Janis Jaunsudrabins was an excellent storyteller and a master literary realist. His oeuvre is voluminous; much of it has been translated into Russian and German, though no published translations exist in English. His most outstanding and popular works are Balta gramata (The White Book, 1927), with his own delightful graphic drawings, and the trilogy Aija (1911), Atbalss (Echo, 1920), and Ziema (Winter, 1925), published in one volume in 1927. His style has been compared to those of Mark Twain and Thomas Hardy: his language is plain and straightforward, and his humor is drawn from life.

Like most Latvian literati, Jaunsudrabins made his name by contributing his works to newspapers, all of which had literature and arts sections. From the end of the nineteenth century until the outbreak of World War I, newspapers and magazines mushroomed throughout the country. Hence, editorial jobs, which paid next to nothing, were not difficult to find, and publication...