DAUGAVPILS UNIVERSITĀTE
Alīna Romanovska
ANTONA AUSTRIŅA PROZA EIROPAS LITERĀRAJĀ TELPĀ
ANTONS AUSTRIŅŠ' PROSE
IN EUROPEAN LITERARY SPACE
Promocijas darba kopsavilkums
filoloģijas doktora grāda iegūšanai
Literatūrzinātnes nozarē
Salīdzināmās literatūrzinātnes apakšnozarē
Daugavpils 2006
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE PhD THESIS
Antons Austriņš' (1984-1934) prose is a specific phenomenon of Latvian
literature that provides a vivid presentation of the literary strivings of the early
20th century and attempts at getting included in the common context of the
European and world literature without losing the individual world view.
However, it has not received thorough investigation in the history of Latvian
literature.
Antons Austriņš' prose does not represent central tendencies of
Latvian literature at the beginning of the 20th century, yet it is not insignificant
and thus deserves a deeper insight both because of its specific features and as a
phenomenon that provides a miniature reflection of the changes in the common
cultural paradigm and reaction to them. Regarding Antons Austriņš' prose in the
context of the European literature and culture from the end of the 19th century to
the 1930s makes it possible to place it in the history of Latvian and world
literature, pointing out the generally human as well as specifically national and
individual features.
Antons Austriņš' prose legacy is constituted of 7 collections of stories:
Pušelnieki un suselnieki (1909), Cīruļu putenis (1913), Māras zemē (In Mara
Land, 1919), Vērpete (In the Whirl, 1920), Nopūtas vējā (Sighs in the Wind,
1920), Puiškāns (Lad, 1930), Neievērotie (The Unnoticed, 1931), Bez izkārtnes
(Without Signboard, 1934), novel Garā jūdze (Long Mile, I - 1926, II, III -1934),
as well as several stories that have been published in periodicals but have not
been included in collections.
The formation of the peculiarities of Antons Austriņš' prose has been
influenced by four factors:
1) the particularities of the writer's biography and his world vision;
2) the economic, political, and cultural processes in Latvia;
3) the development of theoretical thought and cultural processes in
Russia;
4) the development of theoretical thought and cultural processes in
Europe.
Important sources of inspiration that have affected the formation of
A.Austriņš' world vision are to be sought in German, French, and Nordic cultures.
The peculiarities of the world model in A.Austriņš' prose were influenced by both
the ideas rooted in Positivist philosophy and the cultural paradigms of the new
modern epoch. A.Austriņš' prose reveals the impact of many European
philosophers and writers (F.Nietzsche, S.Pszibiszevsky, K.Hamsun, etc.) that is
not always possible to unanimously define as it has become inseparable from the
writer's own individual world vision. Due to the writer's biography, the text of
Russian culture is one of the most powerful
sources of influence of A.Austriņš' artistic vision. The notion of the Latvian
writer of the phenomena of Western European, Nordic, American culture was
formed mostly by the mediation of Russian culture. Hence, Russian culture
provided for A.Austriņš both a significant source of influence and the link with
the European cultural legacy. It is possible to discern in the writer's prose the
impact of the ideas of A.Pushkin, F.Dostoevsky, D.Merezhkovsky, F.Sologub,
etc.
The conceptions of A.Austriņš' prose have organically grown out of the
European cultural paradigm from the end of the 19th century to the 1930s. The
situation of Latvian culture of this period of time was similar to that of the
European culture, thus very often A.Austriņš' prose is typologically associated
with the ideas expressed in the works by outstanding European writers and
cultural figures (on typological basis, the ideas expressed in A.Austriņš' prose are
compared in the present research to the works by E.T.A.Hoffman, A.Blok,
A.Bely, B.Pasternak, A.Tolstoy, P.Muratov, etc.). Very often influences and
borrowings are impossible to separate from typology, as there is no evidence by
A.Austriņš or his relatives as to whether he had been familiar with the particular
work or author and to what extent it had influenced his vision.
A.Austriņš' contemporaries emphasized the writer's peculiar style and
specific world perception. P.Ermanis, J.Sudrabkalns, A.Goba, etc. point out that it
is difficult to compare A.Austriņš in Latvian literature with someone else, as his
prose is manifold and unpredictable. Regarding his prose in the context of
European literature brings out individual features that are characteristic of
A.Austriņš' prose and his world outlook. They are greatly related to his particular
life experience that has been actualized in his prose works.
As regards the investigation of European cultural paradigms in A.Austriņš'
prose, two different stages are observed. The first one is the stage of Decadent
search (approximately up to 1913), the second - the stage of recognizing the
traditional moral values (1913-1934). Emphasis of the text of the world culture in
prose works is more characteristic of the first stage of A.Austriņš' writing. In this
period, he used a lot of citations, mentioning the names of popular contemporary
foreign authors, referring to particular ideas widespread at the turn of the
centuries. This kind of approach to the formation of prose works can be accounted
for both by subjective reasons and the specific character of the common cultural
situation. First, the writer's identity was being formed at that period of time, he
had not yet defined his way of expression, and was therefore looking for the
grounds of his ideas in the texts by other authors. Second, the situation of Latvian
culture of that time was significantly characterized by exploration of other
cultures. In the second stage of his writing, A.Austriņš makes greater emphasis on
the autobiographical text and the subjective world perception, striving at
positioning himself not as 'one of others' but as an independent individuality.
By his search of the individual way of expression, A.Austriņš is organically
incorporated in the existing cultural paradigm. The European culture of that time
was marked by co-existence of two opposite culture types - realism and
Modernism. In Latvia, their co-existence was especially distinct as almost all
young generation writers' work reveals the features of realism, Modernism, and
Romanticism. A.Austriņš' prose in this respect was a characteristic phenomenon
of Latvian literature accumulating the features of several culture types and trends.
It is significant that the individual spiritual strivings of the writer (dealing with
personal ethical and aesthetical problems, oscillating between the traditional and
Decadent values) fostered by the existential border situations of his life were
organically related to the changes in the cultural situation in general. Hence, the
co-existence of several literary trends and types in A.Austriņš' prose was
determined not only by the cultural situation but also his individual experience.
In both stages of his literary creation, the structure and conception of the
world model in A.Austriņš' prose are dominated by Modernist features - the
world is bi-spherical (there is both the real and the supra-real, transcendent
sphere), the subjective individual experience is foregrounded, the individual
version and new myth of the world is formed. These features find an equally
distinct expression both in his early stories, e.g. Psihopāts (Psychopath), Kaspars
Glūns, Peklē (In the Hell), etc. and in late collections of stories, e.g. Māras zemē
(In Mara Land), Puiškāns (Lad). Features of Modernism in A.Austriņš' prose
appear not only on the level of ideas but in the structure of works. E.g. the story
Čaikovska kvartets (Tschaikovski's Quartet) is an attempt of synthesis of music
and literary work regularities, the novel Garā jūdze (The Long Mile) is a specific
example of uniting the novel and chronicle that by its fragmented structure
reflects the peculiarities of the consciousness of the modern human. The second
stage of A.Austriņš' writing is often regarded by critics as realist as it lacks
aggressive decadent features but acknowledges life values and traditional
morality. However, the peculiarities of the world model testify to distinct features
of Modernism.
