Lithuanian Writers Research Articles

Miejska przestrzeń pamięci (na podstawie wybranych utworów Herkusa Kunčiusa, Ričardasa Gavelisa, Grigorija Kanowicza)

This article analyses literary representations of Vilnius as a Central and Eastern European city, whose space becomes the field where the memory of many national traditions can be observed. The analysis was conducted on the basis of two novels by Lithuanian writers, i.e. A Lithuanian in Vilnius by Herkus Kunčius and A Vilnius poker by Ričardas Gavelis, as well as the works of Grigory Kanovich, a Lithuanian-Jewish author writing in Russian, i.e. the novel The park of forgotten Jews and the autobiographical-memoir prose Dream about vanished Jerusalem. The conflict-generating aspect of memory is revealed in the works of Lithuanian writers. The city centre becomes a battlefield for the commemoration of one’s own tradition and a sphere of action against the tradition of the Other, consisting of concealing, marginalising, and removing. Kanovich’s works focus on the issue of Jewish memory in Vilnius after the Holocaust, when the ghetto ceased to exist. Memory becomes present when literary heroes look back at their past. They meet in the park to revive it together. The narration allows us to see how one of the oldest parks in Vilnius is transformed intoa Jewish memorial site.

Lietuvių kalba mokykloje: mokslinės įžvalgos ir pedagoginė patirtis

The article reviews the issues investigated in the reports and articles developed from the conference reports of the scientific and practical conferences “Mother Tongue at School” organised at Šiauliai University (since 2021, Šiauliai Academy of Vilnius University) in 2012–2022. The aim of the article is to present the journal “Gimtoji kalba mokykloje” [Mother Tongue at School] using the descriptive-analytical method, to discuss topics, problems, aims of the articles, and to summarise the most relevant issues of Lithuanian studies, Lithuanian language and literature teaching (didactics), variations in the Lithuanian language, changes, standardisation, and the importance of Lithuanian literature in developing a thinking and reading individual, conscious of the importance of the native (Lithuanian) language.
 The journal “Gimtoji kalba mokykloje” has published 119 articles by 148 authors. Linguistic articles among them are divided into the following thematic blocks: 1) The importance of the influence of linguistic environment and personalities in preserving national identity. Language policy; 2) Public language. Language etiquette; 3) Language in the digital space, computer literacy. Office, administrative language. Language management; 4) Language correctness. Literacy. Spelling and punctuation issues; 5) Language norms and errors; 6) Dialect studies; 7) Stylistic figures. Conceptual metaphors. Associations; 8) Terminology issues; 9) Language didactics. Academic, professional language. The field of topics is broad, discussions include: general language, dialects, language norming, language in the digital space, language didactics, the process of language teaching and learning, and the effects of bilingualism. The articles in the literature section are divided into five thematic blocks: 1) Promotion of reading, professional press for teachers; 2) Lithuanian writers’ works in school, concerns of reading classics; 3) Children’s literature and school; 4) Working with the text to prepare the future reader; 5) Non-traditional literature teaching methods and other problems. Researchers and teachers are interested in current school (and societal) issues, exploring why reading is low and discussing what could encourage reading. The importance of creative, innovative library work and family reading traditions are highlighted. It stresses that the school is also an important player in this field, where the child must become a competent reader.
 The articles published in the journal encourage a theoretical dialogue between researchers and practical educators, highlight topical issues in teaching Mother Tongue, and invite to jointly search for solutions to problems.

The Myth of the Artist – from Birth to Collapse: Notes on the Lithuanian Present-Day Novel

The article based on the comparative principle seeks to introduce to a wide audience two novels by Lithuanian writers Kęstutis Navakas (Vyno kopija[“The Wine Copy”], 2016) and Marius Ivaškevičius (Tomas Mūras, 2022),whoseauthors wishto reflect on the status of the artist in the current era of excess and prosperity. The myth of the artist began taking shapein the 19th century and remained at its height throughout the 20th century,even though art itself underwentmany changes. Is theartist still the representative of the elite in society in a post-modern age, when the line between art and pop, between personality and promotional image is almost blurred? These are the questions the authors ask and try to answer, joininginevitably those European authors who placed the creative person at the centre of their fictional world over the last two centuries. Anyone who writes on this subject almost inevitably becomes an author of World literature,as we have understood it since Goethe. The study seeks to reveal the diversity of literary associations, sometimes unconsciously touched upon by the authors, and the tradition of the European novel in dealing with questions of art, man, and his meaning on Earth.

“If Sweden is a province, what are we?” Map-making and man-making in Marius Ivaškevičius’s essay series My Scandinavia

This co-written article approaches the influential Lithuanian writer and playwright Marius Ivaškevičius’s essay series My Scandinavia (2004) from two different vantage points reflecting either side of the former ‘Iron Curtain’. Published in the year when Lithuania joined the European Union, the essay series describes the narrator’s travels and symbolic and ironic conquest of Northern Europe in the wake of the border openings following the collapse of the Soviet Union. First, employing the notions of “temporal” and “spatial nodes” (Ringgard & DuBois 2017), the article addresses how the crossings of the Baltic Sea and journeys through Northern Europe depicted in Ivaškevičius’s essays represent an awareness of significant shifts in the unfolding of European history and Europe’s spatial configuration. Second, the article reads My Scandinavia as an example of creative map-making in line with theories of critical cartography. Finally, the article puts the travelling subject in My Scandinavia centre stage, looking at the dialectic ways in which subject and place create each other. Just as Scandinavia has been actively moulding the narrating and, by implication, also the writing subject’s biography, so has he given Scandinavia shape through his discourse, while also idiosyncratically framing Europe’s shifting political and mental geography.

