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 Pure Gold Jānis Borgs, Art Critic Book Konstantīns Raudive by Pēteris Zeile (Riga, 2009) | |
| In the bookshops this Jumava publication may not be the most eye-catching book on the shelf. Yet behind the unobtrusive cover, a truly unique and colourful Latvian cultural personality is revealed: the writer, philosopher and psychologist Konstantīns Raudive, who spent most of his life in a foreign country. Not infrequently, mention is made of the fact that he was the husband of the writer Zenta Mauriņa, as if this were to increase his importance. It is made clear to us that the partner of an intellectual giant like Mauriņa must be of the appropriate calibre. But in this family couple Raudive did not ‘play the second fiddle’, by no means. People in the West and also those in Latvia who have fine-tuned their information-receiving antennae since the collapse of communism have been particularly fascinated by Raudive as a ‘ghost hunter’. He took a rigorously scientific approach to the matter, and purchased expensive, state-of-the-art sound recording equipment to pursue his research. His studies on ‘life after death’ and ‘spirit voices’ recorded in Sweden and West Germany gained international attention, making Raudive world-famous and an exotic expert in parapsychology. Later, he even had an unexpected influence on some British rock musicians. Here in Latvia there has been very little information about Raudive, the writer and philosopher, or his alternative science, and even that more at the level of whispering behind the scenes. Raudive has been a subject of discussion mainly amongst literary and philosophical experts, but the rest of society had only a sketchy idea of him, if they knew anything about him at all. This is not at all strange or ‘culturally lazy’ when we remember that Raudive died back in 1974, deep in the period of Brezhnev stagnation, when the conditions of the Cold War and “class struggle” prevailed: the Iron Curtain, ideological control filters, censorship, the system of surveillance... Raudive was fully aware of the nature of Soviet totalitarianism, and his anticommunism was no secret. His longstanding [persona] non grata status made this Latvian master of thought terra incognita in the collective consciousness of his homeland, even though the middle and older generation would have already known of his writings and ideas from pre-war Latvia. In the two decades since the restoration of Latvia’s independence there have been a number of publications which, at least partially, helped to overcome such ignorance. However, the vast dimensions of this great mind have yet to be explored in full. Hence the book about Konstantīns Raudive by Latvian culture researcher Pēteris Zeile fills a significant gap in the study of the constellation of our philosophical thought. It could even be said that an old debt has been repaid. The book is written with knowledgeable enthusiasm, and its 22 chapters read like a kind of intellectual detective story. Particularly fascinating is the skilful manner in which Raudive’s Latgalian context is uncovered, standing alongside other great intellects from this region – Jānis Klīdzējs, Juris Soikans... Or his educational background, which included university studies in Paris, Madrid and Edinburgh. Or his impressive achievements as a polyglot... Or his contribution to a Latvian perspective on Spanish literature and philosophy. He was nicknamed an “ambassador of the Spanish spirit.” No less compelling is the creative tandem between Raudive and Mauriņa, and the insights offered into their harmonious flights of thought, which raised these personalities high above our national horizons into the heavens of European and global thought and ideas. But Raudive himself was well aware of the relativity of these opportunities and the infinite nature of development: “How immeasurably large is the human soul! You can travel day and night, for your whole life, only to discover at the end of it that you haven’t left your own self, that the star of your fate still shines above your head.” We are most fortunate that a scholar such as Zeile has undertaken this pioneering work in shedding light on the life of Raudive, and Zeile’s scientific thoroughness has laid the foundations for the further study of this valuable part of our heritage. His book significantly stimulates interest in Raudive’s life and ideas, and it can be viewed as a stepping stone to the wider publication of his works. Zeile’s study is particularly valuable in that its primary focus is on Raudive’s views, revealing more about his outstanding philosophical and literary achievements, and concentrating less on the more popular subjects of parapsychology and ‘voices from the grave’. The example of Raudive’s life and his achievements dem¬onstrate what can be tackled and achieved by an “ordinary man” from a seemingly backward province, born into a Latgalian peasant family, without privileges, solely by using his sharp mind and talent, and his systematically developed intellectual potential and energy. From this angle, Zeile’s study could also be seen as an unconventional handbook for bright young achievers today, a resource Latvia now needs more than ever before. In difficult times, it is worth bearing in mind the inscription on the gravestone of Konstantīns Raudive and Zenta Mauriņa: “There is no death – only a new transformation.” /Translator into English: Filips Birzulis/ | |
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