formerly Shakespeare and Company Books, now VIcarious Experience

Selected poems by Aleksandrs Caks

Selected poems by Aleksandrs Caks. Liesma Publishing House. 1979. 3 1/2"x 4 1/2" slick illustrated cover hardcover. Preface and selection by Arvids Grigulis. Translation into English from the Latvian by Ruth Speirs. Cover and illustrations by Zigards Zuze. 142 pages. Some light cover soiling. There appears to be some abrasion of the page block edges with the top tips of ten, or so, pages bumped. Otherwise, No previous owner markings. No tears or folds to pages. Binding is tight with no looseness to pages. Not ex-library, not remaindered and not a facsimile reprint. For sale by Jon Wobber, bookseller since 1978. sCL25a

Aleksandrs Čaks (October 27, 1901 – February 8, 1950), born Aleksandrs Čadarainis, was a Latvian poet and writer. Čaks is arguably the first Latvian writer whose works are distinctly urban, compared to the usual depictions of country life or small villages in earlier Latvian literature.

Čaks published his first poetry book, Seši, in 1928, dedicated to Riga and its life. These poems included topics and characters previously not shown in Latvian poetry – the city night life, homeless people, prostitutes, poor suburbs, even the sewers in blockhouses. In his works, Čaks shows his deep love for Riga as it is, which is well seen in the title of a poem, "Heart on the pavement". Riga is not the only subject of his poems, though – Čaks also wrote romantic poetry and works dedicated to the Latvian riflemen. Čaks also wrote some short stories, although they are generally not as well known as his poems. - wikipedia