China’s historical recognition of the Baltic States’ independence has paved the way for stable and positive relations, further strengthened by the Belt and Road Initiative. Due to the unique geographical position of the three countries and their own national conditions, the political cooperation and trade cooperation between the three countries and China are faced with some internal and external constraints. Under such circumstances, China is bound to encounter many language problems in the carrying out of the Belt and Road Initiative. If these problems are not properly understood and properly solved, they will to some extent bring some negative impacts to the construction of the Belt and Road. Therefore, we should fully recognize the role and status of language in the construction of the Belt and Road, when planning and formulating relevant language strategies. In this context, Forum for World Literature Studies organizes a special issue, “Studies of Languages and Culture in the Baltic States from the Belt and Road Initiative,” to delve into the aspects of languages and culture in the Baltic states and their influences on language policy and economic development and cultural exchange.

The article delves into the intricate language policy of Estonia, a nation with a complex history of foreign dominations and occupations. It explores Estonia’s commitment to preserving its national language and identity while addressing the linguistic diversity within its borders, particularly the Russian speaking minority. The article traces the historical evolution of Estonian language policies, examining their impact on national identity, integration, education, and cultural heritage. Furthermore, it highlights the relevance of Estonia’s language policy as a model for managing linguistic diversity and cultural preservation within the framework of the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative (OBOR), emphasizing the importance of language in global connectivity and cooperation.

The paper is aimed at analyzing newspaper articles on Christian religious holidays in a Latvian periodical Latgolas Bolss [The Voice of Latgale] (for a specific period known as Latgola [Latgale]) published in 1946–1985 in exile (Germany, France and the USA) in Latgalian—the historic variant of the Latvian language spoken in the south-eastern part of Latvia. The timeframe within which the newspaper was published (during WWII in Latvia, later in exile) is characterized by the effects of the loss of Latvia’s independence (1940), the country’s occupation and reoccupation—dramatic events in the history of the country that forced many Latvians to flee their homeland and find refuge in the West. By employing the cultural-historical, biographical and content analysis methods, the newspaper articles by Latvian Latgalian authors on two major religious holidays (Christmas and Easter) were selected to study internal representations while manifesting one’s identity through the medium of the native language from the perspective of a displaced person (cultural memory) under the impact of the external factors and surrounding reality. The conducted research allowed concluding that the written texts about religious holidays in the Latvian exile periodical were presented as a component of the Latvian national and cultural identity. The depictions were imbued with nostalgia for the lost homeland and awareness of the risks of losing one’s identity and culture. The binary oppositions in the conceptual categories of space (“homeland—foreign country”), time (“then—now”), and value system (“one’s own—alien”) allowed Latvian Latgalian intellectuals to highlight the crucial role of the Christian (Catholic) faith in both adapting to changes and challenges in a new country and maintaining a sense of belonging to Latvia, i.e. during a process of redefining oneself and of reconstructing and negotiating identity in exile. Alongside the Christian segment, the pre-Christian heritage based on the Latvian pagan belief system (winter solstice and spring equinox traditions and rituals) was presented as a major part of celebrating Christmas and Easter. The celebration experiences in the homeland juxtaposed with the observed and experienced celebration forms in a foreign country were perceived within a binary opposition “one’s own—alien,” where “one’s own” was characterized by the sacral, natural, and tranquil, but the “alien”—by the profane, artificial, and tumultuous.

Today, as generations change, the interest in the Soviet Era, particularly in the collective and individual memory increases. Literature is one of information about this period. Moreover, literature is no longer just the source of individual meaning-making or the identity and consciousness formation. A literary text nowadays is epochal signs’ repository of the codes. In this context, two novel have been analysed in the paper the novel Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (The Short End of the Sonnenallee, published in 1999) by the German writer Thomas Brussig and the novel Čeka, bumba & rokenrols (Reds, Rats and Rock’n’Roll, published in 2002) by the Latvian writer Pauls Bankovskis. The present research proposes the solution for the interpretation of the text, emphasizing the role of the literary text in encoding of cultural memory. For this purpose, two works from the same period were chosen. The focus of the research is on the authors’ experience and the interpretation of the “text experience” meaning. Using the applicability of semiotics and phenomenological-hermeneutic methodology, the different approaches of both writers have been revealed, reflecting the Soviet period from the perspective of the childhood-youth memories. The research methodology is based on the insights of Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), Yuri Lotman (1922–1993), Umberto Eco (1932–2016), Aleida (1947) and Jan (1938) Assmann, Svetlana Boym (1959–2015).

The literary legacy of writer Vladimir Krymov (1878–1968), born in Dinaburg (Daugavpils), comprises twenty-seven books, seven of which have been translated into English. In 1933, the trilogy Behind the Millions was published in Berlin, rightfully considered one of the author’s most important works. The novel represents a variant of the family chronicle, a genre particularly popular in Russian literature from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries. The history of the family often reflects the main issues of its time, stemming from the contradictions of bourgeois culture that permeated all levels of personal and socio-economic existence. Within V. Krymov’s artistic realm, three generations of characters are clearly delineated: the older generation, the middle generation, and the younger generation. Considering the daily behaviour and customs of the Old Believers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is noteworthy that the problem of marriage and family life organization constituted one of the most significant challenges. Each generation of Old Believers possesses a set of values that aids survival in unfavourable circumstances, particularly during periods of persecution and repression by official authorities and the Orthodox Church. For the Old Believers, the family plays an ontologically significant role in terms of both cultural and confessional aspects, serving as a key to preserving identity and transmitting cultural values. The older generation, guided by ancestral experience and revered norms presented in texts, largely adheres to the features of traditional family relationships, reminiscent of a medieval model. This model is characterized by a hierarchical internal structure, clear role divisions, a traditional approach to education, and a pursuit of economic self-sufficiency. The family’s role here lies in the stable and reliable organization and implementation of religious upbringing and education, as well as in the establishment and assimilation of prohibitions. Despite the seclusion of the Old Belief, it has never existed in complete isolation but rather in a perpetual “culturally different” environment. Representatives of the middle generation, while maintaining religiosity, develop a new value system. Their aim is wealth accumulation and the pursuit of financial success, viewed as an opportunity to achieve higher social standing and prestige. Categorical attitudes toward prohibitions no longer hold sway over this generation. While sinful behaviour pervades everyday life in the capital city of St. Petersburg, it remains unnoticed and unrecognized as a sin. Consequently, none of the younger generation members manage to create a happy family.

English modernist writer Joseph Conrad, born in a Polish nobleman family, stayed a real Victorian gentleman in his life and world view. Being a sailor in the British Navy he saw the harmful influence of civilization and industry development on the sea, ships, and in human relationships. The writer knew the sea and the ships very well as he was a sailor for 20 years, which is why his autobiographical fiction is based on his real-life experience and knowledge. Steamers started substituting sailing ships at the end of the 19th century. They seemed ugly and impersonal to Conrad in comparison to sailing ships, which the writer and the sailors loved like their women, admired, and compared to the beautiful birds, and treated like alive beings. Steamers poisoned the sea and as Conrad considered, brought the sea life to an end. The spot of the ash on the surface of the old sea seemed tragic to the writer and he stayed nostalgic for the sailing ships and the sea gone in his life and writings. The synthesis of different methods has been applied during the research: biographical, historico-cultural, literary-historical, interpretational, and semiotic ones.

The present study considers the specific features of contemporary Russian literature in the Baltic states. The research material of the study reflected in the article consists of two texts: the novel The Argonaut by Andrei Ivanov (Estonia) and the book by Alexey Evdokimov Riga. The Near West, or Truth and Myths about Russian Europe (Рига. Ближный Запад, или Правда и мифы о русской Европе = Riga. Blizhnyy Zapad, ili Pravda i mify o russkoy Yevrope). Both works are texts in which the Baltic space (Estonia/Latvia) and the specificity of Russian mentality of the Baltic space are modelled. The texts are genre and narrative structures; however, one can consider different principles of modelling Russian mentality that becomes discrete. Discreteness is manifested in the borderline location of the Russian, and as a result—an attempt to include the Russian in various cultural paradigms. The main character of A. Ivanov’s novel is a lone hero. The narrator of A. Evdokimov’s book is a public person. Nevertheless, it is possible to consider the general manifestation of discreteness, based on the dual perception of the status of the Russian as “one’s own/someone else’s.”

Overseas Chinese literature is the cultural creation of Chinese writers who have moved and lived abroad, and it is also a new category in world literature. An important focus of the works of these writers is the allelopathy of new and old home, which the author calls a new “home view” of Chinese literature. As these people have moved away from their home, the new “home view” of their overseas Chinese literature contains rich psychological changes and poetic ideals, inheriting the past and initiating the future, warming up the “old” and opening up the “new,” profound and lingering, friendly and reserved, literary but satirical, and harmonizing so as to transform. These elements constitute a charming cross-cultural character. This article explores its origins, observes its transitions, and follows the progression of the levels of “native home,” “cultural home” and “spiritual home” to interpret the boundless aesthetic world displayed by this group of writers.

