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Abstract: Peculiarities of Soviet ideology mean that literary works should follow a certain canon which reflects a positive image of Soviet society. In search of possibilities to reflect the diversity and contradictions of this society, many writers chose to emphasize psychological experiences grounded in the social environment, thus also diversifying the form of literary works. Detective novels became one of the types of Soviet socio-psychological prose. The aim of the research is to analyse the features of the Latvian detective fiction during the Soviet period and to consider how the Soviet ideological system determined the development of the Latvian detective novel. In Latvian literature, detective novels occupy a marginal place as a relatively small number of authors work in this genre; moreover, the published works have not become really popular with readers. During that time, only one Latvian writer, Andris Kolbergs, managed to find a successful solution and developed a social and psychological detective novel, using the message promoted by the Soviet ideology. Kolbergs raised the Latvian detective novel to a new development level, having proved that it is not the genre of popular literature which does not usually fit into the core literary canon. The mobility peculiar to the genre of detective fiction and its development are inextricably linked to the cultural trends of a certain time. Development of detective fiction determined by the ideological system stipulated the appearance of its specific features – the focus shifted from solving the criminal mystery to the reasons for committing a crime. As a result, the social and psychological context of the Soviet period came to the fore. Despite the fact that Kolbergs’ socio-psychological detectives may be considered a certain exception in the development of the history of Latvian literature, they largely correspond to the traditions of the Russian Soviet socio-psychological detective fiction, which began to develop especially intensively in the 1950–60s.

About the author(s) :

Alina Romanovska

Daugavpils University (Daugavpils, Latvia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7048-4352

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 19.05.2021; date of publication: 25.12.2021 (after revision).

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