Construction of Resistance Discourse in Latvian Post-Soviet Literature about Deportations and Imprisonments

In: Revista română de studii baltice şi nordice, Band 4, Heft 2, S. 175-193

Abstract

During the Soviet era there were no publicly available published literary representations of the Soviet deportations and imprisonment of civilians and Latvian Army officers to Siberia and the Far East. If there were any, these were very scarce and available to very few people. Deportations and imprisonments were marginalized and silenced themes in all possible respects – politically, socially and culturally. Many narratives (in books published in state publishing houses) emerged only in the beginning of the 1990ies when the Soviet Union collapsed and Latvia regained its independence. Those narratives were written secretly during the Soviet time, as the authors were or could be repressed for talking about forbidden topics. The female experience was not only totally silenced but it was also different from men's experience of imprisonments and deportations as men and women with children were separated – men were sent to forced labour camps and women to places of settlement. Even when writing about deportations was dangerous, the narratives of that experience construct strong resistance to the Soviet repressions against Latvia and its people. Many female narratives about these experiences emerged later adding to the testimonials studies of archives and historical documents thus making resistance discourse more pointed and stronger.