A.Austriņš has produced distinct realist works, e.g. Savs skapīts, kumode un
sieva (A Cabinet, Bureau, and Wife of One's Own), Zaldāts (Soldier), etc. In his
Modernist works, descriptions of particular details reveal realistic principles of
depiction, e.g. chronological principle and detalization. The majority of
A.Austriņš' stories lack a strict plot and descriptions are presented in the form of
impressions, thus they cannot be regarded as realist works. Many of his early
stories reveal the features of transitional trends, i.e. Naturalism (Bērni (Children),
Matilda Kobišs un mazā Klaudija (Matilda Kobiss and Little Klaudija), etc.) and
Symbolism (Velna apsēstais (The Possessed by the Devil), Lieldienas (At Easter),
Ēnu dzīras (Shadow Feast), etc.).
Hence, A.Austriņš' prose produces the features of realism, Impressionism,
Naturalism, Symbolism, and Modernism, emphasizing both the national Latvian
and generally human and cosmopolitan values. A.Austriņš' prose reveals the
common features of the cultural paradigm of the late 19th and early 20th century
merging with the European literary space, being a distinct example of individual
literary search at the same time. His works are marked by original poetics and
they embody a peculiar world vision that has been formed as a result of personal
experience.
Goal of the research - to regard A.Austriņš' prose in the context of
European literature, defining the segments of the common cultural text and the
writer's individual autobiographical text.
Tasks of the research:
1) to define and investigate the manifestations of the individual
autobiographical text in A.Austriņš' prose, comparing writer's life
experience to the themes, images, and motifs of his prose works;
2) to define the most significant themes and structures of A.Austriņš'
prose, regarding them in the context of the cultural paradigm of
Europe, Russia, and Latvia at the end of the 19th and the beginning of
the 20 centuries, considering the possible influences, borrowings,
and typological similarities;
3) to regard the place of A.Austriņš' prose in the context of the early
20th century European cultural space, determining the individual
peculiarities of his works.
The methodological basis of the PhD thesis is the theoretical historical
analysis of prose works, regarding the peculiarities of cultural paradigms, their
changes and general tendencies. To accomplish the set tasks and attain the goal
of the research, diverse methods have been synthesized in the analysis of
A.Austriņš' prose: comparative, biographical, literary historical, semiotic,
structural, etc.
The topic, goal, and tasks of the PhD thesis determine its comparative
perspective, emphasizing the significance of the cultural context in comparing
particular phenomena. The place of A.Austriņš' prose in the common European
literary space is to be defined by applying two major comparative literature
methods:
1) stating of influences and borrowings or genetic affinities,
2) pointing out typological similarities or parallelism.
Investigating A.Austriņš' prose in the context of European literature, the close
interaction of both methods was revealed. When analysing the particular author's
writing, it is not always possible to differentiate between the typological
similarity and genetic affinity. V.Zhirmunsky who considers that these two
methods must be combined to gain a complete picture in the analysis of a single
phenomenon has brought out this problem.
The biographical and literary historical methods make it possible to
determine the presence of autobiographical element in A.Austriņš' prose,
emphasize its individual peculiarities and define its place in the common
development of the history of culture. The semiotic and structural methods make
it possible to state the most significant concepts in A.Austriņš' prose system,
analyse them and form a paradigm of the writer's artistic system relating it to the
common cultural situation at the beginning of the 20th century and comparing it to
the conceptions of the world and the human suggested by particular trends and
cultural types.
The novelty of the PhD thesis entails:
1) addressing a previously disregarded aspect of the history of Latvian
literature - the analysis of A.Austriņš' prose;
2) regarding the peculiarities of A.Austriņš' prose in the context of
Latvian and European literatures from the end of the 19th century to
the 1930s determining its place in the common cultural paradigm
and indicating its individual and national peculiarities;
3) considering A.Austriņš' prose from the perspective of culture
type and trend.
The amount and structure of the research.
The PhD thesis entails introduction, three chapters divided into subchapters,
conclusion, and bibliography. The text volume is 197 pages, bibliography
contains 200 titles.
The structure of the research is empirically formed and follows from the
peculiarities of A.Austriņš' world perception, reflecting major thematic and
structural aspects of his prose.
Chapter 1 "Autobiographicity of A.Austriņš' prose as the particularity of
the realization of the conception of time" consists of three sub-chapters:
Peculiarities of autobiographical narrative; Depiction of childhood; Depiction of
the events of 1905. This chapter regards the theoretical issues of autobiography,
sketching the topicality of autobiographical narrative in the European literature of
the late 19th and early 20' centuries, analysing the significance of
autobiographicity in the writer's conception of time (history). Depiction of
A.Austriņš' childhood and the events of the revolution of 1905 is typologically
compared to the interpretation of these themes in the works by other authors at the
beginning of the 20th century.
Chapter 2 "Realization of the I9th-20th century culture texts in
A.Austriņš' prose" singles out major themes and structures of A.Austriņš' prose
that are topical in his contemporary culture. They are analysed in the following
sub-chapters: Opposition of the Apollonian and Dionysian; Peculiarity of the use
of the structure of doubles; Realization of the conception of superman; The
mysterious and the irrational. The theoretical basis of the analysis in this chapter
is the notion of the 'culture text' suggested by Structuralism and developed by
Post-structuralism along with their methods of investigation. At the beginning of
the chapter, the peculiarities of the correlation of 'one's own' and 'foreign' text are
regarded considering the significance of including diverse culture texts in
A.Austriņš' prose.
Chapter 3 "Peculiarities of spatial system " focuses on the particularity of
space structuring in A.Austriņš' prose in the context of culture type paradigm.
This topic has been attributed a whole chapter because A.Austriņš' world vision is
markedly spatial. A.Austriņš' perception of space is regarded from the perspective
of culture type, marking the common and the particular in A.Austriņš and other
authors' works at the turn of the centuries. This chapter consists of four subchapters: Particularity of space characteristics; Treatment of nature, culture, and
civilization relations; Depiction of foreign (Italian and Spanish) space; Depiction
of St.Petersburg as apart of the text of St.Petersburg.
Approbation of the PhD thesis
1)
Presentations
conferences:
on
Salīdzinoša literatūrzinātne
interpretācijas (Riga, 2003);
research
issues
Austrumeiropa
un
at
international
pasaule.
research
Teorijas
un
Barondienas konference (Riga, 2005);
Kultūras krustpunkti (Riga, 2005);
Aktuālās problēmas literatūras zinātnē (Liepāja, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006);
Zinātniskie lasījumi (Daugavpils, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006);
Telpa un laiks literatūrā un mākslā (Daugavpils, 2003);
Baltu un slāvu literārā antropoloģija (Daugavpils, 2004);
Templis baltu un slāvu kultūrās (Daugavpils, 2005);
Bērns kultūrā (Daugavpils, 2005);
Ebreju teksts Eiropas kultūrā (Daugavpils, 2005);
Humanities in new Europe (Kaunas, 2005); Man in the Space of Language
(Kaunas, 2005);
Text and Context: Spectrum of Transformation (Kaunas, 2005);
VIII Мiждународна наукова конференция молодих ученик (Кiev, 2005);
Baltystyka jako filologia rodzima i filologia obca (Warsaw, 2005).
