Jānis Poruks (13 October 1871 – 25 July 1911), was a Latvian poet and writer could be considered as a founder of the romantic branch of Latvian literature.

Biography

Jānis Poruks was born in Druviena parish, in the Kreis Walk of the

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in a peasant family. He started his education in local Druviena parish school. Later he studied also in Liezēre parish school and

Cēsis Cēsis (; (, , , ) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river, overlooking the woods below. Cēsis was selected to b ...

city school. In 1893 Poruks went to Germany and started studies in Dresden Conservatory. While in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

he published his first book, a collection of

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

s in German language ''Religion der Zukunft''. Poruks returned to Latvia in 1894 when he ran out of money. In Latvia, he started

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studies in Riga Polytechnical Institute but later he shifted to

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. He also started to work in newspaper '' Mājas Viesis''. During this period he wrote most of his most famous works and often signed them with pseudonyms ''Nemoor ''Parsifal''. After 1905 Poruks mental health started to decline, and he was treated in mental hospitals in

Rīga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, Strenči and

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

. From 1909 until 1910 Poruks lived in writer's home ''Burtnieku nams'' in Riga. Jānis Poruks died on 25 July 1911 in mental hospital in Tartu. He was buried in Cēsis cemetery, but in 1924 his remains were reburied in Forest Cemetery in Riga.

Literature

The first publication of Poruks was a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

''Purvaiņos'' which was published in a newspaper '' Dienas Lapa'' in 1888. He wrote 13 stories, one novel, one collection of poetry and one play. In his prose works he used elements of

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

, realism and

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, sometimes even all in one work. His poetry is very intimate and romantic. Latvian composer Emīls Dārziņš composed music to several of his poems.

References

1871 births 1911 deaths People from Gulbene Municipality People from Valka county Latvian male poets Latvian writers Riga Technical University alumni Burials at Forest Cemetery, Riga Male poets from the Russian Empire {{Latvia-writer-stub