Latvian Multiculturalism, Postcolonialism, and World Literature

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the complexity of the self-consciousness of the inhabitants of contemporary Latvia from a postcolonial perspective. This approach demonstrates how the experience of a small nation helps to reveal the common roots of Europe and to build both theoretical and practical bridges between different societies and their members. It also contextualizes the relation of so-called small literatures to the global literary field. The highly acclaimed novel of contemporary Latvian author, Inga Ābele, Klūgu mūks (2014), about the life and work of the Catholic priest and politician Francis Trasuns, provides the focus of attention and serves as the background for a case study that attempts to explain the complicated relationships between the historical subalternity and its critical evaluation in literature of a modern nation.