Rewriting History in Kostas Ostrauskas’s Plays

Abstract

The article analyses the plays, conditionally called historical plays, of Kostas Ostrauskas (1926-2012), the most prominent Lithuanian emigre playwright and avant-garde writer. It discusses the principles of selection and interpretation of historical material, as well as stylistic and genre rewriting. An assumption is made about the links between Ostrauskas’s plays and postmodern historiography and the ideas of New Historicism. Ostrauskas significantly revived the Lithuanian historical drama, although he did not cut off ties with tradition (a play Stasiukas). His works cover world politics (Temptations and Emperor and His Empire) and the 18th-20th c. events of Lithuanian history. He puts a satirical spin on the destructiveness of various regimes (Tsar and Soviet), points to the recurrence of situations in art, music, Christian myths, and Lithuanian folklore. The playwright adjusts the understanding of a historical subject by putting forward ordinary people and losers. He also demonstrates the capabilities of the micro-history by skillfully using the genre of microdrama (The Welder, Napoleon, A Crow and A Chicken, A Loge and An Ax). Ostrauskas explores the intersection of literary and historical discourse, also the importance of myths, sagas, and legends in history. By drawing reader’s attention to (tragic)comic moments of history, the playwright portraits history as an odd and anecdotal event, as a play and a ritual with elements of absurd, grotesque, mask and marionette theater. He focuses on historical truth, memory, and history (Cicinskas and Stasiukas), and highlights the plurality and the paradox of truth. Keywords: historical drama, postmodern historiography, Kostas Ostrauskas, minor history, historical memory, comical. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15823/zz.2018.3