Zenta Mauriņa


Zenta Mauriņa was a Latvian writer, essayist, translator, and researcher in philology. She was married to the Electronic Voice Phenomena researcher Konstantin Raudive. She was nominated for the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Biography

Zenta Mauriņa was born on 15 December 1897 in Lejasciems, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire.
Born to doctor Roberts Mauriņš, Zenta spent her childhood in Grobiņa, where, at the age of six, she contracted polio; she used a wheelchair for the rest of her life. After studying at the Russian girls' high school in Liepāja, she studied philosophy at the Latvian University in Riga. After this, she studied philology of Baltic languages. She taught at the Latvian Teachers Institute and at the Latvian University in Riga and in Murmuiza, and achieved her doctorate in philology in 1938, researching the works of Latvian poet and philosopher, Fricis Bārda.
At the end of the Second World War, Mauriņa went into exile, first in Germany in 1944, and in 1946 in Sweden, where she became a lecturer at Uppsala University. In 1966, she moved to Bad Krozingen in southern Germany, where she was buried after her death. She died on 25 April 1978 in a hospital in Basel, Switzerland.

Works

Up to 1944, Mauriņa published 19 books in Latvia, including monographs on Latvian writers Rainis, Jānis Poruks, Anna Brigadere and Fricis Bārda, as well as on Dostoyevsky and Dante. During this period, she also wrote her novel, Life on a Train. After the war, she published 20 books in Latvian, and 27 in German, and her works have been widely translated into Italian, English, Russian, Swedish, Dutch, Finnish and Danish. Notable among her works in German are:

Works in Latvian

Daži pamata motīvi Raiņa mākslā Jānis Poruks un romantisms Pārdomas un ieceres Baltais ceļš Dzīves apliecinātāji Dante tagadnes cilvēka skatījumā Friča Bārdas pasaules uzskats Saules meklētāji Grāmata par cilvēkiem un lietām Ziemeļu tēmas un variācijas Neaizsūtītā vēstule Dzīves vilcienā Prometeja gaismā Kultūras saknes Trīs brāļi Tilti Sirds mozaīka Spīts Uguns gari Sāpju noslēpums Frančeska Latviešu esejas Traģiskais skaistums Cilvēces sargi Tālā gaita Septiņi viesi Iedrīkstēties ir skaisti Dzelzs aizbīdņi lūst Apnicība un steiga Sākumā bija prieks Trimdas traģika Pasaules vārtos Bērza tāss Dzintargraudi Zemes dziesma
  • ''Manas saknes ir debesīs''

Works in German

Mosaik des Herzens, essaysDie weite Fahrt, autobiographyDostojewskij, biographyDie eisernen Riegel zerbrechen Im Anfang war die Freude, short storiesDie Aufgabe des Dichters in unserer Zeit, essaysPorträts russischer Schriftsteller, essaysKleines Orchester der Hoffnung, essays

Awards