Rainis and Aspazija
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This married couple stands at the heart of Latvian literature.
Rainis (1865-1929) was a poet, dramatist, politician, and prominent social activist. His work is nearly synonymous with Latvia's coming into being - a pamphlet of Daugava, including a verse considered the first explicit demand for statehood, was carried in the pockets of some the soldiers who fought in the War of Independence. His plays are the core of the Latvian canon. His groundbreaking translations of Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Shakespeare, Byron, Lessing, Pushkin and Ibsen, his work had a profound effect on literary Latvian. September 11th now has a tragic resonance around the world - but it's also Rainis' birthday, when poetry lovers gather at his statue in the Esplanāde for the annual Poetry Days, honouring a man who worked for a better world with fresh poems.
Aspazija (1865-1943) was a poet, playwright, and the first active Latvian feminist. Her plays offer insight into women's struggles against dogma and prejudice to attain the right to live in harmony with their sensibilities.
Photo: Kirils Kirasirovs
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