Literary Histories in the Period of Independence: The 1990s and Early Twenty-First Century

The deep political and economic crisis in the Soviet Union led to its collapse and disintegration in 1990 and 1991. The active involvement of the local population was a substantial factor in fostering this process. The three former Soviet Republics of the Baltic area, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, took back their independence in 1991 and turned decisively toward becoming an integral part of the Western community; the decisive factor in the economic and intellectual life of these countries during the last decade of the twentieth century and at the beginning of twenty-first has been their objective of adopting and adhering to Western ideas. Literary historiography has been among many areas affected by these significant changes (our principal sources in this section include Hausmanis (1998–2001), Berelis (1999), Ceplis (2007), Daija (2013, 2017), Grudule (2017), Vērdinṃš (2018)). The first three decades of independence witnessed at least two consecutive waves of intellectual productivity, as reflected in published literary histories and in related philological activities. The initial stage can be summed up as one of restoration; the second, whose beginning coincides roughly with the turn of the millennium, has been an attempt at innovation—as yet an unfinished project.