Jānis Rokpelnis is one of the brightest Latvian poets of his generation, and his contribution to the development of literature, which also includes the valuable contribution as editor, poet, essayist and writer, is primarily related to the expansion of the possibilities of the Latvian poetic language. Volume 1 of Rokpelin's works allows you to trace the development of the outstanding poet's handwriting over the course of several decades - from the non-Soviet early creativity to the Christian turn in the nineties and the artistically high-quality contemporary works - while also providing an opportunity to read the latest collection of poetry "Etc." This edition collects everything published in books, as well as the most important things that remained outside the collections, including the compositions of alter ego Jānis Kanālmalitis and the texts created in Russian, which together demonstrate the diversity of Rokpelnis' creative biography.
While compiling the volume of Jānis Rokpelnis' poetry, I felt as if I was participating in a private and prestigious poetry master class, in which masterful demonstrations of lyricism, irony, paradoxes, rhymes and the capacity of thought follow one after the other. This, of course, makes you realize your own smallness, but at the same time - also the mental capacity of a person. I have re-read Jānis' books with admiration and delight, often muttering to myself something about genius, but in fact my praises are not needed at all, which is proven by the fact that the poems of his first books can still be read as fresh and contemporary examples of poetic language, but critics of the late book referred to as new peaks. It is a long-lived poetry, free from unnecessary embellishments or pretensions. Grotesque poetry to learn that roses need shit to thrive. I hope that this volume will provide not only bright aesthetic and spiritual pleasure, but also strengthen the position of Jānis Rokpelnis in the hall of fame of Latvian poetry of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Ivars Šteinbergs
In the foreword of the volume, Kārlis Vērdiņš writes: "The entire path of Rokpelnis' poetry can be seen as one big paradox: although his works have in many ways preserved features that were characteristic of his early poems, each new decade brings something new to Rokpelnis' relationship with poetry, and these changes result as much from the search in poetics as from the changing reality."
Works will be continued with second volume where Jānis Rokpelnis' prose and journalism articles will be compiled.