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https://doi.org/10.22364/ilt.24.07 | 80-91 | PDF

Anna Auzāne
Mg., Latvijas Universitātes studente, Nacionālās enciklopēdijas redaktore
 

Priekšstats par “dozētās patiesības literatūru” Miervalža Birzes prozā un publicistikā

Atslēgvārdi: Miervaldis Birze, “dozētās patiesības literatūra”, padomju okupācija, publicistika, humors, cenzūra, pašcenzūra
 

The Notion of the Literature of Limited Truth in the Prose and Journalism of Miervaldis Birze

Keywords: Miervaldis Birze, “the literature of limited truth”, the Soviet occupation, journalism, humour, censorship, self-censorship.

The Latvian writer and physician Miervaldis Birze (1921–2000) introduced the notion of “the literature of limited truth” in his prose and journalism. It was a literature shaped by the politics of the USSR, that was subject to censorship and contributed to the writer’s self-censorship. The literature of limited truth openly acknowledges its omission and concealment of facts. M. Birze established this meaning, which, in parallel with the language of Aesop, can be used to describe the literary environment of the Latvian SSR. The literature of limited truth is the consequence of a long-cultivated ideology. It was not unavoidable, yet necessary, if one wanted to be among the members of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union, travel abroad, be honoured, receive awards and provisions of material goods or services.

M. Birze can be called an engaged writer, however with several reservations. He has written many medical stories, the most striking of which is “The Sandglass” (1964). It narrates diseases, addictions, death, attachment, love, and looks into people’s lives from a psychological rather than a political angle. His feuilletons, essays, and travelogues often turn out to be still binding in the first quarter of the 21^st century. Furthermore, M. Birze was not involved in ideological activities to the same extent as, for example, the odious Arvīds Grigulis (1906–1989), even if sometimes one can get the impression that the humourist’s naivety was simulated or calculated. Instead, following the restoration of independence, M. Birze used the idea of “the literature of limited truth” to show the youth “how it was back then.”

Uz zināmā un nezināmā robežas. Sast., zin. red. I. Kivle, R. Bičevskis. Rīga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds, 2024. 184. lpp.