Information about the author:
Andrejs A. Gordins
Andrejs Gordins, Doctor of Philology (Dr. Philol), Lecturer of the Department of Russian Studies and Slavic Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia, Visvalža 4 a, LV-1050 Riga, Latvia.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1178-7115
E-mail:
Abstract:
The role of Dmitry Merezhkovsky and his work in Latvian culture is still understudied, while his works were demanded by a whole generation of Latvian writers and resonated in the Latvian cultural space. This article examines some intertextual connections of famous Latvian writers of the first half of the 20th century — Antons Austriņš, Viktors Eglītis and Ādolfs Erss — and Dmitry Merezhkovsky, one of the brightest representatives of Russian Symbolism and a prominent figure of the Russian Abroad. Based on references and direct quotations from Merezhkovsky, the typological affinity between representatives of the two cultures is traced in Latvian works within the processes that took place in Latvian literature, situating it within a pan-European cultural context.