2) Some aspects of the research are regularly discussed in the academic
courses "Latvian Historical Novel" of Daugavpils University study
programme "BA in Latvian Philology", MA thesis seminar and
Discursive analysis of DU study programme "MA in Latvian
Philology", and "The Text of German Culture in Latvian Literature"
of DU study programme "MA in Russian Philology".
3) Several aspects of the research are reflected in research publications:
1905. gada revolūcija A.Austriņa prozā. Aktuālas problēmas literatūras zinātne,
Liepāja, 2006, Nr.ll, 45.-54. lpp.
Noslēpums un noslēpumainība A.Austriņa prozā. Literatūra un kultūra: process,
mijiedarbība, problēmas. Zinātnisko rakstu krājums VII. Daugavpils, 2005, 58.67. lpp.
Latviešu un prūšu dievību semiotika A.Austriņa prozā. Letonika. Rīga, 2005, Nr.
13,88.-99. lpp.
S.Pšibiševska teksts A.Austriņa prozā. Latvijas Universitātes raksti. 681. sēj.
Literatūrzinātne un folkloristika. Salīdzinošā literatūrzinātne Austrumeiropā un
pasaulē. Teorijas un interpretācijas. Rīga, 2005, 94.-100. lpp.
Nakts A.Austriņa prozā. Aktuālas problēmas literatūras zinātnē. Liepāja, 2005,
Nr.10, 89.-97. lpp.
Самый высокий, обаятельный, сердечный. Провинциальный альманах
"Hronos". Daugavpils, 2004, Nr.5, C. 82.-85.
Latgale A.Austriņa prozā. Humanitāro Zinātņu Vēstnesis Nr. 6 . Daugavpils,
2004, 42.-54. lpp.
Cilvēka koncepcija A.Austriņa stāstu krājumā "Vērpetē". Literatūra un kultūra:
process, mijiedarbība, problēmas. Zinātnisko rakstu krājums V. Daugavpils,
2004, 293.-300. lpp.
Cilvēka koncepcija A.Austriņa stāstā "Kaspars Glūns". Aktuālas problēmas
literatūras zinātnē. Liepāja, 2004, 114.-124. lpp.
CONTENT OF PhD THESIS
Introduction of the PhD thesis substantiates the necessity of analysing
A.Austriņš' prose, relating it to the European literary space. The particularity of
A.Austriņš' prose has been produced by close interaction of the depicted
individual experience and the common culture text. Hence, the introduction
presents the major stages of the formation of A.Austriņš' personality and events of
his life that have been reflected in his literary texts. The situation in European and
Latvian culture at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century is
outlined regarding the problem of interaction and definition of diverse culture
types and trends (Realism, Decadence, Symbolism, etc.). Analysing the major
research works on A.Austriņš' prose and personality since his life time till
nowadays, special attention is paid to the question why his writing has remained a
marginal phenomenon of the history of Latvian literature. The materials of
archives and museum funds have been investigated as well. Finally, the methods
of analysis are defined in relation to the goal and tasks of the PhD thesis.
Chapter 1. "Autobiographicity of A.Austriņš' prose as the particularity
of the realization of the conception of time"
1.1. "Peculiarities of autobiographical narrative"
Depiction of the subjective experience and individual worldview became
one of the dominant peculiarities of narrative in the European literature at the end
of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Subjective focus determined
both the structure of literary works (the chronological explication of events is
suspended, using the principle of fragmentation more and more often) and their
thematic (authors take up depiction of emotionally sensual sphere, probing into
the depths of the hidden layers of human consciousness, etc.). The genre of
autobiography became topical, the autobiographical experience, events and
subjective emotions becoming the object of literary depiction.
Autobiographical features have been present in A.Austriņš' prose since his
early works, e.g. long story Kaspars Glūns, stories Čaikovska kvartets
(Tschaikovski's Quartet), Psihopāts (Psychopath), etc. as well as in his late period
works, e.g. collections of stories Māras zemē (In Mara Land), Neievērotie (The
Unnoticed), etc. Besides, the author's tendency of grounding his works in the
subjective experience is growing in the course of time. If in his early works only
some life episodes and experiences are included in a story, then in the 1920-30s
autobiographical elements become the basis of his prose works, as is the case
in the novel Garā jūdze (The Long Mile) and the collection of stories Puiškāns
(Lad).
In the context of A.Austriņš' autobiographical writing, the year of 1924 is
significant witnessing his growing wish to arrange his past memories making
them the object of his literary works. In this year he wrote his autobiography Radu
raksti (Lineage), started writing his novel Garā jūdze (The Long Mile) that he
continued up to his death in 1934. In 1931, the collection of his childhood
memories Puiškāns (Lad) was published. In these works, A.Austriņš' reflection of
his past and its vision stands out determined by the wish to account for the past
events, define his identity and clarify the mechanisms of his memory work. The
individual experience is implicated in the general historico-cultural situation. In
this way his wish to understand the national past and history actualizes the
autobiographical context. The past has a great significance in A.Austriņš' model
of the world as through the past goes the way towards the spiritual rebirth. The
human can survive in the future and define his identity only by becoming
conscious of his origins and making live the values of the past. It was important
for A.Austriņš to understand both the individual past and the past of the nation.
A.Austriņš uses the third person narration that makes it possible both to tell
about himself and his life simultaneously and distance from his experience
expressing it through the focus of fictional narrator and character. Two opposite
autobiographical mechanisms can be discerned:
- one of them functions in the collection Puiškāns (Lad) where the
author wishes to form and sustain as close emotional link with the
character as possible, remembering childhood as fully as possible
and fit in the harmonious time of childhood completely. In this type
of narration, there is a border between 'now' and 'then', emphasizing
the distance between the time of writing the story and the depicted
time of action;
- the second mechanism functions in other autobiographical works
where A.Austriņš depicts the inner contradictions of characters and
disharmony of the external world from which he distances himself
by forming third person narrative and giving his character a fictional
name corresponding to the artistic conception. In this type of
narration, the border between 'now' and 'then' is blurred (in the
stories Kalns (Mountain), Kaspars Glūns and several stories in the
collection Māras zemē) or totally absent as the time of action is
drawing close to the time of author's life and finally coincides with it
(this principle of narration was envisaged in the novel Garā jūdze
but due to the fact that the novel was not finished, this principle
remained unrealized).
Memory is a significant category of the autobiographical writing. It forms
the human identity and structures human world, guaranteeing cultural continuity.
The peculiarities of A.Austriņš' prose narration are determined by fixating the
past from the present perspective. The past experience in his texts merges with the
present experience conditioned by the peculiarities of the writer's world
perception at the time of writing each particular text. In this way, the limits of the
past are broadened. Rather often the linear logical explication of events
conceptualized in the narrative is interrupted by a sudden interpolation from
distant past or present. The reader's attention is focused on a particular life event
that has made a strong impression in the narrator's consciousness and is associated
with a mentioned person, thing, or event, etc. Vivid impressions of certain
phenomena are a structuring element of A.Austriņš' autobiographical writing that
provides the narration with an impressionist colouring. In almost all of his prose,
feelings and emotions, momentary glimpses dominate above reflections and the
visual image of the world prevails above the existential search for the meaning of
the world.
