6.01.2019 г.

Poet Aspazija - Pastāvēs, kas pārvērtīsies

Poet Aspazija
Aspazija in 1894. Photo: Emanuep Eggert, Riga. RTMM 55141

Nee Elza Rozenberga, Elza Pliekšāne by married name, Aspazija was born
on March 16, 1865 in ‘Daukšas’ homestead of Zaļenieki civil parish, a
daughter of an owner of farmland. From 1874 till 1884, she attended
Zaļāmuiža (Green Manor) parish school, Dorothea School for Girls in
Jelgava and Trinity Gymnasium for Girls, which she left shortly before
graduating.

Group image. Aspazija (1, 1 row from left), together with the other girls in
Jelgava Gymnasium time – around 1880. Photo: author unknown. RTMM
129744

Aspazija on the Day of Her Confirmation in 1881. Mārtiņš Lapiņš photo

reproduction. RTMM 79318

She acted in Jelgava group of amateurs’ performance of William

Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ on August 30, 1884 and, under the
pseudonym of Elza of the Hills (Kalnu Elza) published her first article in the
newspaper ‘Baltijas Vēstnesis’, the issue of August 13./25., 1884, reporting
on this event. Pressured by her parents, Aspasia married Max Wilhelm
Walter (Maksis Vilhelms Valters) on June 15, 1886, who squandered the
farming estate of Daukšas in the status of its new owner and fled to America
afterwards (their marriage was annulled in February 1897). Aspazija and her
family moved to Jelgava where she started to work early, taking various jobs.
On December 24, 1887, her first poem ‘For the New Year’ (Jaunā gadā) was
published in Nr. 296 Supplement issue of ‘The Daily Sheet’, under the
pseudonym Aspazija. In 1988, the young poetess participated and was
announced the laureate of the playwriting competition held by Rīga Latvian
Society with her play ‘The Avenger’ (Atriebēja), but it was outlawed by the
censorship. The basis of this drama is conflict between Latvian peasants and
their historic oppressors. Artistically, the play was unpolished, but forcefully
extolled freedom and denounced despotism.

From 1891 till 1893, Aspazija worked as a governess in the ‘Ķiploki’

homestead in Kaukuļi of the Pociems civil parish, and, from 1892 till 1893,
educated the daughters of intendant Rikveilis of Dreiliņi manor place (in the
present day Pāle parish). Her plays ‘The Vestal Virgin’ (Vaidelote) and ‘The
Lost Rights’ (Zaudētās tiesības), as well as dramatic poem ‘The Daughter of
Sun’ (Saules meita) were written in this period. In October 1893, she took a
position in Rīga Latvian Theatre where she earned a particular recognition as
author of prologue written in honour of the 25th anniversary of Rīga Latvian
Society.

In January 1894, Rīga Latvian Theatre presented Aspazija’s play ‘The Vestal
Virgin’ depicting a woman’s revolt against prejudice and dogmas and her
struggle for rights to shape her life according to dictate of her feelings, in
mythically determined environment. April 1895 saw the premiere of
Aspazija’s play ‘The Lost Rights,’ centred on a woman who loses her life
because of duplicitous dominant moral. It was a problem, which challenged
her compatriot public in Latvia, enflaming polemic and bringing forth
irreconcilable social opinions about emancipation and rights of women. This
dispute created breach between conservatives and the progressive circles,
represented by New Current and newspaper ‘The Daily Sheet’. Aspazija met
its editor Jānis Rainis (Jānis Pliekšāns), an event to significantly influence
development of her social perceptions, resulting in her transgressing to the
side of New Current.

In 1895, Aspazija left Rīga Latvian Theatre and took part in the public
activities of New Current movement. Their opinion regarding the primary
mission of literature – having sway on development of society – was
expressed by Aspazija in poetic form, as a polemic with playwright and critic
Rūdolfs Blaumanis (in Dienas Lapa, 1985). In the same year, Aspazija’s plays ‘An Aim Unattained’ (Neaizsniegts mērķis) and ‘The Witch’ (Ragana) were staged presenting a defence of woman’s striving
for independence and maximally underpinning the protest against oppression. Her poems mainly written during the heyday of New Current are collected in collection ‘The Red Flowers’, authorized by
censorship to be published only in 1895, resulting in year 1897 publication. Passionate surge of feelings and exaltation are expressed in its treatment of themes of liberation from the shackles of the
past, and of the greatness of future and personal freedom. Poetically expressed programmatic appeals they contained were resonant with new strivings of the society of 1890ies. In the plays and poetry
of this period, influenced by drives of her era, Aspazija underlined the woman’s sovereign personal value.

In the end of 1896, Aspazija and Rainis left Latvia for Germany and took lodgings in Charlottenburg in Berlin only to return to Jelgava early in 1897 in the wake of death of Rainis’ elder sister. In March,
that year, as Rainis received an attorney’s position in Panevezys, Aspazija joined her fiancée there. Soon, the arrests of New Current figures were to follow, one of their rounds including Rainis as well.
On December 22, 1897, Aspazija and Rainis were wed and Aspazija shared his exile, intermittently, in Pskov and Slobodsk in 1893-1903, as well as lived independently in Rīga holding position within
editorial staff of newspaper ‘The Daily Sheet’. Her next drama, ‘The Goldie’ (Zeltīte) was published in a periodical in 1901.

Aspazija in 1903. Photo: Osvalds Lange, Jelgava (Mitau). RTMM 55140

In 1904, Aspazija published her poetry collection ‘The Twilight of Soul’ (Dvēseles krēsla), abounding in feelings of resignation and melancholy. Around the time of Revolution of 1905, a new upsurge in
Aspazija’s creativity proved to focus around her play ‘The Silvery Shroud’ (Sidraba šķidrauts, 1905) and its production by the New Latvian Theatre. While set in the romantic past and centred on the
individual fate of its heroine, the treatment of the conflict in this play and its ethical appeals coincided with the revolutionary strivings of the society.

