Vizma Belševica
| Vizma Belševica | |
|---|---|
Vizma Belševica
|
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| Born |
May 30, 1931 Rīga, Latvia |
| Died | August 6, 2005 Rīga, Latvia |
| Occupation | Writer, poet, translator |
| Nationality | Latvian people |
Vizma Belševica (May 30, 1931, Riga – August 6, 2005) was a Latvian poet, writer and translator. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Belševica's father Jānis Belševics was a worker, and her mother Ieva Belševica (maiden name Cīrule) was a housewife. The family was relatively poor, as only one of the two spouses did paid work. Vizma's father had drinking problems, which aggravated when during the Great Depression he lost his job as a baker. Vizma Belševica was born on May 30, 1931, in prewar Riga, then the capital of democratic Latvia, where she spent most of her childhood. The city often is featured in her works, especially her most famous work—autobiographic trilogy "BILLE"—, but the time spent in Courland, on her relatives' small farm has also an important role in her poetry and writings. Her son Klāvs Elsbergs was a famous Latvian poet in the 1980s and her second son Jānis is a writer as well.
Receiving the Nobel prize was her childhood dream; she, as a poor but bright girl, spent much of her time reading classical literature. Belševica's work has been recognised: on December 6, 1990, she was elected honorary member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences; she has twice received the Spidola Award, which is the highest recognition in Latvian literature. Belševica has also received the highest award of the Latvian State, namely the Three Star Order.
Vizma Belševica published her first poems in 1947; her first book of poetry appeared in 1955. Her most notable poetry collections are Jūra deg (The Sea is Burning, 1966), Gadu gredzeni (Annual Rings, 1969), Madarās (In My Lady's Bedstraw, 1976), Kamola tinēja (The Clew Winder, 1981), Dzeltu laiks (Autumn Time, 1987). Her short stories' collections are Ķikuraga stāsti (Stories from Kikurags, 1965), Nelaime mājās (Misfortune at Home, 1979), Lauztā sirds uz goda dēļa (Broken Heart on the Board of Honour, 1997). During the post-Soviet period, Belševica wrote three semi-autobiographical books – stories about the girl Bille, following her life from the late 1930s, throughout the first year of Soviet occupation of Latvia (1940–41), the Nazi occupation (1941–45), and the first post-war years under Stalin's regime: Bille (Bille, 1992, 95), Bille un karš (initial title: Bille dzīvo tālāk) (Bille and War, 1996), Billes skaistā jaunība (The Wonderful Youth of Bille, 1999). Its first edition was published by the Latvian publisher Mežābele in 1992 in the United States and only in 1995 in Latvia. Now this trilogy has been recognized as one of the most important works of Latvian literature of all times. It has been translated into Swedish, but not in English.
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