Latvian Literary Studies between Three Whales

Ieva Kalniņa Latvian literary studies are based on three whales – internationalization, national and social responsibility and finance. Latvian literary scholars are increasingly involved in internationally funded projects, where the most important works are related to feminism (A. Cimdiņa), postcolonialism (B. Kalnačs the 17^th–19^th century Latvian and Baltic German literature (P. Daija, M. Grudule) and the electronic literary environment (E. Kristsone-Eglāja). National and social responsibility relates to the knowledge of Latvian and the interests of teachers, students, museum employees and other stakeholders. The most important issues are therefore related to the history of Latvian literature, studies of individual writers’ creative work, and evaluation of various theories. Here we can mention conferences dedicated to Rainis and Aspazija, the recently published complete works of Aspazija, the complete works of Veronika Strēlerte, collections of articles in Mūsdienu literatūras teorijas (Contemporary literary theories), Poētika tuvplānā: Viena dzejoļa analīzes antoloģija (Poetry in the foreground: Anthology of one poem analysis) and regional publications such as Kurzemes rakstnieku silueti (Silhouettes of writers from Kurzeme). The internationalization of literary research is influenced by the availability of literature in other languages and is necessary for the comparative approach. As contemporary literature is at the heart of translation, recent literature is given the most attention in the articles of this journal. The other articles deal with issues not yet systematically examined in Latvian literature (visual poetry, cinematography in Latvian literature, and legal discourse).