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title: The Baltic States and the Novel
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This post forms part of my '[aspects of the novel](/2022/01/04/aspects-of-the-novel/)' collection. Please do note that these entries, which may appear basic, are simply my own notes on the subject. They implicitly or explicitly describe a canon not of my own making or choosing and replicate this from various sources. The original encyclopaedia articles are far more comprehensive, nuanced and worth consulting. I am especially conscious in articles such as this, which work with complex and detailed racial histories, that the summary here is reductive and incomplete; but nonetheless a starting point. I am also cognizant that some of the living writers here may not even wish to be categorized under this racial rubric. However, as I am summarizing various facts from encyclopaedic sources, I present this as-is, nonetheless.

The Baltic States, for the purposes of this piece, consist of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Traditionally, these countries have much stronger histories of oral culture and storytelling than written narrative. Nonetheless, novels have emerged in this part of the world.

In Estonia, the earliest written narrative is _Wanradti ja Koelli katekismus_ (1535, _Short Catechism_) by Johann Kõll and Simon Wanradt. It was not until Eduard Vilde's _Külmale maale_ (1896, _To the Cold Land_) that the novel really took off in Estonia, though. In the wake of Estonian independence in 1918, works by Friedebert Tuglas, Villem Grünthal-Ridala, and August Gailit came to the fore. Oskar Luts’s _It Is Written_ was influenced by Knut Hamsun, according to Berindeanu (p. 89). Anton Hansen Tammsaare wrote short stories that enact biting social commentary, such as in _Kõrboja peremees_ (1922, _The Master of the Kõrboja_) and _Tõde ja õigus_ (1926—33, _Truth and Justice_).

In the twentieth century, Karl Ristikivi's _Souls’ Night_ (1953) is an example of surrealism and existentialism in Estonian literature. Arvo Mägi and Valev Uibopuu examine the role of history in shaping identity and Jan Kross was thought to be in the running for the Nobel Prize.

Lithuanian literature has absorbed many aesthetic traits from the West. Jurgis Baltrušaitis created a symbolist aesthetic through his translations of Russian, Scandinavian, French, and Italian literature. Juozas Paukštelis's _The First Years_ (1936) explores the challenges of day to day life within a broader national romantic framework. Jonas Marcinkevičius's _Benjaminas Kordušas_ (1937) yields an absurd take on nationalistic nostalgia. Juozas Baltušis's _Sakmė apie Juzą_ (1979, _The Tale of Juza_) takes up a similar theme in a less comic vein. Ramūnas Klimas's _Gintė ir jos žmogus_ (1981, _Gintė and Her Man_) is exemplary of a strong postmodern tradition in the Lithuanian novel. Other examples include Saulius Tomas Kondrotas, Jurga Ivanauskaitė, and Antanas Škema.

Latvian literature began with translations from biblical texts (see Berindeanu, p. 91). There is thus a strong realist tradition in Latvian narrative, exemplified in the work of Rudolfs Blaumanis, while Jānis Poruks takes a more romantic direction. Meanwhile, Kārlis Skalbe drew on folklore to write fairytale collections.

Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš wrote decadent novels, such as _Caucasus_ (1920), in the early twentieth century. More recently, novelists such as Antons Rupainis and Knuts Lesinš have played with complex intertextuality and referentiality. Marģeris Zariņš, a composer by background, has written a novel, _Mock Faustus or The Corrected Complemented Cooking-Book_, that responds to Bulgakov's _The Master and Margarita_. Aleksandrs Peleciš has examined the more recent history of Latvia in his novels.

Further reading: Berindeanu, Florin, ‘Baltic States’, in _The Encyclopedia of the Novel_, ed. by Peter Melville Logan, Olakunle George, Susan Hegeman, and Efraín Kristal (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), pp. 87–93