The writer indicates that, even though he proceeds in his texts from actual
events, the mechanisms of remembering and forgetting have made such a
powerful impression on them that it is impossible to differentiate between actual
facts in his works and creative imagination. A.Austriņš has managed in creating
his autobiographical texts to balance subjectivism, the emphasis on the individual
world perception, and factual precision. Proceeding from the personal experience
attributes a high degree of truthfulness to the depicted situations as well as
authenticity of psychological characteristics, realism of the depiction of conflicts
and details. One of the most successful examples where the subjective world
perception is closely intertwined with the documentary depiction of events is
produced in the novel Garā jūdze (The Long Mile). Depicting the most essential
events and experiences of his life, A.Austriņš creates a panoramic historical
picture of the early 20th century. To foster the documentary depiction, the writer
provides a detailed description of the historical situation (demonstrations,
reaction of the society, human life style, etc.), creates realistic depiction of space
arousing an illusion of presence, produces characters having real life prototypes
that can be recognized in the novel, e.g. V.Eglītis, Fallijs, V.Dambergs, mentions
actual historical persons among other characters (Remizov, Sologub,
Merezhkovsky, etc.).
In his writing, A.Austriņš creates the subjective world as both an
alternative to his real life and its copy. Autobiographical emphasis in A.Austriņš'
prose in the context of the 1st half of the 20th century literature seems like a
protest against the impersonal and general perception of the history of humanity.
Plots of his works entail not mere reproduction of actual facts but the analysis of
his own life with acknowledgement and emphasis of the uniqueness of his
identity. Autobiographicity is essentially significant in the formation of
A.Austriņš' conception of time, the peculiarities of time structuring finding a
vivid expression in the depiction of childhood and the events of 1905 revolution.
1.2. "Depiction of childhood"
Childhood is in the focus of the collection of stories Puiškāns (1931). In the
history of Latvian literature, it is usually interpreted as a book of autobiographical
memories. Thus, this collection is to be regarded in line with A.Brigadere's trilogy
Dievs. Daba. Darbs. (God. Nature. Labour. 1926-1932), E.Birznieks-Upītis'
works Pastariņa dienasgrāmata (Pastarins' Diary, 1922), Pastariņš skolā
(Pastariņš at School, 1924), etc. A.Austriņš with this collection of stories can be
placed among those works that actualize childhood thematic, which became
extremely popular in the world literature of the first decades of the 20th century.
The popularity of childhood thematics was considerably determined the interest of
psychologists and philosophers about it (child's psychology was regarded by
S.Freud, V.Zenkovsky, J.Piaget, etc.) as well as socio-political factors.
Autobiographicity was a specific feature of childhood depiction at the beginning
of the 20th century. As A.Austriņš' autobiographical depiction of childhood is
dominated by the subjective world perception and he depicts actual childhood
experiences and events, it is impossible to speak of the influence of any particular
author or work on A.Austriņš' collection of prose Puiškans. Nevertheless, it has
no doubt been influenced not only by the individual worldview but also the
common culture text, i.e. the treatment of the childhood phenomenon in the early
20th century. Typologically, as concerns the interpretation of childhood,
A.Austriņš' texts are close to A.Beliy's story Kotik Letajev. Though the narrative
peculiarities and certain philosophical ideas in these works are different,
childhood conception of both authors is similar due to the dominant of creative
memory. A.Austriņš was probably familiar with this work by A.Bely and had
certainly heard reviews of it, as both in Russia and Latvia it aroused great
resonance in the 1920-3 0s; however, particular evidence by A.Austriņš
concerning this work is lacking.
The interpretation of childhood in A.Austriņš' collection is influenced by the
dominating cyclic principle. Childhood is not included into the linear course of
life, it is not just a stage of life that is over in due time and to which there is no
return. A.Austriņš perceives childhood as myth that contains the idea of
wholeness. Childhood is self-sufficient; it is not just a step to the adult life but a
significant, autonomous totality. The structure of the collection is essential for
deciphering A.Austriņš' conception of childhood - stories in it are not arranged in
the linear succession of Lad's life but form a cycle that guarantees a harmonious
world model. A.Austriņš' arrangement of the stories creates a unified notion of
childhood, in which harmony of life perception is dominating. The writer depicts
dissonances of life as well, yet they disappear in the common positive
atmosphere. In the collection of stories Puiškāns, childhood, notwithstanding all
peripeteias, is perceived as an ideal harmonious time. The subjective evaluation of
childhood is obvious regarding the collection of stories within the common
system of A.Austriņš' prose, in which the cyclic paradigm of
time and the space of nature are related to the idea of spiritual rebirth, thus
gaining a distinctly positive connotation. A.Austriņš and A.Bely do not deny the
idea that child develops and goes on living and realizing the experience acquired
in childhood in his future life. They pay attention to the everyday life sphere and
child's socialization processes, however everyday life events are included in the
onto logical context, with a constant presence of the sphere of the transcendent.
A.Austriņš realizes the myth of childhood in the form of separate images
and impressions having sustained by his memory. In the centre of each story,
there is a single image or event that is especially important for the depiction of
childhood atmosphere, e.g. pea sieve, sister's wedding, father's death, spinningwheel, etc. On the whole, these events create a unified A.Austriņš' individual
myth of childhood. For him it is important to depict the atmosphere created by a
certain event, instead of keeping to the factual precision. Mythologization of
childhood is made more distinct by the diffuse nature of memories leading to the
loss of particularity of the events that gain a greater generalization and ontological
significance. A.Austriņš in his depiction of childhood emphasizes not only the
individual experience but also the traditional Latvian patriarchal values, on the
whole forming the notion of the ideal time of the past.
1.3. "Depiction of the events of 1905"
The revolution of 1905 is one of the central events of the early 20th century
European history; it aroused a wide resonance within the creative intelligentsia.
Philosophers, historians, and culturologists were searching for its causes,
evaluating its role in the common process of the history of culture. The revolution
of 1905 made a strong impact on the contemporary literary awareness. It was
evaluated very differently, even inconsistently, and the evidence it left brings out
diverse themes and motifs. However, everybody unanimously agrees that the
revolution marked a sudden turn, 'explosion' in the cultural consciousness of
several nations (Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Georgian, Polish, etc.) in
the 20th century.
In A.Austriņš' depiction of the revolution of 1905, other authors' impact is
minimally observed as he proceeded from the subjective experience, using as the
ground of the plot only his life events. The general perception of the revolution as
an existential event by A.Austriņš is similar to the perception of many Russian
and Latvian authors. As A.Austriņš, like A.Kuprin, B.Pasternak, A.Remizov and
many other 20th century authors, depicts the tragedy of this revolution on the
example of one character's fate that is a characteristic feature of Modernist culture
type. Very often the descriptions of demonstrations and existential feelings of
characters are emotionally very close for different authors, emphasizing similar
details and using emotionally marked words. Similarity is observed both in the
descriptions of situations and the overall emotional picture,
besides writers often use semantically similar words. Similar descriptions of the
revolution events produced by different authors form a unified text of the
revolution of 1905 in the 20th century literature where the revolution is treated as
a situation of crisis, 'explosion' in the peaceful life course that brings along chaos
and confusion.
