Maketa fails - Jura Žagariņa mājas lapas

LETTERS, THE VISUAL ARTS AND MUSIC.
Juris Helds, poet, actor and playwright, uses
dream and reality as warp and weft in the
images he weaves. “To me, poetry is like
hunting for sparks in the dark, without ever
actually seeing the sparks.” Maija Meirāne
introduces him as a noteworthy postmodern
literateur. In this issue he contributes
nine poems and a play Ko darīt? (What
Is to Be Done?), in which a global rhinoceros
flu epidemic, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin risen
from the dead, and a commissioner of
the European Union, all converge on poor
old Latvia to exacerbate its suffering to absurd
levels. ••• Linda Treija reviews an
exhibit of Vija Celmiņa’s paintings in New
York last May, and introduces us to the art
of Sigita Daugule and Laima Bikše in Latvia.
Color reproductions of some of their paintings,
Ilmārs Rumpēters’ dazzling cover, and
photographic art by Gunārs Jana itis, Uldis
Briedis and Uldis Grasis constitute the visual
focus of this issue. ••• Andrejs Streļājevs
is a pianist and organist, graduate of the
Latvian Academy of Music, currently writing
a doctoral dissertation on Latvian organ
music at the University of Toronto. Helēna
Gintere introduces him as a versatile and
ambitious artist who especially enjoys the
art of musically accompanying silent movie
classics.
LITERARY COMMENT. In the current installment
of Eva Eglāja-Kristsone’s magnum
opus on Latvian cultural contacts across the
Iron Curtain during the Cold War, she analyzes
the opinions and attitudes of exile
writers and critics toward Latvian literature
produced under Soviet rule. ••• Almantas
Samalavičius, associate professor of art history
and art theory at Gediminas Technical
University in Vilnius, Lithuania, author of
numerous essays on cultural and literary
criticism, surveys Lithuanian literary production
since the renewal of national independence.
He reports that, despite the distractions
of freedom and the onslaught of
electronic mass media, it has become “almost
normal”. ••• Ansis Kaupēns (1895-
1927) was a highway robber and serial killer
who terrorized the countryside in Zemgale,
Latvia, for six years until he was caught and
hanged. His story has not faded from literary
imaginings. Lāsma Ģibiete reviews three
retellings of this story written within the last
ten years: a musical by Māra Zālīte, a novel
by Ingrīda Karstā and a nonfiction work by
Andris Grūtups.
ACTUALITIES, HISTORY, COMMENTARY.
Aigars Bikše finds that the cause of our ongoing
global economic crisis can be traced
to an uncritical adoption of a pyramidal or
Ponzi scheme for wealth generation by financial
institutions, and insists that artists must
assume responsibility for imagining and articulating
a better model for human progress.
••• One of our Western misconceptions
of Islam is that the Koran forces inhumane
dress codes on women. Uldis Bērziņš,
poet and translator of the Koran into Latvian,
points out that it is not the Koran, but public
opinion, that sets dress codes. This is true
in the Islamic Near East just as it is in the
„secular” West. ••• Rolfs Ekmanis details
the history of the beginnings of Radio Free
Europe and its growth from a shortwave
broadcast capacity of 7.5 kW in 1949 to 250
kW in 1960. Early on, attempts were made
to send information across the Iron Curtain
also via hydrogen-inflated weather balloons.
••• In Kiberkambaris, Latvians in far-flung
corners of the globe engage in an internet
discussion of the pros and cons of trying to
stimulate the Latvian economy by encouraging
the immigration of labor and talent from
other countries. ••• In Marginalia, Vita
Gaiķe, Biruta Sūrmane, Māris Brancis, Jānis
Krēsliņš, Sr., and Rolfs Ekmanis succinctly
and exhaustively cover the most important
cultural and non-cultural events of relevance
to Latvians around the world. Special mention
is made of the Latvian Constitutional
Court’s decision to deny Latvian citizenship
to expatriates who did not apply before
1995, characterizing this as a policy of national
suicide at a time when tens of thousands
of Latvians are emigrating each year
to find employment and to seek citizenship
in more hospitable countries.
BOOK REVIEWS. Ingrida Vīksna’s Es saku
paldies (I Say Thank You), a voluminous
compilation of her poetry on the occasion
of her 90th birthday, and Gundega Repše’s
latest short stories, Stāsti par mācekļiem
(Stories about Disciples) – reviewed by Juris
Silenieks • Nora Ikstena’s collection of observations
and commentaries Šokolādes
Jēzus (Chocolate Jesus) – Biruta Sūrmane •
Gundars Ignats’ debut collection of short
stories Bez jakas (Without a Sweater) –
Astra Roze • Māris Brancis’ bilingual monograph
on the life of artist Edgars Krūmiņš
– Voldemārs Avens • Michael Garleff’s (ed.)
collection on the lives of important Baltic
Germans Deutschbalten, Weimarer Republik
und Drittes Reich – Jānis Krēsliņš, Sr.. jž