Viktors Eglītis (15 April 1877 – 20 April 1945) was a Latvian writer and art theorist. He was a leading figure in the Latvian

decadent movement The Decadent movement (from the French language, French ''décadence'', ) was a late 19th-century Art movement, artistic and literary movement, literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artif ...

and an introducer of

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

poetics.

Early life

Viktors Eglītis was born in Sarkaņi Parish on 15 April 1877. After dropping out of an Orthodox Christian

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

, Eglītis studied drawing in

Penza Penza (, ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura (river), Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Russian census, 2010 Census, Penza had ...

and enrolled at Maria Tenisheva's art studio in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. There he became acquainted with the ideas of the Russian

Silver Age The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent interpretatio romana, Roman interpretation. Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to pr ...

and several of its prominent figures.

Literary career

Back in Latvia, he adapted the ideas of Russian symbolism for Latvian literature and art theory. In 1902, he used the term "

decadence Decadence was a late-19th-century movement emphasizing the need for sensationalism, egocentricity, and bizarre, artificial, perverse, and exotic sensations and experiences. By extension, it may refer to a decline in art, literature, science, ...

" to designate his writings. In various articles, he laid out his poetics which were opposed to moral schemes, abstraction and realism, and instead promoted artistic individualism. He was well received by a number of young writers, who along with Eglītis wanted to refocus the language of poetry, which was dominated by well-defined lyrical forms and clear narratives, to symbols and signs that were not always easy to decipher. With this they wished to provide a sense of mystery and prophecy, and leave room for subtlety and subconscious impulses. This poetic is prominent in Eglītis' poetry collection ''Elēģijas'' (1907) and short story collection ''Vērtības pārvērtējot'' (1911). Eglītis also illustrated his own books with symbolic drawings. In addition to the enthusiasm from his followers, Eglītis' often aggressive introduction of

principles was also met with vocal opposition. After the outbursts of his early works, the prolific Eglītis gradually turned to a more neoclassical and realistic expression; toward the end of his career he even launched the slogan "Away with modernism!" () In the 1920s he was an established and much read literary figure in Latvia, with works characterised by

positivism Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positivemeaning '' a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. Gerber, ''Soci ...

and

maximalism In the arts, maximalism is an Aesthetics, aesthetic characterized by excess and abundance, serving as a reaction against minimalism. The philosophy can be summarized as "more is more", contrasting with the minimalist principle of "less is more" ...

. From the end of the 1920s, he moved in an increasingly patriotic direction. He wrote historical fiction where he depicted the Baltic nations in opposition to other countries, primarily Germany. He turned to the Baltic neopaganism of the Dievturība movement. Late in his life he also came to express

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

views and support for the politics of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

Death and legacy

In 1944, Eglītis was convicted in a Soviet court, accused of being a

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

collaborator. He died in prison on 20 April 1945. During the Soviet era, he was almost never discussed, remained unread and was largely forgotten. After Latvia regained its independence, Eglītis began to be rediscovered and gained status as the country's leading decadent writer. The literary scholar published a biography on Eglītis in 2012.

Personal life

Eglītis married the teacher and translator Marija Eglīte (born Stalbova) in 1904. She died in 1926. In 1930 he married the painter and writer Hilda Vīka. With his first wife, he was the father of the writer, journalist and painter Anšlavs Eglītis (1906–1993).

List of works

Bibliography adapted from Literatura.lv. Poetry collections * ''Elēģijas'', 1907, self-published * ''Hipokrēna'', 1912, Zalktis * ', 1924, self-published * ''Kastaļavots'', 1924 * ', 1926, Latvju Kultūra * ', 1937, Valters un Rapa * ', 1942, Latvju Grānata Epic poems * ', 1910, Imanta * ', 1920, Vaiņags * ', 1921, Vaiņags * ''Barons Maidels'', 1923, Leta * ', 1933, Valters un Rapa Prose fiction * ', short stories, 1911 * ''Latvietis Krievijā'', novella, 1920, P. Liepa * ''Līdzvainīgie'', novel, 1920, A. Gulbis * ', novella, 1921, Leta * ', novel, 1921 * ', novellas, 1923, Valters un Rapa * ', 1924, D. Zeltiņš * ', 1924, Leta * ', 1924, Leta * ', novel, 1926, Valters un Rapa * ', 1926, Leta * ''Domājošā Rīga'', 1934, self-published * ', short stories, 1936, A. Gulbis * ', short stories, 1936, Zelta Grauds * ', short stories, 1942, Kreišmanis Drama * ', 1921, A. Gulbis * ', 1923, J. Roze * ', 1924, Valters un Rapa Literary criticism * ''Poruks'', 1903, Burtnieks * ', 1921 * ', 1923, Lapsene

Early life

Literary career

Death and legacy

Personal life

List of works

See also

References

Further reading