Latvian literature

Religious works were composed in the 16th century or earlier but an ancient heritage of oral folk song survived to be a major influence on the literature of the mid-19th-century national awakening, such as the lyric poetry of Juris Alunāns (1832-1864) and the epic Lāčplēsis/Bearslayer 1888 by Andrejs Pumpurs (1841-1902). Despite realist and Symbolist interludes, the folk tradition has been a major influence on 20th-century verse and prose, stimulated by the movement for independence from Germany and Russia. Though many poets and novelists are scattered in exile, the national literature is sustained by writers such as the dramatist Martins Zīverts (1903- ) and the lyric poet Veronika Strēlerte (1912- ).