Andrejs Upīts (4 December 1877,

Skrīveri parish Skrīveri Parish ( lv, Skrīveru pagasts) is an administrative unit of Aizkraukle Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. Towns, villages and settlements of Skrīveri Parish * Klidziņa * Līči * Skrīveri – parish administrative cent ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

– 17 November 1970,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent Republics of the Soviet Union, republics. Th ...

) was a Latvian teacher,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

, short story writer.

Career and literary activity

Andrejs Upīts, while writing for the newspaper "Mājas viesis" under the pseudonym Andrei Araji in 1892, published his first articles, ''Parunas, Skrīveros uzrakstītas'' (Recorded Proverbs of Skrīveri) (No. 15) and ''Kā mūsu senči agrāk Vidzemē dzīvojuši'' (How Our Ancestors Once Lived in Vidzeme) (No. 20). Upīts wrote novels, stories, drama, tragedy, comedy, poetry, satire, journalism, and literary criticism. His children's novel, ''Sūnu ciema zēni'' (''The Boys of Moss Village''), is included in the compulsory reading list of schools. He was one of the more multifaceted Latvian writers. Upīts' heroes possess striking character and he used a rich language. In 1940 Upīts was appointed the editor-in-chief of ''

Karogs ''Karogs'' ( Latvian: ''The flag'') was a monthly literary magazine which was published in Latvia in the period between 1940 and 2010. Published by the Soviet Latvian Writers’ Union during the Communist period it was a semi-official publication ...

'' and served in the post until 1941. His 1945 novel ''Zaļā zeme'' (Verdant Land) received the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

State Prize in 1946. Between 1945 and 1946 he served again as the editor-in-chief of ''Karogs''. His ''Sociālistiskā reālisma jautājumi literatūrā'' (Problems of Socialist Realism in Literature) won the Latvian SSR State Prize in 1957. His works were banned twice: the first time after Kārlis Ulmanis' coup of 1934, and the second during the years of the Soviet regime, when his performance of his play, ''Ziedošais tuksnesis'' (The Blooming Desert) was prohibited at the Dailes Theatre and censors prohibited distribution of his book, ''Literatūras vēsture'' (The History of Literature).Zirnis, E
''Cenzēts mūža garumā''
Diena, 6.12.2007

Significant works

Novels

* ''Jauni avoti'' (1909) * ''Sieviete'' (1910) * ''Zīda tīklā'' (1912) * ''Pēdējais latvietis'' (1913) * ''Zelts'' (1914) * ''Renegāti'' (1915) * ''Ziemeļa vējš'' (1921) * ''Perkona pievārtē'' (1922) * ''Pa varavīksnes tiltu'' (1926) * ''Zem naglota papēža'' (1928) * ''Jāņa Robežnieka nāve'' (1932) * ''Vecās ēnas'' (1934) * ''Zaļā zeme'' (1945) * ''Plaisa mākoņos'' (1951)

Plays

* ''Dzimumdienas rītā'' (1905) * ''Balss un atbalss / triloģija'' (1911) * ''Žanna d'Arka'' (1930) * ''Spartaks'' (1943) * ''Ziņģu Ješkas uzvara'' (1933) * ''Apburtais loks'' (1929) * ''Mirabo'' (1926) * ''Kaijas lidojums'' (1925) * ''Peldētāja Zuzanna'' (1922)

Poetry

* ''Mazas drāmas'' (1911)

Prose

* ''Jauni avoti'' (1909) * ''Sieviete'' (1910) * ''Zīda tīklā'' (1912) * ''Pēdējais latvietis'' (1913) * ''Ziemeļa vējš'' (1921) * ''Zelts'' (1921) * ''Pērkona pievārtē'' (1922) * ''Renegāti'' (1922) * ''Pa varavīksnes tiltu'' (1926) * ''Zem naglota papēža'' (1928) * ''Jāņa Robežnieka pārnākšana'' (1932) * ''Jāņa Robežnieka nāve'' (1933, Vecas ēnas'' (1934) * ''Smaidoša lapa'' (1937) * ''Laikmetu griežos'' (1937 1940) * ''Māsas Ģertrūdes noslēpums'' (1939) * ''Zaļā zeme'' (1945) * ''Plaisa mākoņos'' (1951)

Short stories

* ''Mazas komēdijas (1-2)'' (1909 1910) * ''Nemiers'' (1912) * ''Vēju kauja'' (1920) * ''Aiz paradīzes vārtiem'' (1922) * ''Kailā dzīvība'' (1926) * ''Stāsti par mācītājiem'' (1930) * ''Sūnu ciema zēni / garstāsts jaunatnei'' (1940) * ''Noveles'' (1943)

Partial bibliography

* ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-f ...

: August 1964; Vol. XCI, No. 11'' (featuring ''The Young Crane'' by Andrejs Upīts and Illustrated by

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book '' Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 20 ...

) *''Outside Paradise and Other Stories'' (1970) *''Cause and effect (Soviet short stories)'' (1977) *''Selected stories'' (1978) *''Problems of Socialist Realism in Literature''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Upits, Andrejs 1877 births 1970 deaths People from Aizkraukle Municipality People from Kreis Riga Communist Party of Latvia politicians Deputies of the People's Saeima Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1947–1951 Latvian writers 20th-century Latvian poets Latvian male poets Academic staff of the University of Latvia People's Writers of the Latvian SSR Stalin Prize winners Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour