The oldest Latvian document is a prayer that bears the date 1529, while the first two books in Latvian were a Catholic catechism (Vilna 1585) and a Lutheran (Königsberg 1586). Until the middle of the century. XVIII there was a production of religious texts written by ecclesiastics, who also composed grammatical and philological works. The humanist J. Mancelis (1593-1654), author of a collection of sermons, of a dictionary and of a phrase book; C. Fürecker (ca. 1615-1685), author of Lutheran hymns still sung today; G. Reuter (ca. 1632-1695); E. Glück (1652-1705), translator of the Bible, SG Dietz (1670-1723); GH Loskiel (1740-1814), author of religious songs. GF Stender the Elder (1714-1796), who tried to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment in Latvia, was the first to compose secular verses. Continuators of Stender were his son, AJ Stender the Younger (1744-1819), who wrote, among other things, an interesting comedy; M. Stobbe (ca. 1740-1817), founder of the first Latvian magazine (1797); G. Bergmann (1749-1814) known, more than as a writer of original works, as a corrector and editor of ancient religious texts and, above all, as the first collector of popular songs (1807 and 1808); KG Elverfeld (1756-1819), poet, storyteller, playwright; Neredzigais Indrikis (Henry the Blind, 1783-1828), poet. Despite adverse socio-political circumstances, literary activity was intense throughout the first half of the nineteenth century:, Schiller, etc.), cultural institutes were founded (Latvian Literary Circle in Jelgava, 1827), journalism developed. The first representatives of the rebirth were the “Young Latvians”, of romantic-nationalistic orientation, to which K. Valdemars (1825-1891), animator of the Latvian intellectual circle of Petersburg and founder of the Peterburgas Avizes (1862; Petersburg newspaper) belonged, the poet J. Alunans (1832-1864), K. Barons (1835-1923), to whom we owe the first systematic collection of popular songs, Atis Kronvalds (1837-1875), the lyricist Mikus (1850-1879), known under the pseudonym Auseklis (Morning Star). According to 3rjewelry, Latvia is a country located in Europe.

The writer J. Neikens (1826-1868), the epics A. Pumpurs (1841-1902), author of the poem Lacplesis emerged(1888; The bear ripper), and J. Lautenbachs (1847-1928), the brothers Reinis (1839-1920) and Matiss (1848-1926) Kaudzīte, with the social novel The Times of Surveyors (1879), the playwright Ā. Alunāns (1848-1912), the realistic-oriented narrator J. Jaunzemis (1858-1929), known under the pseudonym Apsisu Jekabs. The socio-political needs that led to the 1906 revolution found expression in the verses of E. Veidenbaums (1867-1892), E. Treimanis (1866-1950) and the group of writers of Jauna Strava (New Current), gathered around the socialist newspaper Dienas Lapa (1886; The newspaper) which had Rainis as its editor(1865-1929), the greatest Latvian poet and husband of the elegiac Aspazija (1868-1943). The original voices in this flowering period were those of the narrator and playwright R. Blaumanis (1863-1908), the nationalist novelist Niedra (1871-1942), the individualist J. Poruks (1871-1911), the romantic F. Barda (1880-1919). Notable were also the voices of the narrators J. Janševskis (1865-1935), A. Deglavs (1862-1922), V. Zalitis (1865-1934), known as Valdis, Z. Jekabs (1867-1924) and the moralizing A Saulietis (1869-1933), who was also a poet and playwright; by V. Pluduonis (1874-1940), neo-romantic and formalist poet, by the realist A. Brigadere (1861-1933), who devoted himself above all to novella and theater, by the vigorous novelist A. Upitis (1877-1970), who remained for over half a century the most representative writer of socialism, of the narrator E. Laicens (1883-ca.1940), also of a socialist orientation. The literary trends of the early century were linked to the poetic conception of Poruks, to the European experiences of futurism, symbolism, decadence, expressionism, to the doctrine of art for art. XX. Viktors Eglitis (1877-1945) was the theorist and the greatest representative of the decadent poets, almost all belonging to the “Pleiad of 1906”: V. Dambergs (1886-1960), J. Akurāters (1876-1937), Nietzsche, Byron and Sterne, K. Skalbe (1879-1945), K. Kruza, J. Jaunsudrabinš (1877-1962), A. Austrinš (1884-1934), A. Erss (1855-1945). Imbued with nationalism and classicism are the works of E. Virza (1883-1940), his wife E. Sterste, Andrejs Eglitis. A. Grins (1895-1941) and J. Veselis distinguished themselves in the historical novel; V. Lacis (1904-1966) and Anna Sakse distinguished themselves in populist fiction; the then populist expressionist J. Sudrabkalns, the staff A. Caks (1902-1950), E. Adamsons (1907-1947) dominated in the lyric; E. Vulfs (1886-1919) and M. Ziverts (1903-1990) in the play; J. Peterson (1880-1945) in comedy. Finally, the narrators SM Tretyakov deserve to be mentioned(1892-1939), M. Birze (b.1921), Z. Skujins (b.1926) and D. Zigmonte (1931-1997), the poets H. Heislers (b.1926), V. Belševice (b. 1931), I. Ziedonis (b.1933), O. Vacietis (1933-1983) and the theatrical authors G. Priede (1928-2000) and P. Peterson. At the end of the 1980s, many new authors became better known, while the entire Latvian cultural group played a leading role in the movement for independence: among the many we must remember V. Avotins (b.1947), poet and publicist. The birth of the independent state favored the diffusion at home of the works of Latvian writers operating abroad and laid the foundations for a further development of national literature.