Specific feature of A.Austriņš' interpretation of the revolution is the fact that
he does not justify the necessity of this revolution. At the same time, many
Russian authors treat the revolution as inevitability. Such a difference in positions
is evidently related both to the differences in socio-political situation in Latvia
and Russia and A.Austriņš' own life. Latvian writer is terrified by the chaos and
tragedy instigated by the year of 1905 and retribution expeditions. He does not
depict global social changes, neither does he reflect on the role of the revolution
in the development of culture. A.Austriņš is rather worried about the crippled
individual lives. Such an interpretation of the year of 1905 has undoubtedly been
influenced by A.Austriņš' life experience. However, notwithstanding the fact that
A.Austriņš' prose is dominated by the depiction of the revolution as a tragic event,
he believes in a bright positive future. He perceives the revolution of 1917 as the
resolution of the general situation of chaos. This position of A.Austriņš, taking
into account his worldview, is very specific and hard to account for. Possibly, it
was formed by the general exhaustion in the fugitive years and the possibility of
finally starting a normal life.
A.Austriņš' depiction of the revolution of 1905 is grounded in the author's
experience that made so strong an impact on his life and thinking that it remained
a fatal border for the rest of his life. The characteristic of the situation sustains
precision and particularity that provides for discerning the elements of chronicle
in his prose works. However, the description of the historical events is dominated
by subjective perception. His characters strive to balance the actual chronological
flow of time with their subjective time perception. They reflect upon the actual
historical situation and are aware that it is impossible to avoid the influence of
history and find salvation in the spiritual transcendent realm.
Chapter 2. "Realization of the 19th-20th century culture texts in A.
Austriņš' prose "
2.1. "Peculiarities of the interaction of 'one's own' and foreign' text"
Culture text is a productive term in reflecting and systematizing the
essential peculiarities of the cultural paradigm of the end of the 19th and the
beginning of the 20th century. The interpretation of this notion is rather wide,
most often it entails the totality of signs and symbols possessing a notional
wholeness and verbal (oral or written) or non-verbal (e.g. ritual, costume,
custom, etc.) expression. An important peculiarity of culture texts is their
semantic mobility - one and the same text can be varied in the consciousness of
different perceivers and provide diverse information. The notion of culture text is
applicable to defining the relation of A.Austriņš and European literary space as it
indicates the semiotic essence of any cultural phenomenon or event where the
sense of this phenomenon or event is important or its significance in the common
cultural paradigm.
Specific feature of A.Austriņš" prose is the affinity of the 'foreign' and 'one's
own' autobiographical text. The writer uses in his works the most widespread and
popular world culture codes and texts of the early 20th century, yet selecting them
and adapting to the individual world perception. The subjective in A.Austriņš'
prose dominates above the supra-national. The writer's awareness up to the
conclusion of his creative activity is oriented towards the past, the repeated
analysis of its events and reproduction of the individual experience. In this
situation, autobiographical text turns into autobiographical artistic text, distancing
from one's experience. Therefore the border between the autobiographical, the
unique and the general, 'foreign' text is blurred and is not always strictly
discernable.
Exactly the daring of including the autobiographical motifs and details and
realization of the subjective worldview subordinating the 'foreign' text to it makes
A.Austriņš' prose a unique phenomenon of his contemporary literature. Yet, the
inclusion of the cultural context in A.Austriņš' prose is of a great importance. The
writer quotes the most popular authors, forming chains of well-known personality
names to get included in the existing cultural paradigm and ascertain his
belonging to a certain culture type - he proves that his ideas are topical and similar
ideas have been expressed by other authors. The range of the names mentioned by
A.Austriņš is very wide. He mentions not only the representatives of Decadence,
Symbolism, and Modernism, but also many great spirits of the culture since the
antiquity. Hence, A.Austriņš' writing is marked by the specificity of the situation
of Latvian literature of the early 20th century, i.e. that Latvian culture is related to
a wide legacy of the world culture that is necessary to acknowledge. The use of
the 'foreign' text testifies to A.Austriņš' attempts at relating to the world literary
processes, understanding them and going through many stages of the world
culture development since the antiquity to Modernism. His consciousness (and
anyone's consciousness for that matter) is not ready to perceive so wide cultural
information in its total scope; therefore it is actualized in texts in the form of
abrupt citations, names, and ideas. Referring to names and ideas does not mean a
literal and manifold observation of ideas and conceptions, the cited images and
mentioned personalities are important only as the creators of specific atmosphere
and emotional background, the image is often self-sufficient and does not carry
along a hidden intertextual meaning. Yet, A.Austriņš' prose presents some
meaningful intertextual games. As he has maximally subordinated the 'foreign'
text to the conception of his works and the
individual worldview, direct borrowings and influences in such cases are not
unanimously determinable.
2.2. "Contradiction as the dominant feature of A.Austriņš' human
conception and world model"
2.2.1. "Opposition of the Apollonian and Dionysian"
One of the most essential structuring principles of the conception of the
human is the harmony of personality, its homogeneous or contradictory state.
These opposed principles of depicting the human are not just the categories
characterising a particular personage, they represent two different interpretations
of the human. In A.Austriņš' prose, contradiction is a dominating personality
attribute determining the world perception of characters and their life course.
Contradiction functions beyond the limits of character; it determines and forms
the conception of the world in general. A.Austriņš' characters are the personalities
living at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries and the
contradictory essence of the surrounding culture shapes their consciousness.
The life position of characters and the writer himself determines the world
model formed in A.Austriņš' prose - both its spatial and temporal perspective, in
which the idea of recognizing contradictions and seeking for harmony is realized.
Thus, contradiction is a universal category of A.Austriņš' prose, therefore it is
amply realized both as the thematic and structural principle. The most distinct
ways of realizing contradictions are opposition of the Apollonian and the
Dionysian and the use of the structure of doubles.
The opposition of the Apollonian and the Dionysian is most clearly
expressed in A.Austriņš' early works. This period of his writing is characterized
by his passion for Decadent ideas. A.Austriņš communicated with V.Eglītis,
Fallijs, E.Virza, J.Akurāters and was influenced by these authors developing a
similar thematic and the conception of the human. F.Nietzsche's philosophy is the
most powerful source of influence for Latvian decadents. Its artistic quality, sense
of the spirit of the epoch and the spiritual crisis with all its contradictions was
inherent for the cultural environment in Latvia and Europe at the turn of the
centuries. The opposition of the Apollonian and the Dionysian was one of the
most popular Nietzschean ideas in Latvia that metaphorically depicts the situation
of culture crisis in the 2nd half of the 19th century. The conception of the
Apollonian and Dionysian in Latvia at the beginning of the 20th century became a
universal means of characterizing the cultural paradigm; it was widely used both
in fiction and critical and theoretical writing.
In A.Austriņš' prose, the interpretation of the Apollonian and Dionysian
entails almost all major antinomies emphasized in the European culture of the
early 20th century. It finds the clearest expression in the formation of characters
and system of values and is closely related to the conception of the human,
appearing also in the depiction of the contradictory essence of the world model,
e.g. forming the system of space (nature - civilization) and time (night - day).
