The Self-image of the latvians and the image of the lithuanians in the book "Leišmalīte" by Imants and Rimants Ziedonis

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Savivaizdis; Lietuvių įvaizdai; Knyga "Leišmalīte"; Self-image; Images of lithuanians; Book "Leišmalīte".

EN[...] The self-image of the Latvians of the border area arising in the book Leišmallte by Imants and Rimants Ziedonis is fairly contradictory from the geo-anthropological point of view, that is, with regard to the relationship to a location, and in other aspects. On the one hand, its characteristic qualities are the obvious fragmentation and unevenness that permeate its different planes; on the other, it is ideally suitable for fillfilling the functions of the metonymic symbol of the "integral community" "protecting" the nation’s border. Although in this book the Lithuanians are perceived and shown as the Other, due to ethno-linguistic and historical affinity they feature as "one’s own other". From the imagological point of view, the image of the Lithuanians consistently evolves on the principal of comparison, as well as through the destruction of the stereotypical images of the Lithuanian established in the Latvians’ historical-cultural memory. An example of the latter is the replacement of the formerly entrenched image of "the Lithuanian beggar" through the recurrent emphasis of the view that at present the Lithuanians are wealthier than the Latvians. As it appears in the declarations of subjective experience, the image of the Lithuanian is predominantly idealized, although the instances of ironic and critical altitudes to this image are also present in this book. [Extract, p. 105]