OSKARS SEIKSTS | AFFLATUS/APREDZEIBYS
After a long break in literary activity, Oskars Seiksts returned to literature, starting to publish short messages written to friends “Vokora vuordi draugim” (2021) and “Atīsmis” (2023). “Atīsmis” was published by the Latgalian Cultural Society as an author’s anniversary collection, including the author’s conceptual conversations about values important to him and O. Seiksts’ research on the Latgalian language. It is a true joy that the author’s talent and ability to see processes and phenomena in a different light and in the strong Latgalian language are increasingly manifested in new texts.
The planned collection of original texts “Apredzeibys” once again confirms O. Seiksts’ unique style in Latgalian and Latvian literature, offers “tasty” words rarely used in Latgalian and a new poetic form – predictions, sometimes even prophecies. The author sees the modern divided world and the individual, lost values, humanity suppressed by artificial intelligence and the devastation of war so deeply that each text is like a whiplash to the evil within oneself and the madness of the world. So deeply and vividly, when reading the texts, the horrors of war and inhumanity seen on smart devices appear before your eyes and you are forced to revise your own values and positions. However, the texts do not become instructive, condemnatory, it is a smart view from the outside, unobtrusive and warning at the same time.
The collection can be read several times so that the depth of thought resonates with the reader's worldview and values, but it is already clear that this is one of the most powerful and profound collections of texts that reacts so truly and simply to what is happening in the world and in the individual today.
As the poet, co-author of the first joint works, Valentīns Lukaševičs, points out, “Oskaras Seiksts’ (born November 15, 1973) poetic journey began in 1990 – there were both longer pauses and sharp turns in expression and theme. What remained unchanged were: the deep Latgalianity of the poetry at all levels, the poignancy and truthfulness of the message, the poet’s sacred awareness of his mission.
His poetics are very individual and unusual, sharply different not only from the Latgalian authors of earlier times, but also from the authors of contemporary Latvian literature. In O. Seiksts’ poetry, the everyday and the metaphysical coexist, it does not focus on the past, but constantly looks to the future. The publication of O. Seiksts’ poetry book will enrich not only the Latgalian literary landscape, but will also be a significant contribution to the common national culture.” (O.Seiksts's activity description and CV: https://www.literatura.lv/personas/oskars-seiksts)
The original publication “Apredzeibys” will include: 1) 116 O.Seiksts' prophecies in poetry (see Appendix 1 (text examples), 2) 116 O.Seiksts's parindens in English, 3) 3 conversations with Oskars Seiksts (transcribed from social network conversations) about existential situations and values: the border is empty and natural, the border is human and civil, 4) 19 original illustrations, 5) a translation of one text as a running motif into Finnish, Lithuanian, Estonian, and Polish - these are the languages whose countries bordered the aggressor states, it is a symbolic wall of spiritual values that stands against hostile aggression from the east.
The project is aimed at publishing Oskars Seiksts' powerful, prophetic predictions of global processes and the destruction of humanity in a separate collection, showing that the presence of a thinker in any century can be decisive and influential in the future. The book is not only a vivid continuation of the collection "Atīsmis" published in 2023, but also a boundary-breaker, which has been achieved with the scope of O. Seiksts' original texts and their translation into English. It will be a powerful calling card of Latgalian and at the same time world humanity beyond the borders of Latvia.