Destinies of the State and its Writers in History. Dimensions of Their Tragedy and Success in Lithuanian Literature

The destiny of Lithuanian writers and the state carry intertwined meanings opening their dimensions to a painfully relevant aspect of history. Several compelling fate-fracturing cases emerged when the writer became an anti-hero or even a martyr in history as if being “swallowed by darkness” or possessed by forces hostile to the state. The signs of the literary success sinking into darkness marked the destinies of some Lithuanian writers like Salomėja Nėris (1904–1945), Petras Cvirka (1909–1947), and Kostas Kubilinskas (1923–1962), showing the decisive factor in the dramaturgy of the intersection between the state and the writer. It can be vice versa when the process of writing breaks into the light of historical openness, illuminating and changing the paradigm of literary processes with its fateful rise out of the depths of loss and the darkness of the grave. The fate of doctor Dalia Grinkevičiūtė (1927–1987) in exile can be such a particular case. The literary unfolding and flourishing in the media of Kristina Sabaliauskaitė (*1974) represents the culmination of the contemporary Lithuanian writers’ success on the international level in creative works about statehood. Her books, “Silva rerum” and “Petro Imperatorė” [Peter’s Empress], with their unique expression of the modernisation of the past times, play the role of the renewal of the genesis of the state and the citizen in the present day leading to the dynamics of forgotten statehood. It has a crucial significance for the aesthetic dimension of the writer’s style, its passion for baroque, and the revival of statehood as a yearning for history.

Opening Possible Worlds: the Application of the Tool of Network Theory to the Short Stories by Bitė Vilimaitė

The main aim of the article is to discuss the validity of the Network Theory suggested by Franco Moretti and the possibility of applying it while analyzing short stories. There were two main tasks to be fulfilled – to describe briefly the main statements of Network Theory applied to literature and after the analysis of the texts using the theoretical tool suggested by Moretti to reveal the main features of the prose texts by Lithuanian writer Bitė Vilimaitė (1943–2014), who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of the short story in Lithuanian literature. The examples of the texts for the analyses have been chosen randomly from Vilimaitėʼs selection of the short stories “The Sun of the Fern-grove” (Papartynų saulė, 2002). The networks of the plots of three texts have shown that Vilimaitė uses symmetric and asymmetric schemes, which are being strengthened by specific vertices without any edges. The schemes of the plot help to concentrate on particular characters and analyze their actions or intentions closer, and the vertices without any edges (as an old woman, several witnesses or two dogs in analyzed texts) can be treated as particular starting points for potential stories, which could be developed in the context of the main narrative. Such vertices stipulate an assumption that Vilimaitė uses Hemingway’s principle of iceberg; subsidiary characters (or vertices without the edges in the schemes) are vivid enough to create concrete associations, form a particular background for the vertices with edges (the characters, which are related between themselves by verbal or non-verbal communication) and enrich the scale of possible reactions of the reader.

History of the Mid-twentieth Century in the Autobiographies of Soviet Lithuanian Writers

The article focuses on the autobiographies from the most recent edition of “Autobiographies of the Soviet Lithuanian Writers” (Tarybinių lietuvių rašytojų autobiografijos, vol. 1, A–K, vol. 2, L–Ž, 1989) that have been published under different titles every decade (1957, 1967, 1977). Since these autobiographies were typically written specifically for this book, they are dominated by the accounts of the authors’ literary career and yet inevitably reflect the writers’ attitude towards the dramatic middle of the twentieth century. The author of the article looks at the texts of the Soviet period from a post-Soviet perspective in order to determine how these autobiographies talk about dramatic moments of the twentieth century in Lithuanian history: Soviet occupation in 1940, World War II, 1944–1953 partisan war, and Holocaust. Bearing in mind the writing and publishing conditions of the Soviet times, ideological censorship and censorship in general, it is likely that writers could not express their attitudes freely, nor were they able to objectively identify historical, political and social phenomena associated with the occupation and annexation of the Baltic States and other countries. The term ‘Holocaust’ started to be used in the Lithuanian language around the year 2000. However, the study reveals that during the Soviet era, Lithuanian authors tried to write about their experiences in their autobiographies within the limits of what was allowed during a difficult historical period. Studies of autobiographies and research on the Soviet mentality and literature provide insight into the efforts of writers of the period to use their personal stories to narrate the events of history that were either concealed from public discourse or deliberately distorted.

