Anšlavs Eglītis wrote his novel Homo novus in the early 1940s, and the author hoped it would encourage the movement of Latvian painting onto a new path. In the novel, Eglītis shows the Rīga art world in the 1930s as seen through the eyes of a “homo novus”: the new arrival Juris Upenājs. The plot is moved along by coincidences, engaging events, the bohemian lifestyle, and the artistic creation process. The novel portrays the entire 
arc of the artist’s career, from a humble debut to the later accolades. The work also depicts the emergence and development of a new generation, encountering everyday difficulties. Eglītis does an excellent job in characterising the “gallery” of painters/artists in the story, skilfully detailing their outward appearance, their clothing, and their behaviour.

Latvian literature specialist Viktors Hausmanis has written that “in this novel you can read a perfect description of the bohemian life of Rīga artists, with all of their drinking, arguments, conversations, while also being taken on a walk through all of Rīga’s pubs and restaurants, wiling away several days planted next to a glass. Eglītis has been able to depict all of this with his characteristically attractive style, which is filled with life, vitality, and wit.”

Contact: ino@akka-laa.lv

Bride Hunters was the novel which first
 brought Anšlavs Eglītis, the giant of Latvian literature, his considerable popularity. Its key qualities include exceptionally witty writing and excellent descriptions of its characters and settings. At the centre of the novel are the different paths taken by three friends – Eplats, Ķurzēns, and Dušeļs
– as they struggle to achieve happiness. Eglītis refers to these three fortune-seekers as “bride hunters” because they believe the quickest way to become rich is to marry well. The author gives a wry description of 
the Latvian elite of the 1930s – shop owners, consuls, bank employees, student fraternity members – and takes the reader through the restaurants and cafés that abounded in Rīga at that time. Bride Hunters is a living testament of Rīga, its people, their lives, mores, relationships, ways of thinking, language, approach to life, desires, and longings.

Contact: info@akka-laa.lv