Since their arrival on the island in 1896, the Javanese diaspora in New Caledonia has been regarded as the group that has been most accommodating to the French Pacific ruler. Politically, they have never coordinated any resistance campaign. Socially, they have been able to coexist peacefully with different ethnic groups, including the Europeans, the Kanaks (Melanesians), and the Wallis (Polynesians). From the economic standpoint, they are still praised for their hard work as laborers in the plantations and mines in the past. While Europeans and other ethnic groups appreciate their presence on this island, historically the Javanese diaspora was a vulnerable community whose physical bodies and sexuality were administratively regulated by the French colonial ruler. This study intends to investigate how the female Javanese koeli kontrak (contract laborers) were controlled in terms of their bodies and sexuality in past French colonial projects in New Caledonia. The novel La Bayou: de Djakarta à Nouméa by Liliane Saintomer and the personal and familial historical accounts of a New Caledonian Javanese descendant, Catherine Adi, served as the sources for the study’s data. Adi narrates the stories of her ancestors, on both her mother’s and father’s sides, who arrived on this island as contract laborers. This study used content analysis as a method to identify the connections between the writers’ micro narratives and the social and political circumstances that existed in New Caledonia during the time of the colonial period at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The strong intervention of technology and the market in the field of culture shows a noticeable trend of generalization across culture and aesthetics in the present era, which is performed by the rise of popular culture and the transformation of daily life aestheticization. In the face of this profound wave of secularization and widespread democratization, the supremacy of high culture and the disciplinary vision of traditional studies are under strong attack, and the traditional methods of creation and aesthetic criticism of classical art no longer apply to the emerging mass culture or mass art. From the aesthetics of classical art to the aesthetics of pleasure that focus on bodily sensations and physiological desires, from the “human” voice of classical art to the popular experience of contemporary culture, from the literal imagery of classical art to the image reproduction of popular culture, from the conceptual illusion of classical art to the physical comedy of popular culture, classic aesthetics has rapidly entered its contemporary transformation and reality reconstruction. Its cultural standpoint and theoretical horizon have made a comprehensive adjustment.

Very few studies have been carried out to investigate Mushaf Ahmar (2010), a narrative that questions conventional and tripartite taboos surrounding religion, politics, and sex in a conservative Yemeni milieu. Its appearance elicits a conflicted response of extreme hatred and great admiration. Though it can be addressed and analyzed on numerous and diverse levels, none of which are far removed from controversy. It provokes controversial questions about the homeland, existential issues related to interreligious interactions, equality between social classes, and its own crises, leading to a cultural interpretation that helps the community promote awareness and freedom struggle. It is hypothesized that the novel violates the Forbidden Trinity and that religion, politics, and sex are thought to be essential components of what defines a man, and avoiding them would be equivalent to writing an angelic earthbound story. By employing an eclectic method, in which a literary text’s form and content are inseparable, the novel is analyzed. One of the most significant findings is the disclosure of the loopholes over which institutional literature has kept mute and refrained from delving into them openly and daringly by violating taboos. Emran, unlike some other writers, does not use sexuality in its two forms: homosexuality and heterosexuality, to arouse suppressed sexual urges. Instead, he uses sex to critique social and political corruption as well as extremism. The novel addresses broad humanitarian issues that concern everyone around the globe and offers an alternative perspective to the more widespread perspective in society.

Medieval English morality plays present a complex and multifaceted moralizing model that intertwines Christian morality with the path to salvation. These plays suggest that inner transformation, achieved through gaining truth, is essential for redemption. This transformation is highlighted through participation in the sacrament of penance and prayer rituals. While the morality of these plays emphasizes the pursuit of transcendental truth, the focus on public rituals reveals a morality that values visibility and ritual. This paper explores the intricate moral model presented in medieval English morality plays, examining how inner transformation and public ritual are combined to create a unique moralizing model. In this process, contradictions in Christian salvation theory and debate between Catholicism and Lollardy on prayer rituals showcased in the plays are analyzed.

The study is an attempt to expose the traumatic events experienced especially by the protagonist in the novella from the perspective of trauma theory, its implications and the transformation that the protagonist achieves. Trauma can be experienced in life due to many adverse situations that encounter the modern man. The objective of the research is to answer the following research questions: what are the traumatic events that Abdou Said has faced? What are the effects of trauma on Abdu Said? To answer these questions, an analysis of the traumatic experiences of the protagonist in the novella is made with reference to Trauma Theory. Traumatization approach has often shed light on the language and practice of different types of traumatic events, such as childhood suffering, bad impacts of immigration, and isolation not only on the protagonist of the novella but also all people in Yemeni society. It is concluded that Abdul Wali has shown the traumatic experiences of Abdou Said’s childhood, immigration, isolation, that stemmed from past and present tough circumstances in two different places in Yemen and Ethiopia to be healed. The traumatic experiences that Abdou Said undergoes in the novella are experienced not just in Yemen but also throughout the Arab world.