Soviet Latvia and Exile: Political Changes in the Aftermath of WWII and Their Impact on Latvian Literary Histories

In this chapter we examine a variety of publications on literary history from the late 1940s to the 1980s, whether issued in the Western diaspora or conceived and written in Soviet Latvia. These include collective multi-volume surveys as well as contributions by individual authors (Our principal sources in this section are Veselis (1947), Niedre (1952), Johansons (1953), Andrups and Kalve (1954), Sokols (1956-1963), Kalninṃš (1971), Ekmanis (1978), Čakars et al. (1987)). We also discuss seemingly minor arenas for the discussion of the history of literature (such as literary almanacs), which we find relevant due to their substantial role in overcoming ideological restrictions on the reception of Latvian literature in Soviet Latvia. Comparative aspects of literary studies are also scrutinized.