the title of his novel, simply 18 instead 
of “1918”, which for him provides a broader space for reflection not only 
linked to the proclamation of a new state but also signalling towards the 
most idealistic and optimistic age in an individual’s life.
Māris Bērziņš, in The Taste of Lead, follows a more chronological narra-
tive pattern, which allows the reader to experience crucial transformations 
in the lives of the protagonists during the period starting in 1939 (the last 
year of independence) and gradually leading to the Soviet occupation in 
1940 and the Nazi takeover in 1941.
What we find common in all these texts is that the authors are develop-
ing a form of modern/postmodern narrative, which goes even beyond the 
concepts of the unreliable narrator or subjective interpretations of history. 
Here we feel ourselves directly at the crossroads of different interpreta-
tions, with the events not only lacking strong juxtapositions, but also clear 
points of reference, in order to figure out whose narrative might be most 
truthful, or with whom the reader should feel his or her sympathies.2 Even 
so, moral principles remain crucial, especially in 18 and The Taste of Lead 
as the main protagonists of both novels reveal their personal opinions 
and try to preserve humanity in the middle of crashing social and political 
transformations.
Representation of Time and Space
One of the most important characteristics of the novels under dis-
cussion is provided by the fact that these texts opt for reinterpretation 
of crucial turning points in the history of Latvia from new angles and in 
comparative perspective.
In In the Shadow of Rooster Hill the author, Osvalds Zebris, focuses on 
the first decade of the 20th century, and more specifically on years 1905 
and 1906, which are important to the history of the Russian empire (and 
its Latvian provinces) due to the historically remarkable mutiny and its af-
Benedikts Kalnačs:     Grand Postcommunist Narratives? 
95
termath of ruthless repressions. Pauls Bankovskis, in 18, pays attention to 
an important historical date already in its title, with the implication of the 
year 1918 when the independent state of Latvia was declared. And Māris 
Bērziņš, in The Taste of Lead, describes the loss of the independent state 
and the tragic transformations of individual destinies and many deaths 
caused by the two occupations and the beginning of World War II.
It is interesting to note that two of the initial novels in the series directly 
tackle the dates of 1905 and 1918, respectively, which have acquired an 
almost mythological meaning for the history of the Latvian nation. 1905 
marked the end of the period of idealistic hopes of growing economic 
prosperity for the Latvian middle class in the process of open competition 
with its German and Russian counterparts; but it also provided the first 
step in the direction of an independent Latvian state implemented in 1918. 
As put by Fēlikss Cielēns, turn-of-the-century politician, also quoted by the 
author of In the Shadow of Rooster Hill, the events of this year, 1905, finally 
turned the Latvians from a people into a nation. One of the story lines in 
Osvalds Zebris’s novel also tackles the position of Latvian teachers during 
the events of the 1905 uprising and its aftermath and, more broadly, dur-
ing the whole turn-of-the-century period when the Latvian language was 
denied as a language of learning and all schoolchildren were forced to com-
municate only in Russian. In the case of both novels, however, instead of 
drawing a large overall picture, we follow personal stories of the narrators 
who can hardly be considered noticeable historical figures, and whose fate 
only incidentally and occasionally comes into contact with the events of 
determining importance (for example, Bankovskis’s protagonist suddenly 
finds himself as a witness of the celebrations linked to the declaration of an 
independent state of Latvia on November 18, 1918, in the middle of for-
eign occupation by German forces). However, this peripheral perspective 
on the events provides the reader with a new angle to look at the seem-
ingly well-known historical contexts. Especially in the case of Bankovskis’s 
novel we also feel directly involved in a subjective evaluation of the events, 
even if our own judgment might differ from the contemporary narrator 
whose story is told from the perspective of the 21st century.
One of the most important themes of Osvalds Zebris’s novel revolves 
around the feeling of guilt. The interpretation of historical events linked to 
that of World War II is very similar to Māris Bērziņš, where the painful fact 
of the Holocaust has also been given a new and impressive interpretation. 
The Taste of Lead takes the perspective of an ordinary young man, Matīss 
Birkāns, who turns from being a young lad with most common desires and 
making his money as a craftsman into one whose destiny is being deeply 
shaken by the occupation of his country and the following social transfor-
PKn, letnik 38, št 3, Ljubljana, december 2015
96
mations. In the historical turmoil, Matīss gradually learns to notice distinct 
character features of his neighbours and other people. His family and rela-
tives are also divided along national lines; but the author manages to escape 
a primitive juxtaposition of different nationalities and portrays their human 
features instead. All of a sudden, during the Nazi occupation, Matīss finds 
himself ready for an almost heroic (while dangerous) deed of hiding a Jewish 
family in his house. In the turn of events, he is not only being accused of this, 
but himself makes his way to the Jewish ghetto in Riga, and at the end of the 
novel is shot dead by the Nazis and their local supporters. The story is well 
documented historically and, while featuring a fictional protagonist, it tackles 
some of the most painful chapters in the history of the country, which to 
some extent still arouse feelings of national guilt. In Bērziņš’s portrayal, it 
is especially valuable that instead of focusing mostly on the atrocities of the 
Soviet regime, characteristic of postcommunist fiction, the role played by the 
Nazis and their supporters is mercilessly dissected. Still, the protagonists of 
the novel become mostly figures in a game initiated by alien powers, and it is 
due to the conflict of global superpowers that ordinary people experience an 
unexpected distortion not only of their daily routines, but of every principle 
of humanity and, consequently, lose their lives.