Altogether, Apollo and Dionysus have not been much alluded to in A.Austriņš'
writing, yet the opposition of the Apollonian and Dionysian is one of the most
topical antinomies of his prose that entails manifold contrasting, e.g. rational irrational, moral - immoral, divine - satanic, nature, civilization, etc.
A.Austriņš' interpretation of the Apollonian and Dionysian is very
ambiguous, detailed and even contradictory, both of them possessing positive and
negative features. A.Austriņš' writing balances on the border between these two
values: its early stage is dominated by the Dionysian, later the Apollonian
gradually grows in importance. Altogether there are many principles and
peculiarities in A.Austriņš' interpretation of the Dionysian that are shared with
that of Latvian decadents, e.g. incredulity, negation, devilry, darkness, immorality,
superhuman, etc. It is important that they are not evaluated in accordance with the
dominant system of values, as in that case they would acquire negative evaluation.
In A.Austriņš' interpretation, all of these peculiarities acquire detailed semantics,
often dominated by positive connotation. According to A.Austriņš, both the
Apollonian and Dionysian are incomplete and the dominant of one or another
polarity signifies decline and death. The world needs their co-existence that
envisages their possible balance that is suggested but remains unrealized in
A.Austriņš' prose and symbolizes the contradictory character of the world.
Therefore unanimous system of bipolarity of the Apollonian and Dionysian is
impossible to form in A.Austriņš' prose. Both polarities may bear both harmony
and disharmony. This kind of contradictory interpretation was determined by the
fact that A.Austriņš' individual world vision had been influenced by the views of
many philosophers and artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His
interpretation of the Apollonian and Dionysian reveals the ideas of Nietzsche,
Russian symbolists, and Latvian decadents.
2.2.2. "Peculiarity of the use of the structure of doubles"
The peculiarities of the structure of doubles are determined by the author's
individual world perception as well as the perception characteristic of the
particular epoch. Particularity of the structure of doubles was influenced in
A.Austriņš' prose by a number of literary, cultural, and personal factors. He was
painfully aware of the existing cultural crisis that found reflection in his works
that bring out an incessant combat of harmony and contradictory ideas. The
impact of the literary traditions was great, therefore in the realization of the
structure of doubles the influence of F.Dostoevsky, F.Sologub, M.Lermontov, and
indirectly of E.Hoffman is obvious. A.Austriņš' writing reflects the 20th
century awareness of personality crisis, marked by alienation and self-alienation.
His characters suffer from the tragedy of losing their roots leading to the loss of
unity of the human and the world and of inner harmony. The motif of doubles in
his prose is closely related to the idea of personality fragmentation and reflects
the discrepancy of personality. However, this is not the discrepancy of
Romanticism with its stable values and the possibility of separating the positive
and the negative, the divine and the satanic. A.Austriņš' model of the world is
marked by relativity of values; the divine and satanic permeate each other
forming a 'discrepant unity' that has been reflected by the writer by metaphor
God-Devil. Hence, A.Austriņš' doubles, similar to those of F.Dostoevsky and
F.Sologub, are not unanimous. Struggle of the positive and negative, divine and
satanic form the primary base of the world and secure the existence of the world;
they are simultaneously united and opposed. In A.Austriņš' writing, the borders of
the structure of doubles are blurred. Even in the cases when A.Austriņš uses the
classical type of the structure of doubles human - human, e.g. in the story Silavas
ēna (In Silava Shadow), the doubled characters are not unambiguous
embodiments of the positive and the negative; their inner essence remains
relative. Vivid examples of the relativity of values in A.Austriņš' prose are
provided by parallel characters (Krenklis and Rudzons, Glūns and Brods, etc.),
which supplement each other, thus their personalities are harmonized without
unambiguously embodying the positive or the negative.
2.3. "Realization of the conception of superhuman "
Idea of the superhuman is related to the eternal opposition of the essence of
human and God that constitutes the basis of many cultures. In the history of the
world culture, there are a number of variations of uniting the human and the
divine essence: Christ, God-human, all-human, Antichrist, Human-god,
superhuman, etc. They can be united in two opposed groups. The first group is
formed of those variations of uniting human and God where the divine dominates
(Christ, God-human, etc.). God here is the highest being and human can only try
to become close to him. Another group is formed by those variations of uniting
human and God where the human element dominates (Antichrist, Human-god,
superhuman, etc.). Here human challenges the dominating role of God in the
world and tries to occupy this place. The ideas of God-human and Human-god
changing and debating each other have existed in the history of European culture
since the Antiquity. F.Nietzsche's idea of superman is a variation of the
conception of Human-god.
A.Austriņš forms his own conception of superhuman on the basis of
F.Nietzsche's ideas. Especially powerful influence by the German philosopher on
A.Austriņš was present from 1906 to 1912. A.Austriņš in his stories mentions
F.Nietzsche's name, referring to his ideas, even quoting him. The realization of
the Nietzschean idea of superhuman in A.Austriņš' prose was greatly influenced
by interpretations produced by other authors. A.Austriņš mentions several
writers' names in whose works he sees the conception of superhuman, e.g.
S.Pszibiszevsky, O.Wilde, K.Hamsun, J.Poruks, etc. By mentioning writers who
have actualized the idea of superhuman, A.Austriņš relates to the popularity and
topicality of this idea at the turn of the 19fh-20tb centuries. However,
A.Austriņš' own interpretation of superhuman, due to allusions to other authors'
texts, acquires additional nuances.
A.Austriņš, realizing the Nietzschean idea of superhuman in his characters,
does not however realize it to its full extent. The ideas of characters related to
the essence of superhuman remain mere abstraction; A.Austriņš does not show
actual Nietzschean superhumans. Both Jurdens in the story Psihopāts and
Peizums in the story Atrakti miroņi (Exhumated Corpses) and Kalns in the story
Kalns (Mountain) as well as many others turn out too weak to carry out their
ideas and acquire superhuman qualities.
The idea of superhuman as the highest human is topical in the whole of
A.Austriņš' prose, yet Nietzschean influence is decreasing in the second stage of
his writing. From 1910 to 1920 in A.Austriņš' prose appear characters that are
interpreted as absolutely harmonious, the idea of the highest humanity is fully
present in them. For characterising these personages, A.Austriņš does not use the
notion of superhuman any longer but suggests full human instead, e.g. in the story
Daugavas laivinieks cietumā (The Daugava Boatsman in Prison). However,
complete, harmonious human cannot exist in the modern chaotic world and is
doomed to perish. Hence, it is possible to follow a certain course of the
development of the idea of the highest human in A.Austriņš' prose from the
potential superhuman to the absolutely harmonious, complete human whose
sphere of existence is nature and who cannot survive in the world of civilization.
hi fact, neither complete human nor superhuman exists in the civilized society of
the early 20th century. According to A.Austriņš' conception, the contemporary
society must create a new highest human on the basis of the past model of
complete human. A.Austriņš' ideal of superhuman is close to V.Solovjov's
understanding of all-human containing the best features of all humans. A.Austriņš'
human is in constant development, it is regarded as a process that is valuable not
only as striving for a higher goal (as it is in Nietzsche's philosophy) but possesses
highest value in itself.
