Blaumanis, Rudolfs Matisovich

Born Jan. 1, 1863, in the estate of Ergli, in Lifland Province; died Sept. 4, 1908, at Takaharju Sanatorium, Finland. Latvian realist writer. Born into the family of a cook.

Blaumanis graduated from commercial school in Riga in 1881. His literary career began in 1887. He profoundly expressed the life of the Latvian peasantry. He wrote the stories and novellas Weeds (1887), Thunder (1887), In Spijénos (1888), Raudupiete (1889), Spring Frosts (1898), In the Quagmire (1898), Andriksons (1899), in the Shadow of Death (1899). Blaumanis’ comedies include The Thieves (1890), Trina’s Sins (1896), and Tailors in Silmacos (1902); his dramas include The Evil Spirit (1891), The Prodigal Son (1893), Indrān (1904), In the Fire (1905), and Saturday Evening (1907). Blaumanis wrote both as a lyric poet and as a satirist. His political satires are directed against the Baltic German landowners and kulaks and against tsarist autocracy. Blaumanis exposed the power of money and portrayed the spiritual beauty of human labor.