The inhuman nature of occupation regimes and events of the war are 
juxtaposed in Bērziņš’s novel through a very detailed portrayal of specific 
localities, which are forced to change completely under the unfavourable 
circumstances. Minute observations are characteristic of all novels in the 
series, be it the portrayal of Bastejkalns and other central parts of Riga in 
In the Shadow of Rooster Hill or the depiction of the surroundings the pro-
tagonists of 18 encounter while walking from Riga to the town of Valka 
in eastern Latvia. The authors want to recover not only the experience 
provided by another time already considerably distanced from the pres-
ent day situation, but they also pay attention to the localities which also 
change over time. Still, these localities have preserved their historical fea-
tures more clearly; and it is these signs of reality, which at least to a certain 
extent are still recognizable in our contemporary world that foster the 
sense of identity and belonging.
Conclusion
The history of Latvian literature tends to value poetry and short fiction 
as representative of the expression of national specificity alongside novels, 
which are traditionally ascribed the same task in other cultures. At the turn 
of the 21st century, the tendency to approach the novel as of secondary 
Benedikts Kalnačs:     Grand Postcommunist Narratives? 
97
aesthetic importance has also been linked to the rise of popular literature, 
and the retreat to smaller genres has been an important characteristics of 
crucial turning points in literature from the 1980s onwards. This trend was 
to a certain extent continued during the late 20th and even early 21st centu-
ries. It must be noted that another project initiated by Gundega Repše, the 
mastermind of the novel series under discussion, which focused on the 
mental experience of the 20th century, first took the form of a collection of 
novellas. Characteristically enough, only women authors were invited to 
participate, and Repše explained her decision by the fact that women are 
“more reliable” in terms of the necessity of bringing the project to an end 
in a comparatively short period of time.
However, Repše’s next initiative still returns to the genre of the novel. 
Even if she sees this as primarily an aesthetic undertaking, openly juxta-
posed to some popular historical novels written over recent years and, in 
her opinion, being rather traditional in shape, Repše definitely also plays 
with the ideological importance of the intended series of historical novels. 
And men are also on board this time, in order to make the subaltern voices 
sound even stronger. The empire writes back again and perhaps with a 
new level of self-confidence. Thus this undertaking is to a considerable 
extent determined not only by the necessity to re-evaluate historical ex-
perience from a new angle of subjectivity, but also to prove the very pos-
sibility of a historical narrative even for a postcolonial nation, long enough 
subjected both to European internal colonialism as well as communist 
pressures. There are more turning points in 20th century Latvian history 
than those tackled by the first three novels in the series; and there remains 
more subjective experience of historicity still to be recovered.
NOTES
1 It is interesting to note that two novels published in 1879, The Times of Land Surveyors 
(Mērnieku laiki) by Matīss and Reinis Kaudzītes, and The Waves of Social Life (Sadzīves viļņi) 
by Juris Māters, combine features of psychological portrayal and an adventure novel. It is 
exactly these features that are again relevant in contemporary historical prose.
2 It seems relevant to add in this context that possibly the most crucial step in the direc-
tion of an open juxtaposition of different views on history was recently made by a theatre 
production The Grandfather (Vectēvs, 2009), a monodrama directed by Alvis Hermanis at the 
New Riga Theatre, and performed by Vilis Daudziņš. In this production, the actor seem-
ingly finds himself in the search for his own grandfather, who was lost without a trace dur-
ing World War II. In this process, he meets three different characters, each of whom has 
his grandfather’s last name; and each of these people tells a different story about the events 
of the war. At the end of the production these contradictory opinions are not in any way 
reconciled, and the spectators are left completely free to make their own interpretations or 
judgments. The three novels under discussion follow basically the same trend.
PKn, letnik 38, št 3, Ljubljana, december 2015
98
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bankovskis, Pauls. 18. Rīga: Dienas Grāmata, 2014.
Bērziņš, Māris. Svina garša. Rīga: Dienas Grāmata, 2015.
Blaumanis, Rūdolfs. “Nāves ēnā”. Kopoti raksti. 3. sēj. Rīga: Latvijas Valsts izdevniecība, 
1958. 9–30.
