Some Aspects of the Image of a Soviet Latvian Woman in Latvian Prose in the 1960s and 1970s
Some Aspects of the Image of a Soviet Latvian Woman in Latvian Prose in the 1960s and 1970s

Summary/Abstract: In the era of late socialism, literary works played an important role in shaping public behavior models, controlling culture, and influencing social interactions. Additionally, literature contributed to the dissemination of the principles of the “socialist way of life”. In this context, Latvian literature helped Soviet institutional authorities to construct the ideal image of a socialist woman. This female ideal played a crucial role in popularizing socialist ideas among Latvians and supporting the efforts of the Communist Party to reorient the competition with the West. Unable to compete on the level of material living conditions, the Soviet Union prioritized hard-to-measure concepts – moral, ethics, and personal and emotional values. In their writings of the 1960s and 1970s, Latvian authors portrayed a modern woman’s image, encouraging the readers to contemplate a woman’s social role, lifestyle, education, career, etc. While the female images created by writers served as a paragon of the ideal Soviet woman, the literary works also provide a rather honest description of the Soviet reality where material values were also important. The literary texts show the complicated socioeconomic conditions of the time, such as poverty, lack of career possibilities, and the constant government surveillance.

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