Viktors Eglītis

Viktors Eglītis (15 April 1877 – 20 April 1945) was a Latvian writer and art theorist. He was a leading figure in the Latvian decadent movement and an introducer of modernist poetics.

Early life Viktors Eglītis was born in Sarkaņi Parish on 15 April 1877. After dropping out of an Orthodox Christian seminary in Vitebsk, Eglītis studied drawing in Penza and enrolled at Maria Tenisheva's art studio in Saint Petersburg. There he became acquainted with the ideas of the Russian Silver Age and several of its prominent figures.

Literary career Back in Latvia, he adapted the ideas of Russian symbolism for Latvian literature and art theory. In 1902, he used the term "decadence" to designate his writings. In various articles, he laid out his poetics which were opposed to moral schemes, abstraction and realism, and instead promoted artistic individualism. Late in his life he also came to express antisemitic views and support for the politics of Adolf Hitler. In 1930 he married the painter and writer Hilda Vīka. With his first wife, he was the father of the writer, journalist and painter Anšlavs Eglītis (1906–1993).

List of works Bibliography adapted from Literatura.lv.

Poetry collections Elēģijas, 1907, self-published Hipokrēna, 1912, Zalktis , 1924, self-published Kastaļavots, 1924 , 1926, Latvju Kultūra , 1937, Valters un Rapa , 1942, Latvju Grānata

Epic poems , 1910, Imanta , 1920, Vaiņags , 1921, Vaiņags Barons Maidels, 1923, Leta , 1933, Valters un Rapa

Prose fiction , short stories, 1911 Latvietis Krievijā, novella, 1920, P. Liepa Līdzvainīgie, novel, 1920, A. Gulbis , novella, 1921, Leta , novel, 1921 , novellas, 1923, Valters un Rapa , 1924, D. Zeltiņš , 1924, Leta , 1924, Leta , novel, 1926, Valters un Rapa , 1926, Leta Domājošā Rīga, 1934, self-published , short stories, 1936, A. Gulbis , short stories, 1936, Zelta Grauds , short stories, 1942, Kreišmanis

Drama , 1921, A. Gulbis , 1923, J. Roze , 1924, Valters un Rapa

Literary criticism Poruks, 1903, Burtnieks , 1921 , 1923, Lapsene