EDGAR KATTAI’S UNDER THE FLAGS OF TEN NATIONS: THE LITERARY RECEPTION IN LATVIA’S CULTURAL SPACE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55877/cc.vol34.759Keywords:
Edgar Kattai, life-writing, Latvian literature, collective memory, historical narrative, transnationalismAbstract
Under the Flags of Ten Nations (2000) is examined as a work of life-writing that articulates the biography of Edgar Kattai across shifting historical, political, and cultural contexts. The motif of “ten flags” functions as an organizing metaphor for multiple and intersecting national and transnational affiliations, destabilizing assumptions of coherent identity. Through reflexive narration, spatial metaphors, and the alignment of private experience with public history, the autobiography converts personal memory into a form of cultural mapping. This approach enables comparative analysis linking individual life trajectories to broader social and historical processes, positioning the text within debates on cultural memory and transnational autobiography. In the Latvian cultural context, Kattai’s work contributes to discussions of history and identity, expanding the literary canon and offering analytical frameworks for examining the relationship between personal narrative and collective memory.
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