In this novel, events evolve during the late 1930s at the time of president Kārlis Ulmanis’ authoritarian regime. This period in Latvia is often associated with images of a burgeoning economy, social stability, and the swelling of national pride; at the same time, these are the years when concepts such as “reduced value individuals” – individuals who are perceived to be a threat to the future happiness of the nation – were also disseminated. Popular in Europe, the concept of eugenics has also infiltrated Latvia, creating negative attitudes toward mental health patients. Magdalēna, the novel’s protagonist, has been raped and
is subsequently diagnosed as mentally ill in a psychiatric clinic. There, she meets Kārlis, a young, progressive psychiatrist whose views on the treatment of mental illness have been influenced by Freud’s psychoanalytical teachings.

Contacts: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv 

In her novel The Beautiful Ones, Inga Gaile tries to understand how she and her contemporaries have been influenced by two tragedies of the 20th century: Nazism and Stalinism. It is the author’s attempt to tell a story about people who managed to stay humane despite the impossible circumstances, guided by a
hope to live more freely. One of her themes is that the dual value system—good/ bad, beautiful/ugly—is limiting for humanity. The novel has three parts, each
with a female protagonist. First is Violeta, who is imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1941. The protagonist of the second part is Magdalēna, who is also a protagonist in Gaile’s first novel, The Glass Shards. We meet Magdalēna 
in Latvia in 1953. The protagonist of the third part is Magdalēna’s granddaughter, Duks—our contemporary. She has, however, never met her grandmother; she is also indirectly connected to Violeta. The novel’s main themes are beauty, a woman’s outer appearance, and the different ways women are objectified. This story also shows what happens to women who experience violence, and how they deal with it.

The novel talks about concentration camp brothels, which is a subject that hasn’t really been discussed before. It describes the fates of women who worked in the brothels of the era, and the fates of any children born as a result. The broader descriptions of this period of history tend to lack the voices of witnesses. On the other hand, more and more historical researchers are trying to add the missing testimonies to history, giving authors like Gaile access to records about women who worked in concentration camp brothels, or women who were subject to the Soviet Army’s rape march.

The Beautiful Ones is a literary work that employs many historical facts. Among them are Katrīna Vaica’s lynching trial in the Ravensbrück camp, the punishment of prisoners during the subsequent search for Katrīna, the brothels themselves and how they were organized, experiments, how the camp was liberated, and how children deported to Siberia were sent back to Latvia.

Contact: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv