Eriks Ādamsons (22 June 1907 – 28 February 1946) was a Latvian writer, poet and novelist.

Biography

Eriks Ādamsons was born in

Riga 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 ...

on 22 June 1907. In 1926 he started law studies in Latvian University. He made his first publication in 1924. In the 1930s he fully devoted himself to literature. Ādamsons also worked as

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

(he knew:

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, German, English and French languages). He married young Latvian writer

Mirdza Ķempe Mirdza Ķempe (later Naikovska) ( – 12 April 1974) was a Soviet and Latvian poet, writer and translator. She was a recipient of the State Prize of Latvian SSR (1958), USSR State Prize (1967), and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. Biogra ...

in 1931, but their marriage broke apart shortly before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In the years of

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

he worked in book store and also in

lumbering Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks

. His works were banned by German authorities, so he published under the pseudonym ''Eriks Rīga''. In those years his health declined and he caught

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. In 1943 he started collect materials for book about Latvian painter

Kārlis Padegs Kārlis Padegs (8 October 1911 – 19 April 1940) was a Latvian artist. He studied under Latvian painter Vilhelms Purvītis at the Latvia Art Academy. His best-known work is '' Madonna with Machine Gun'', which belongs to the Latvian National ...

. This work was never finished. In 1944 Eriks Ādamsons married the widow of Kārlis Padegs, Elvīra Berta Padega, who also suffered from tuberculosis. In 1945 they had a son Askolds, but he died after a few months. In 1946 Ādamsons health declined very fast and he died in Biķernieki sanatorium on 28 February 1946. He is buried at the Rainis Cemetery in Riga.

Literature

Eriks Ādamsons was known as an

aesthete Aestheticism (also known as the aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century that valued the appearance of literature, music, fonts and the arts over their functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be produced to b ...

in life and also in his works. His novels and poems are sometimes called ornamental literature because of attention to smallest details. His poetry is referred to through dekadence,

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

and

jugendstil (; "Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany, Austria and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German and Austrian cou ...

. His biggest influences were works by

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

and

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to conscio ...

Works

*''Amora apburtā lapene'' (1924) *"Sudrabs ugunī" (1932) *''Seši krusti'' 1933 *" Smalkās kaites" (1937) *"Ģerboņi" (1937) *''Čigānmeiteņš Ringla'' (1939) *"Saules pulkstenis" (1941) *"Lielais spītnieks" (1942) *''Koklētājs Samtabikse'' (1943) *"Sava ceļa gājējs" (1943–1944) *"Sapņu pīpe" (1951)

References

1907 births 1946 deaths Writers from Riga People from Riga county Latvian male novelists Latvian male poets 20th-century Latvian translators 20th-century novelists 20th-century Latvian poets 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 20th-century Latvian male writers Tuberculosis deaths in Latvia Tuberculosis deaths in the Soviet Union {{Latvia-writer-stub