Artis Ostups

Heterogenity of Historical Time in the Contemporary Latvian Novel: A Comparative Perspective

My dissertation draws on trauma studies, contemporary philosophy of history and narrative theory to consider how time is experienced in post-Soviet Latvian fiction. I am particularly inspired by such concepts as melancholia (Dominick LaCapra), multitemporal present (Marek Tamm and Laurent Olivier), presence (Eelco Runia) and sublime historical experience (Frank Ankersmit). These philosophical concepts illuminate the non-linear nature of time after the decline of modern time regime which was driven by the idea of progress. As if arguing against this obsession with the future, post-Soviet fiction in Latvia and elsewhere is more concerned with the sudden and haunting return of traumatic past events. I contend that this phenomenon can be best understood by analyzing how philosophical concepts of time resonate with certain narrative structures and strategies. Ultimately, I address also the ethical questions behind the non-linear organization of time, showing how melancholia, especially in post-Soviet context, can function as a valuable reaction to the past.

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• “Metarefleksivitāte un modernisms Montas Kromas dzejā.” In: Monta Kroma: padomju modernisma pieredze un refleksija, edited by Artis Ostups, Jānis Ozoliņš and Kārlis Vērdiņš. Rīga: LU LFMI [forthcoming in 2022]. (in Latvian)
• “Tagadnes mirāža: vēsture un melanholija.” In: Tagadnības skārums: veltījumkrājums profesorei Mārai Rubenei, edited by Igors Gubenko. Rīga: LU FSI [forthcoming in 2022]. (in Latvian)
• “’The Scar Will Always Be There’: The Post-Soviet Melancholia in Gundega Repše’s Conjuring Iron.” In: Interlitteraria 25 (2), 2020, pp. 408–421.
• “No melanholijas līdz sērām: padomju okupācijas trauma Gundegas Repšes romānā “Dzelzs apvārdošana” un Noras Ikstenas romānā “Mātes piens”.” In: Letonica 40, 2019, pp. 114–128. (in Latvian)
• “Rēgs, fotogrāfija un atbildība Paula Bankovska romānā “18”.” In: Aktuālas problēmas literatūras un kultūras pētniecībā 24, 2019, pp. 133–144. (in Latvian)
• “Modernisma ietekmes mūsdienu dzejā.” In: Latviešu literatūra 2007–2015, edited by Kārlis Vērdiņš. Rīga: LU LFMI, 2018, pp. 159–187. (in Latvian)
• “Valtera Benjamina un Teodora V. Adorno lirikas teorija: valoda starp reprezentāciju un neizsakāmo.” In: Letonica 34, 2016, pp. 69–80. (in Latvian)

• 2022: “Pagātnes klātbūtne Ināras Vērzemnieks darbā “Starp dzīvajiem un mirušajiem”” (in Latvian). Aktuālas problēmas literatūras un kultūras pētniecībā, Liepāja.
• 2021: “Metonymy, Presence and Ethical Imagination in Postmemorial Writing: Andra Manfelde’s Children of the Bunker and Katja Petrowskaja’s maybe Esther”. Regīna Ezera and Eastern European Literature, Rīga.
• 2020: “The Ethics of Unnarrated: Collective Trauma in Gundega Repše’s Novel Conjuring Iron”. The International Society of the Study of Narrative’s Annual Conference, New Orleans.
• 2019: “The Demands of History: Conceptualizing the Post-Revolutionary Melancholy of Contemporary Latvian Fiction”. 13^th International Conference of the Estonian Association of Comparative Literature, Tartu.
• 2018: “’Unfillable Void’: Photography and Melancholy in Pauls Bankovskis’s Novel 18”. 3^rd Memory, Melancholy and Nostalgia International Interdisciplinary Conference, Gdansk.