Andrejs Pumpurs

Pumpurs, Andrejs 

Born Sept. 10 (22), 1841, in Lieljumprava; died June 23 (July 6), 1902, in Riga. Latvian poet.

In the 1880’s, Pumpurs belonged to a group of Latvian intelligentsia sympathetic to the People’s Will (Narodnaia volia) movement. He wrote patriotic poems (”Tell Me, Daugaviņa,” “Imanta”) and satirical works that censured oppression (The Land of Drunkards, 1870). His chief poetic work, Lāčplēsis, A Latvian National Hero (1888), based upon folk traditions, expressed the hopes of workers and their faith in the triumph of freedom and justice. It had a strong influence on Latvian literature and was translated into many languages. In 1890, Pumpurs published the collection of verse At Home and Abroad, and in 1895, the travel sketches From the Daugava to the Danube.

WORKS

Raksti, vols. 1–2. Riga, 1925.
Lāčplēsis. Edited and annotated by J. Rudzīš.
In Russian translation:
Lachplesis. [Introductory article by A. Upit.] Riga, 1948.

REFERENCES

Istoriia latyshskoi literatury, vol. 1. Riga, 1971.
Latviešu literatūras vēsture, 2 vols. Riga, 1963.
Latviešu literatūras darbinieki. Riga, 1965.