2.4. "The mysterious and the irrational"
At the beginning of the 20th century, the irrational world perception
dominated by the notion of the mysterious and rationally incognizable essence of
the world surmounted the philosophical boundaries and permeated all spheres of
life finding reflection in literature as well. The motifs of the mysterious appear in
K.Hamsun, H.Ibsen, F.Dostoevsky, E.A.Poe, F.Sologub, Ch.Baudelaire, Latvian
authors J.Akurāters, V.Eglītis, E.Virza's, etc. works. The motif of the mysterious
is especially topical in the works by Polish writer S.Pszibiszevsky who was one
of the most popular authors in the Western Europe, Russia, and Latvia at the
beginning of the 20th century. S.Pszibiszevsky's category of the mysterious is
greatly concordant with A.Austriņš' understanding of the irrational world order.
According to A.Goba, A.Austriņš had read S.Pszibiszevsky's works and deeply
felt them; hence, there is the grounds for considering that the similarities in the
category of the mysterious in S.Pszybiszevsky and A.Austriņš' works have
originated as a result of a direct influence. The category of the mysterious is
present in all A.Austriņš' prose, yet its understanding has been greatly
transformed in the course of time, giving rise to new accents.
S.Pszybishevsky and A.Austriņš' world models are based on the irrationality
of the world perception. The category of the mysterious is essential for the
perception of any space, human, or phenomenon. Mystery and the mysterious are
not just a motif of their works but a world-structuring element. The topicality of
the category of the mysterious in both authors' works is determined by the
irrationality of their world vision characteristic of the spiritual searching of the
turn of the centuries.
More distinct parallels in the treatment of the category of the mysterious are
observed in S.Pszybiszevsky's novel Homo Sapiens and A.Austriņš' story Kaspars
Glūns. Main heroes of both works (Falks and Glūns) are certain of the irrational
essence of the world which they are trying to understand. They both acknowledge
that the world possesses permanent mysteriousness which is impossible to guess
and which is related to the inevitable impact of nature on human life. Inner
processes of nature cannot be rationalized, yet human is constantly striving
towards their disclosure. According to A.Austriņš' conception of the world,
striving for the disclosure of the mysterious is the driving force of the inner
development of the human being, which in turn constitutes the prerequisites for
spiritual growth.
A.Austriņš unlike S.Pszybiszevsky does not suggest possibilities of abstract
solution of the mysterious. According to him, the essence of the world can be
approached only partially, intuitively. However, striving towards it is an
important element of character depiction, as only those characters that are aware
of the irrational essence of the world are capable of incessant development,
spirituality being their personality basis.
S.Pszybiszevsky reduces the mysterious impact of nature upon the human
life to the power of instincts and relations between sexes. A.Austriņš' conception
of the mysterious in the first stage of his writing is rather similar. He postulates
that nature force is impossible to overcome or suppress or rationalize; it is
incessantly affecting human life. And, in case the natural needs are ignored, they
break through with double force and ruin the human's life. As concerns the
suppression of nature forces, A.Austriņš, like S.Pszybiszevsky, actualizes the
problem of morality. Both writers' stance coincides in this sense with
F.Nietzsche's idea that moral norms have been created by civilization and they are
non-existent in the sphere of nature, thus observing them makes a destructive
impact on the human personality, morality is needed by the weak to suppress the
powerful.
In the second stage of A.Austriņš' literary creation, the category of the
mysterious remains topical, however its treatment gains different features. The
writer has accepted the mystery of the individual soul for granted and focuses on
the mystery of space and totality of individuals that is also in most cases
determined by nature. This secret is incognizable as well; it is only partially
perceptible by intuition or by way of the divine revelation.
Chapter 3.
"Peculiarities of spatial system "
3.1. "Particularity of space characteristics"
A.Austriņš' prose is characterized by specific poetics of space description,
marked spatiality. Each event is not described by him abstractly, turning to the
emotional and sensual sphere; instead, it is particularized in spatial terms. Space is
always associated with the event and bears greater importance than that of being
the background or functional. Any described place is treated by A.Austriņš as a
bearer of certain sense, the place of action often points to events that are expected
to happen in closest future and form a united whole with the character's feeling of
the world. Things, house interior, furniture are closely associated with the human,
his inner energy, experience, etc.
The symbolical and metaphoric significance of space is very important for
A.Austriņš. The spatial system of the writer's prose is not homogeneous, it
consists of separate spatial elements having a different emotional and notional
significance. It is possible to distinguish spatial units in the writer's prose that are
essential for his artistic awareness and all of which have acquired a distinct sense
and metaphorical significance. These are spaces associated with the awareness of
boundary - road, prison, station, etc. - spaces that have been attributed a
particularly great notional significance by the writer. Complete understanding of
the metaphorical significance of these spaces is possible only taking into account
all of his writing and keeping in mind facts of A.Austriņš' biography, i.e. the fact
that these spaces gained specific notional significance in his awareness. Road and
prison are the most essential metaphors reflecting the human existence in the
modern world.
Descriptions of space by A.Austriņš are not only emotionally charged and
notionally significant but also very concrete and precise. Cities described by him
are extremely finely structured - according to their description one can make a
precise map of the city that corresponds to the reality. Wish to provide a precise
description of the place of action testifies to the writer's markedly spatial
perception - he attempts to attribute meaning to each place in his works.
3.2. "Treatment of nature, culture, and civilization relations"
An essential conceptual issue in A.Austriņš' prose is the problem of
relations and possible balance of nature, culture, and civilization. These three
spheres of human life are closely related to the worldview of A.Austriņš'
characters and can be spatially identified. The writer depicting any particular
space - Riga, St.Petersburg, Latgale, etc., always emphasizes the dominant of a
particular sphere, e.g. Latgale is treated as the space of nature, Riga and
St.Petersburg - as spaces of civilization in which sometimes culture finds a
distinct realization.
The issue of nature, culture, and civilization relations in A.Austriņš' prose is
treated also in the temporal aspect, i.e. past is associated with the time of nature,
present - with the time of civilization, yet the time perspective is rather
insignificant.
The model of the world in A.Austriņš' prose actualizes both the relations of
nature and civilization and those of culture and civilization. Some works, e.g.
collection of stories Māras zemē, Puiškāns foregrounds the relation of nature and
civilization, whereas others, e.g. story Kaspars Glūns, collection of stories
Vērpetē, emphasize the problem of the relation of culture and civilization. The
treatment of the spatial antinomies of nature and civilization and culture and
civilization in A.Austriņš' writing is determined by the peculiarities of human
conception. A.Austriņš' human is a personality torn by contradictions who seeks
spiritual harmony, travels around and defines the places he has seen as spaces of
nature, culture, or civilization. Examples of nature space are Latgale and
Vecpiebalga, whereas culture and civilization spaces are synthesized in the
depiction of Riga, St.Petersburg, Spain, and Italy. Oppositions of nature and
civilization and culture and civilization in A.Austriņš' prose are not treated
unanimously. Nature space is regarded harmonious, yet complete harmony can be
experienced by A.Austriņš' characters only in the space with dominant culture
attributes and features.
