The Testimony of Lives: narrative and memory in post-soviet Latvia [Paperback]

Vieda Skultans (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415162904 | ISBN-13: 978-0415162906 | Publication Date: December 24, 1997

Vieda Skultans left Latvia as a refugee at the age of six months. In 1990, she returned for the first time. This text is both a personal account of a homecoming and an anthropology of a people trying to come to terms with its past and to face an uncertain future. Based on more than 100 interviews carried out in the wake of Latvian independence, it gives voice to stories of dispossession and exile and of ambiguous returns. At the same time it unpicks the process of memory itself, showing how personal memory is shaped by the traditional narratives of national history and culture.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An illuminating contribution, bringing the experiences, memories and psychological aftermath of survivors of Soviet occupation to the world's awareness. Skultans' book demonstrates that oral history alone cannot capture the horror of a life but a sensitive anthropologist's array of tools can flesh it out.... makes the interdependence between social upheaval and mental illness explicit and yields broader applicationsnfor the analysis to victims of war trauma in general.
–Violetta Kelertas, University of Illinois, Chicago

The book's great strength and charm lie in a well-wrought balance between the personal and the scholarly...not only an engaging example of post-Soviet scholarship, but also a anthropological account of Latvian experience and in that, the book is an impressive sucess..
–Canadian review of Comparative Literature

Product Details

• Paperback: 217 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (December 24, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415162904
• ISBN-13: 978-0415162906
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,238,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book For Understanding Latvia., February 26, 1999

By 

Daina Dahlgren "Veca Daina" (California U.S.A) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Testimony of Lives: narrative and memory in post-soviet Latvia (Paperback)

This book gives such a deep and often painful look at the horrors of the lives of most Latvians who remained in Latvia after World War II. It becomes easy to understand the bitterness some Latvians still feel towards thosee who stole the land from them. It shows how a small country, torn apart century after century by their bigger and more powerful neighbors, by internal conflicts, by exile, famine and horrors beyond the grasp of most civilized people, continue to to dream and work for independance.

The fact that there still is a Latvia and Latvians is most amazing, even to a Latvian. The horrors of the past must never be forgotten, we must learn from them and work to never allow such atrocities to be tolerated again.

Ms. Skultans writes so eloquently, grasping and sharing with the reader a deep understanding of a culture fighting for survival.

This is a book that should be read by anyone studying anthropology, sociology, psychology, history or humanities. It is also a must read for all displaced peoples and their offspring or anyone searching for understanding of the full range of behavior humans are capable of.

For a mroe complete picture of the full effects of war, with the Testimony of Lives, I recomend also reading, "DPs Europes Displaced Persons 1945-1951" by Mark Wyman who shows the horrors of the "lucky" who escaped.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So much in such a little book..., July 11, 2000

By 

"dzintars" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Testimony of Lives: narrative and memory in post-soviet Latvia (Paperback)

This book can be interesting for many categories of people. If you want to read more about Latvia and its people, the oral history in the book will give you a good idea of what Latvians were forced to go through in WWII and the second half of the 20th century. The sometimes heart-wrenching stories are a good supplement to political reviews of the events of the time and give a more accurate view of how Latvians survived WWII and the Soviet occupation. If you want to do a sociological, psychological, or anthropological study, the testimonies of the Latvians provides an interesting backdrop to test and evaluate various academic theories or start a new study. Since I am not a researcher or a student of anthropology, the only criticism I have of the book is that it sometimes dwells a bit too much on academic theory. However, I understand that Ms. Skultane meant this to be an academic work, so I just skipped those bits and still enjoyed the book as a whole.