Jānis Veselis (1896–1962) learned most of what he knew about literature through self-study: before the First World War he studied German and French on his own, and when he was nineteen he experienced “a moment of clarity, oneness with the Universe” and began to take a deep interest in the ancient writings of various different cultures. As a result, he developed his own unique approach to literature, which he used in his own written works – prose, plays, poetry – as well as in his reviews. During Latvia’s first period of independence, Veselis was one of the most prominent prose critics and wrote about nearly all of the most prominent authors of the day.

In 1944, Veselis emigrated to Germany, where he had worked as an editor for the publishing house Latvju grāmata (Latvian Book) during the Nazi occupation. He left his wife Mirdza and their four children behind in Latvia, though they had been living apart even before then. In 1950, Veselis moved to the United States, where he worked as a door-to-door salesman for Latvian books.

His contemporaries characterised Veselis as a unique individual with a strong personality. At one point, his most popular work was a book of short prose inspired by Latvian myths: Latvju teiksmas (Latvian Tales; 1942), which is also one of the first works of distinctly fantasy-style prose in Latvian literature. More recently, readers have preferred his novels, especially Dienas krusts (The Day’s Burden; 1942). These novels are written in a fairly realistic style, but nonetheless the reader can sense the author’s interest in the mythical and primordial world and its influence on the life of individuals.