The path of Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian societies has to a great extent been determined by historical processes of occupation, colonization and foreign settlement. This remains a terrain insufficiently explored by literary scholars. In this book 20th century drama in Baltic countries provides a matrix which helps to take these issues into account. Principal literary texts are discussed within their specific political, social and aesthetic contexts relevant for all three cultures from the perspective of postcolonial studies. The main question posed by the book is whether Baltic cultures might be looked upon as agencies of Europe’s internal others and in what ways Baltic identity has been determined by responses to these threats and challenges.
Benedikts Kalnačs
20th Century Baltic Drama: Postcolonial Narratives, Decolonial Options
2016
ISBN 978-3-8498-1147-1
235 Seiten
kartoniert
Benedikts Kalnačs works at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art in Riga, affiliated with the University of Latvia. His research focus is Latvian and European drama as well as comparative studies of Baltic literary cultures.
Leseprobe: 9783849811471.pdf
[...] Overall, this is an extraordinary book in its depth and width of research, allowing for a comprehensive image of Baltic society and its theatre through an innovative lens of postcolonialism.
Carmen Levick in „Theaterforschung.de“ (Juni 2016)
[...] Benedikts Kalnačs’s monograph is one of the first groundbreaking steps in the long process of Baltic epistemic, cultural, and aesthetic decolonization, which will hopefully be followed by others in the near future.
Madina Tlostanova in „Baltic Worlds“ (10/2016)
[...] Benedikts Kalnačs’ impressive research into the social milieus and aesthetic contexts of the twentieth century Baltic states, along with an organized rendition of essential information with respect to the overtly stated aim of the volume, allow for a thorough analysis of the region’s rich history of ideological and cultural foreign occupation, as well as the long lasting consequences it entails.
Andreea Paris-Popa in „University of Bucharest Review“ (Vol. V/2015, no 1)