In December 1905, Aspazija and Rainis emigrated to Switzerland and found their home in Castagnola, near Lugano.

The trilogy of Aspazija’s lyrical autobiography finds its beginnings in her collections of poetry ‘A Sunny Corner’ (Saulainais stūrītis, 1910) and ‘Armful of Flowers’ (Ziedu klēpis, 1911) reflecting her
feelings encompassing childhood and early youth. In 1913, Aspazija engaged in a polemic with writer Andrejs Upītis evolving around the role of the report ‘Some Thoughts on Contemporary Literature’
(Domas par jaunlaiku literatūru, 1893) by Janis Jansons-Brauns in the development of Latvian writing. Aspazija (while, essentially, Rainis) opposed incommensurate reverence paid to this paper.

Aspazija in 1913, Zurich. Photo: C. Ruf, Zurich. RTMM 133974

In April 1920, Aspazija and Rainis repatriated and actively engaged in the current social-political activities at home. The same year, Aspazija was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention. Her
speeches in this position underlined the significance of democracy and culture for very existence of state, and her creative life flourished as well.
Aspazija stands at J. Siliņš painting “Rainis”. In her birthday on March 17, 1928. Photo: Eduards Rihards Kraucs. RTMM 138433

The poetry collection ‘The Wings Spread Wide’ (Izplesti spārni, 1920) assembles her works written earlier. Its essential mood is set by retrospection of the struggles of past without losing a sense of
apprehension and naked nerve. In 1923, the poetess offered her collection of poems ‘A Night for Witches’ (Raganu nakts) to the reader, which is part three of her autobiographical trilogy, followed by the
poetry collections ‘Tri-Colour Sun’ (Trejkrāsaina saule) in 1926, ‘When Asters Arrive’ (Asteru laikā) in 1928, and ‘The Journey of Soul’ (Dvēseles ceļojums) in 1933. Aspazija dedicated the first part of her
collection ‘The Scattered Flowers’, ‘The Calling of Genius’, to Kārlis Ulmanis. This chapter includes patriotic, hymnal poems praising unity of the nation, freedom, and affirmations of belief in eternity.
Aspazija’s poetry books ‘Under the Evening Star’ (Zem vakara zvaigznes, 1942), and selection of poems titled ‘A Moon Garden’ (Mēnessdārzs, 1943) conclude the list of her poetical publications.

Aspazija was a prolific playwright; apart from her earliest forays into dramatic art, the list of her works in this genre extends to plays ‘Aspasia’ (Aspazija, 1923), which is set in the period of power of the
legendary Greek statesman Pericles and focuses on the fate of ancient Hellenic heroine bearing the title name. Next to follow is ‘Boaz and Ruth’ (Boass un Rute, 1925) – a play based on Biblical stories
and eulogising love. Aspazija uses an ecclesiastical legend for her play ‘The Builder of Tower’ (Torņa cēlējs, 1927), in which the price of raising the tower is closing of a virgin alive behind its layers of
stones. The play ‘The Bride of the Grass-snake’ (Zalša līgava, 1928) is based on a Latvian tale about Grass-snake who takes his bride to his under-water realm forever. Published in one
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of the
periodicals in 1931, drama ‘Jānis Ziemelis’ is dedicated to the tragically short life and times of poet Jānis Ziemelis; ‘The Ulenspiegel’ (Pūcesspieģelis, published in a periodical and staged – 1932)
reimagines the motives of Charles de Coster’s literary classic; ‘The Devil’s Money’ (Velna nauda, 1933) is a comedy treating the dominance of money as the chief value governing human life in spiritually
6.01.2019 г. Poet Aspazija - Pastāvēs, kas pārvērtīsies
fallen society. The power of
talent of Aspazija’s drama found
expression in employment of
material of legend and history
and perfected poetical language.

Aspazija had her forays into

prose already early in her writing
career. Novel ‘Autumn
Nightingale’ (Rudens lakstīgala,
published in magazine Atpūta –
1933) reflects the period of New
Current and draws on its historic
figures as the prototypes for its
characters. Aspazija’s
autobiographical works in prose
comprise such literary feats as
‘From the Tree of Knowledge’
(No atzīšanas koka, 1919), ‘A
Blue Sky’ (Zila debess, 1924),
‘Golden Clouds’ (Zelta mākoņi,
1928) as well as personal
reflections collected under the
title ‘My Life’ (Mana dzīve,
introductions to Collected
Writings ‘Mana dzīve un darbi’,
Volumes 1-6, 1931-1940).
Aspazija has also translated
novel ‘Quo Vadis?’ by Henryk
Sienkiewicz (Kurp eji?,1899),
novel ‘Aspasia’ by Robert
Hamerling (in a periodical, 1900)
and J. W. Goethe’s works in
tandem with Rainis (Collected
Writings, Volumes 1-7, 1903-
1940).

Aspazija received national Order

of the Three Stars and the
Homeland Award (Tēvzemes
balva) in 1939.

Aspazija in Dubulti, on May 16,

1943. RTMM 139051

Aspazija continued to write till

the last days of her life. She dies
on November 5, 1943, and was
interred in Rīga, in Rainis’
Cemetery.

See Knope
E., Aspazija. Latviešu
rakstniecība biogrāfijās. Rīga: LU
Literatūras, folkloras un mākslas
institūts, 2003, pp. 41-42

Photography from Literature and

Music Museum (RMM)
collection.

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