Cornis-Pope, Marcel, and Neubauer, John. “General Introduction”. History of Literary 
Cultures of East-Central Europe. Eds. Marcel Cornis-Pope and John Neubauer. Vol. IV. 
Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010. 1–9.
Hasselblat, Cornelius. “The Postcolonial Trap – features of recent Estonian discourse 
patterns”. The End of Autonomy? Studies in Estonian Culture. Ed. Cornelius Hasselblatt. 
Maastricht: Shaker, 2008. 104–110.
Kvietkauskas, Mindaugas. “The Paradox of the Double Post”. Transitions of Lithuanian 
Postmodernism: Lithuanian Literature in the Post-Soviet Period. Ed. Mindaugas Kvietkauskas. 
Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2011. 1–18.
Laanes, Eneken. “Commitment and Complicity: Jaan Kross’ Historical Fiction”. Different 
inputs — same output? Autonomy and dependence of the arts under different social-economic condi-
tions: the Estonian example. Ed. Cornelius Hasselblatt. Maastricht: Shaker, 2006. 62–71.
Moretti, Franco. Atlas of the European Novel 1800–1900. London and New York: Verso, 
1998.
Neubauer John. “Introduction”. [The historical novel.] History of Literary Cultures of East-
Central Europe. Eds. Marcel Cornis-Pope and John Neubauer. Vol. III. Amsterdam and 
Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2007. 463–467.
Niedra, Andrievs. Līduma dūmos. Rīga: Zinātne, 1992.
Undusk, Jaan. “History Writing in Exile and in the Homeland after World War II. Some 
comparative aspects”. Different inputs — same output? Autonomy and dependence of the arts 
under different social-economic conditions: the Estonian example. Ed. Cornelius Hasselblatt. 
Maastricht: Shaker, 2006. 127–144.
Zebris, Osvalds. Gaiļu kalna ēnā. Rīga: Dienas Grāmata, 2014.
Wolff, Larry. “Revising Eastern Europe: Memory and the Nation in Recent Historiography”. 
The Journal of Modern History 78.1 (2006). 93–118.
Benedikts Kalnačs:     Grand Postcommunist Narratives? 
99
Velike postkomunistične pripovedi? 
Postkolonialni pogled na latvijsko zgodovinsko 
fikcijo
Ključne besede: literatura in zgodovina / latvijska književnost / literarni žanri / zgodovinski 
roman / prostor in čas / postkomunizem / izgradnja naroda / Zebris, Osvalds / Bankovskis, 
Pauls / Bērziņš, Māris
Članek odpira vpogled v sodobno latvijsko zgodovinsko pripovedno 
prozo. Osredinja se na novo serijo zgodovinskih romanov, imenovano 
»Mi. Latvija, 20.stoletje« ('Mēs. Latvija, XX gadsimts'). Dela iz te serije 
so začela izhajati leta 2014 z namenom, da bi vodila v razpravo tako o 
ključnih zgodovinskih spremembah kot tudi o mentaliteti Latvijcev v pre-
teklem stoletju. Članek obravnava prve tri romane iz te serije, Gaiļu kalna 
ēnā (In the Shadow of Rooster Hill) (2014) Osvaldsa Zebrisa, 18 (2014) Paulsa 
Bankovskisa in Svina garša (The Taste of Lead) (2015) Mārisa Bērziņša, tako 
iz sinhrone kot tudi iz diahrone perspektive.
Uvodni del članka se ukvarja z nedavnimi spremembami na latvijskem 
literarnem prizorišču, zlasti pa s spremembami v interpretaciji zgodovine v 
obdobju postkomunistične tranzicije. Retrospektiva v zgodovino latvijske 
književnosti pomaga razložiti, kako pomenljiva je bila zgodovinska tema-
tika v procesu izgradnje naroda. Temu sledi interpretacija obravnavanih 
sodobnih romanov z vidika literarnega žanra ter uporabe časa in prostora 
kot konstitutivnih dejavnikov v ustvarjanju literarnega besedila. Najprej 
so izpostavljene spremembe v oblikovanju pripovedi v teh romanih. Pri 
tem opazujem, kako se stabilen pripovedni tok zgodovinskih romanov 
postopoma bolj in bolj nadomešča s fragmentacijo, pripovedovalčeva per-
spektiva pa se zožuje. Prikazujem tudi, kako se vzajemno podpirajo izbor 
zapletov [plots] in spremembe v pripovedi. Namesto izrisovanja velikih 
zgodovinskih likov in dogodkov se ta dela sodobne pripovedne proze bolj 
osredinjajo na upodobitev vsakdanjika, zgodovinske situacije pa so pred-
stavljene skozi pogled navadnih ljudi v vsakdanjih okoliščinah. Obravnava 
zajema tudi posebne značilnosti časa in prostora.
September 2015