Apsīšu Jēkabam – 165

Publicēts: 7.12.2023

Apsīšu Jēkabam – 165

The writer Apsīšu Jēkabs (real name Jānis Jaunzems) was born on December 8, 1858 in Kalaģi, Lizum parish.
The stories of Apsīšu Jēkaba are realistic orientations in which moral and ethical problems are solved. They describe everyday life in detail, pay attention to psychological characteristics, and poetically portray the nature of Latvia.

In 1879, Jēkabs Apsīšu graduated from the Teacher's Seminary in Valka led by Jānis Cimze, obtaining the rights of a parish school teacher and organist.
He considered himself more of a teacher than a writer.
From 1893 to 1900 Jēkabs Apsīš worked as a teacher in the Vecgulbene parish school.

During Gulbene's time, the friendship between Jēkab Apsīš and Jānis Misiņas, who at that time had a bookstore and a shop in Lejasciem, became more closely intertwined. Jēkabs of Apsīš encouraged J. Misiņa to focus on publishing books.
"Also in Gulbene, Jēkabs of Apsīšu lives among his people and nature. Throughout his life, he remained a child of this Latvian rural nature: self-sufficient, peculiar, aloof. The school also owned land, which Jēkabs of Apsīšu gave in half a grain. Behind the school fields, the school garden, the poet's favorite place for walking, a beautiful spruce and aspen forest began, on the other side, the towers of the church and the castle rose, and the red roofs shone between the green trees. As much free time was left here for writing work, it was enough to write a thought, but I couldn't create anything artistically."
Everything artistically valuable, starting with "Rich relatives" and ending with the views "From the folk picture gallery" was written when Jēkab Apsīšu was working at the Kokmuiža school near Valmiera, before moving to Gulbeni.
In Gulbene, Jēkab Apsīšu's literary activity seems to have died down. In seven years, he wrote only a few stories and illustrations: "Vecā church", "On the edge of Latvia", "Where does it hurt?", "Pre-Jura days".
The transition to the Gulbene parish school, where there are many economic concerns, has also taken the time needed for writing.
"There is a lot to do in the parish school. It is necessary to provide for the rebuilding of school buildings and brickwork; about the lighting of the rooms and teaching aids, with which it is quite sad. In order to buy even a simple compass, a small magnet and a magnifying glass, you have to ask for funds from the so-called church convention."
Jēkabs Apsīšu is one of the best characters of the forest in Latvian literature.
"You have to see those forests for yourself. Coniferous trees with oaks, ash trees, maples, lindens grow here. In summer, when all the deciduous trees are in full bloom, it is nice to see them. But now the alders still had leaves by the river, the birches were still visible as green buds, and the oaks were just looking yellowed out of their buds; the willows on both sides of the river lay their shining young leaves like laps of green in the water of the river.”

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In pictures:
Apsīšu Jēkabs
Apsīšu Jēkaba birthplace “Kalaņģi”
Dolls - characters Apsīšu Jēkaba story "Rich people"

Sources:
periodika.lndb.lv
enciklopedija.lv