Literary History and Popular Enlightenment in Latvian Culture

Literary History and Popular Enlightenment in Latvian Culture
ISBN-10
1443892556
ISBN-13
9781443892551
Category
History
Pages
160
Language
English
Published
2017-05-11
Publisher
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Author
Pauls Daija

Description

The Enlightenment of peasants, an 18th-century phenomenon that originated from an interest in common people and ideas of about the emancipation of the lower classes, had a crucial impact on creating Latvian secular literary culture. When Baltic German intellectuals, inspired by the Popular Enlightenment in German-speaking countries, undertook the task to educate Latvian peasants through books, they also laid the foundation for the future emancipation of Latvian culture. By exploring the nature of book production and changing images of peasants in Livonia and Courland in the second part of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, this book offers insights into the complex historical relationship between Latvians and Baltic Germans and the regional specifics of the Baltic Enlightenment.

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