EXPERIENCE OF THE PAST AND SELF-FASHIONINGIN THE 1960S SOVIET LATVIA AND ESTONIA: ANALYSIS OFALBERTS BELS’S AND RAIMOND KAUGVER’S NOVELS

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the experience of the past and self-fashioning in the 1960s prose of the Baltic states by largely focusing on two novels – The Investigator (1967) by Alberts Bels and Forty Candles (1966) by Raimond Kaugver. In the 1960s, Latvia and Estonia were under the governing of the USSR which in these territories was characteristic of colonial rule. By applying the insights of postcolonial theory, the colonial experience of Latvia and Estonia is substantiated. Particular attention is paid to the problem of historical interpretation in the colonial discourse and Soviet modernity. Analysis of the works of Alberts Bels and Raimond Kaugver is based on the New Historicist approach, which expects a parallel reading of several varying textual materials from the chosen historical period. ‘Self-fashioning’ is a concept related to the New Historicism approach, which seeks to identify cultural codes and power relations of the examined culture and historical period by exploring the ways in which identity was represented. The results of the analysis show that in the 1960s, the limits of the possibilities for representing past experiences were set by the official colonial discourse but attempts to provide a more alternative interpretation of past events through means of fiction can be noticed. ‘Self’ is fashioned according to colonial discourse, either because of belief in the progress or for lack of alternatives. There is a strict split between public and private identity, which indicates a dissonance between the discourse of Soviet modernity and the real experience of colonial subjects.