The treatment of nature and civilization conflict in A.Austriņš' prose is
similar to K.Hamsun's world model. This similarity is both typological and
genetically determined. In certain cases, K.Hamsun's impact on A.Austriņš'
writing in the aspect of nature and civilization relation is manifested in subtext
reminiscences and citations. For both authors, antinomy of nature and civilization
is not just one of the themes but an essential element of the world model that is
closely related to the human conception. A.Austriņš and K.Hamsun have a
similar treatment of nature space - it is harmonious and harmonizes the
contradictory personality. The category of silence is one of the most significant
nature space features in both authors' works. Characters experience it especially
acutely in their contact with nature and it symbolizes peace of the soul and creates
the atmosphere in which human can get in terms with himself, balance his inner
contradictions. The sphere of the supra real is present in nature, it is mysterious,
opening the presence of God to characters.
If the perception of nature is similar for K.Hamsun and A.Austriņš, their
interpretation of civilization, i.e. the urban space, is different. K.Hamsun's
treatment of city and civilization is distinctly negative and his characters choose
to settle down in nature space or small town. A.Austriņš' prose produces urban
motifs determined by the status and evaluation of city in the 20* century
European culture and socio-economic situation in Latvia at the beginning of the
20th century, as well as the influence of French and Russian symbolists and the
writer's individual world vision.
3.3. "Depiction of foreign (Italian and Spanish) space"
. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries in European
culture once again since the times of Goethe and Romanticists the idea of travel is
actualized: actual travels and their descriptions gain popularity along with
fictionalized travel depictions. At that time, Italy became a specific object of
striving for European people. Possibly, Italy gained popularity because its image
foregrounded the idea of culture and civilization relations, topical for the
intelligentsia of those times. Italy presents a country, in which both of these
phases of the development of humanity are united, thus creating the image of Italy
as an ideal country. Another reason for its popularity is its rich image in the
history of culture, the diverse aspects of which since the Antiquity to
Romanticism are directly or indirectly recalled by each traveler. Everybody
wished to make sure for him or herself denying or ascertaining its significance
and creating their own version about Italy.
Description of A.Austriņš' foreign space is fragmentary; the writer has
formed impressions, in which he has tried to reveal his individual perception of
the respective country that is always related to his personal experience.
A.Austriņš' image of foreign countries is based on the subjective perception,
therefore the characteristic features of the countries are not revealed
systematically but individual details having attracted the narrator's attention are
emphasized. However, the perception of these details is marked by a realistic,
scrupulous description. The major criterion of space evaluation is its
correspondence to the character's world perception and feeling of the world.
A.Austriņš projects his individual world vision in the perception of space by
characters.
On the whole, A.Austriņš' depiction of Italy and Spain is concordant with
the common paradigm of perceiving these countries at the end of the 19th and the
beginning of the 20 th centuries. A.Austriņš actualizes the major cultural signs and
symbols of Italy and Spain that are associated with the respective country (e.g. La
Scala and wine for Italy, Alhambra, Alcazar of Seville for Spain). In the
interpretation of Italy, A.Austriņš belongs to those writers who emphasize the
specific ability of this country to unite the past with the present. It determines
Italian spirituality and its high culture in the contemporary epoch. Hence, Latvian
writer's interpretation of Italy is similar to that of P.Muratov and V.Rozanov that
was rather popular in the early 20th century culture and has made indubitable
impact on A.Austriņš' perception. Yet, if P.Muratov suggests this feature of Italian
culture as an ideal pattern for the development of Russian culture, A.Austriņš sees
a similar synthesis of the past and the present in the culture of Latgale
emphasizing also the uniqueness of Latvian culture. The category of native land is
significant for A.Austriņš' treatment of Italy and Spain, creating the emotional
background of his vision. The subjective vision, his individual version about
Italian and Spanish culture as well as the peculiar comparison of Latgale and Italy
make it possible to regard A.Austriņš' prose in the context of Modernism;
however, description of individual details testifies to a powerful influence of
realism and, in some cases, Naturalism.
3.4. "Depiction of St. Petersburg as apart of the text of StPetersburg"
St.Petersburg in the first half of the 20th century is one of the most often
encountered cities. In A.Austriņš' prose, St.Petersburg is very often actualized and
semantically essential. It is described in a number of stories (Nemiers, Čaikovska
kvartets, Peklē, Bēgļa svētvakars, etc.) and the novel Garā jūdze. It is not only the
place of action but also a spatial metaphor that reflects the main character's
feelings, identity search, worldview. Depiction of St.Petersburg not only entails
the description of the material world and the specific urban aura but also provides
the notion of the character's scale of values, system of opinions, where the
material and the external are inseparable from the spiritual and the internal. The
perception of St.Petersburg and its image in A.Austriņš' prose reflect the author's
worldview, his spiritual priorities.
The image of St.Petersburg created by the writer entails both his own
reception of the city, in which he lived as a student and as a fugitive, and Russian
authors' texts of St.Petersburg. A.Austriņš' text of St.Petersburg has been formed
under the impact of the common supra-text of St.Petersburg, hence the
typological parallels with the works by Russian authors A.Pushkin,
F.Dostoevsky, N.Gogol, D.Merezhkovsky, A.Bely, A.Blok, etc. A.Austriņš'
depiction of St.Petersburg can be defined both as a meta-text as it is incorporated
in the symbolist paradigm of St.Petersburg perception and as a second-degree
meta-text as A.Austriņš' perception of St.Petersburg was influenced by the image
of the city created by Russian symbolists.
The image and status of St.Petersburg is not clearly stated, it is
contradictory and variable, depending on the peculiarity of the city emphasized at
a given moment. A.Austriņš' individual concept of St.Petersburg appears in the
depiction of particular details and spaces (e.g. description of Latvian church,
hospital, public library, etc.). In different works, the writer emphasizes diverse
nuances of St.Petersburg image - in some stories it is depicted as a nest of the
immoral, a world of chaos that is doomed to perish, in others he brings out the
dominant of the creative world in St.Petersburg. Very often the author unites both
ideas in one work. Hence, regarding A.Austriņš' prose in total, an image of a
contradictory, ambivalent city emerges, in which there is a slight trust in
regeneration.
In the depiction of St.Petersburg, the opposition characteristic of
A.Austriņš' spatial system reality - supra-reality stands out distinctly. It is
universal and with some exceptions characteristic of all works by A.Austriņš.
The life, action, and system of views of his characters are equally determined by
the events and phenomena of the actual sphere and the appearances and rules of
the supra real. The life of characters is tragic due to their split consciousness,
which is a double consciousness, affected both by reality and supra-reality.
Realizing the spatial vertical and forming a distinctly subjective model of the
world, A.Austriņš' writing belongs to the culture type of Modernism. The writer
emphasizes this stating in the text that his characters are modern or contemporary
people.
The conclusion summarises the peculiarities of A.Austriņš' prose, stating
major sources of influence in the European literature and culture, defining the
particularity of writer's prose, paying special attention to determining the culture
type and trend it belongs to. On the whole, the world model in his prose is similar
to the most widespread philosophical and cultural concepts of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries: he distinctly realizes the peculiarities of autobiographical
writing, depicts split of the modern consciousness and search for the new, better
personality, focusing on the problems of nature, culture, and civilization relations,
emphasizing the dominant of irrationalism in the perception of the world. These
and other concepts regarded in the present PhD thesis indicate the place of
A.Austriņš' prose in the context of the European literature. Autobiographical
details determine the specific individual peculiarities of A.Austriņš' prose.