Modernism in Soviet Latvia: Leons Briedis and Fernando Pessoa in translation

The paper examines the sporadic presence of modernist poetry within the ecosystem of Soviet literature during the occupation of Latvia, focusing specifically on the translations produced by the poet Leons Briedis (1949-2020) in the 1980s. Briedis was one of the most prolific translators of Portuguese-language poetry into Latvian, including the works of Fernando Pessoa, and his contribution to the reception of literary modernism was substantial. A critical analysis of both his translations and their reception reveals a central paradox of Soviet literary culture: while modernist poetics were permitted to penetrate the Iron Curtain through translation, similar aesthetic practices were simultaneously restricted in local literary production. In this context, translations of Portuguese poetry became both foreign and local, at once submitting to and resisting the contradictory forms of coloniality embedded within Soviet cultural policy.