Fiction

The End and the Beginning

by Rainis

Description

The End and the Beginning is considered Rainis’s most significant poetry collection. It forms a conceptual whole and the phrase connecting each section – “I flow, I flow” – reflects notions of continuous motion, renewal, and transformation.

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Author Biography

Rainis (né Jānis Pliekšāns, 1865 – 1929) is a prominent Latvian poet, playwright, translator, and politician. In 1897 Rainis was arrested and deported. It was during this period of internal exile that Rainis translated Goethe's Faust together with Aspazija, works by William Shakespeare, Friedrich Schiller, Heinrich Heine, Aleksandr Pushkin, et al. These translations greatly revitalized Latvian language by introducing neologisms and coining expressions, and are still among the most important works shaping the modern Latvian literary language. In his plays Rainis used motifs from folklore as symbols for his political ideals. Due to the failure of the Revolution in 1905, he had to emigrate to Switzerland with his wife Aspazija, settling in Castagnola, Lugano, where he wrote plays and poetry. He returned home in1920, to a now independent Latvia, where he was elected to the Saeima (Parliament), worked as minister of education and director of the National Theatre.

International Writers and Translators' House / Latvian Literature

International Writers and Translators' House / Latvian Literature

The Latvian Literature platform was established in order to promote Latvian literature and its distribution abroad, thus ensuring international cooperation among publishers, literary agents, writers, translators, and organizations working in the fields of literature and publishing. The Latvian Literature platform provides wide-ranging information about Latvian authors, books, translators and translations, the publishing industry and innovations within the industry.

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Zvaigzne ABC
  • Publication Date January 1912
  • Orginal LanguageLatvian
  • ISBN/Identifier 9789934052392
  • Pages99
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Original Language TitleGals un sākums
  • Copyright Year2015

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