BLENDING OF LITERARY GENRES IN CONTEMPORARY LITHUANIAN LITERATURE: THE CASE STUDY OF AUŠRA MATULEVIČIŪTĖ (1978), LAURA SINTIJA ČERNIAUSKAITĖ (1976), RENATA ŠERELYTĖ (1970) AND RASA AŠKINYTĖ (1973)

The main aim of the article is to survey the situation in the field of Lithuanian literature of the first two decades of the 21st century discussing the phenomenon of the diffusion of genres. The main questions to be answered: how a genre could be related to the forms of writing and in what way can particular blends of literary genres justify expectations of a reader and give additional impulses to the emotional response of the addressee of the text. Those questions will be answered analysing prose texts by contemporary Lithuanian writers Aušra Matulevičiūtė (1978), Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė (1976), Renata Šerelytė (1970) and Rasa Aškinytė (1973). It is possible to conclude that particular blends of literary genres may realize the intentions of a writer and give additional impulses to the emotional response of an addressee of fictional text, but those blends should be constructed paying attention to the particular forms of writing.

The Origin of the Literary Legend on Jūratė and Kastytis: Scientific Evaluations and the Question of Sources

The article explains what may have led to the appearance of one of the most famous and popular legend in Lithuanian culture about the love of the Queen of the Baltic Sea, Jūratė, and the mortal fisherman Kastytis, and looks at the history of its research. According to most scholars, the legend “Queen of the Baltic Sea” was created by Liudvikas Adomas Jucevičius (Ludwik Adam Jucewicz, 1813–1846), a Lithuanian writer, ethnographer, folklorist, historian and translator. The article examines the first reviews of the story and explains how the academic world came to the conclusion that this source is not authentic. It also investigates which sources may have influenced Jucevičius’ story, including mythological plots and the literary works by other authors.

Resistivity to corrosion via corrosionphilia. Professor Rimantas Ramanauskas turned 70

Lithuanian writer and poet Justinas Marcinkevičius said: ‘If there is a vocation at all, then the noblest vocation is work.’ These words well characterise Prof. Rimantas Ramanauskas, whose diligent work and dedication to science had a great impact on electrochemical research in Lithuania and the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC).

AI, a wicked problem for cultural policy? Pre-empting controversy and the crisis of cultural participation

ABSTRACT This article explores the practice of pre-empting controversy as an example of the wicked problem of cultural participation in the digital media. Drawing on science and technology studies (STS), research into the history of cybernetics, artificial intelligence (AI), and policy studies, it argues that the ongoing digital transformation and the expansion of the algorithmic public sphere does not solve but amplifies the problem of cultural participation, challenging the ‘participatory turn’ in cultural policy, defined as cultural policy’s re-orientation to encourage participation of different stakeholders at different stages of policymaking. This process is analysed through two cases: the postponing of a retrospective exhibition of the painter Philip Guston in the United States and the pre-emptive ban of a public art project centred on a monument for the Soviet Lithuanian writer Petras Cvirka in Lithuania. In both cases, risk management through pre-emption backfired and revealed the lack of institutional preparedness to foresee and deal with the digital social.

Beyond the Duality of Perception and Trope: the Representation of Collective Trauma in the Writings of Leonardas Gutauskas

Leonardas Gutauskas is one of the few Lithuanian writers who have depicted the collective traumas that befell the Lithuanian nation in the 1950s and 1960s from various angles: the first mass deportations of the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania to Siberia in 1941 and the post-war resistance of the partisans to the occupying USSR army. He has written three works on these topics: the novel Shadows (Šešėliai, 2001), a poem dedicated to Dalia Grinkevičiūtė who created the most famous testimony of the Lithuanian exile (In fine, 2004), and the novel Theology of Dreams (Sapnų teologija, 2006). The article analyses the different narrative strategies that Gutauskas employs in creating these works, which convey the various traumatic experiences of the nation. Taking into account the emphasis in contemporary trauma studies on individual experiences and the non-subsumptive approach to the traumatic experiences (which Finnish philosopher Hanna Meretoja elaborates in her research) as one of the possible ways of narrative development, the article shows that Gutauskas’ prose and poetry reveal themselves as precisely such examples of the non-subsumption of the experience of the Other, in which trauma narratives retain a partial experience of their incomprehensibility, which is valorised as an ethical, uncertainty-opening impetus for narrative emergence, and in which the understanding of the Other’s story emerges as a dialogical human act.

Žemaitė XX a. II pusės lietuvių poezijoje ir prozoje

The article dedicated to the works of the Lithuanian literature written in the second half of the 20th century depicting the writer Žemaitė (pen name of Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė, 1845–1921). This writer was not rejected by the Soviet authorities because of her realistic outline and her democratic political views, the social criticism expressed in her work towards greed, selfishness and clericalism. Lithuanian writers dedicated to her their poetry, fiction, and drama works. However, Soviet writers were also impressed by Žemaitė’s personality traits, which mentioned less frequently in public: independence, perseverance, wit, the courage to stand out from her surroundings and to disregard the societal norms that stifled older women in traditional society. The article analyses the features of Žemaitė’s personality in works of Lithuanian literature created by poets Salomėja Nėris, Judita Vaičiūnaitė, and others. The author reveals how different aspects of Žemaitė’s work and personality were emphasised depending on the time of writing. This change partly reflects the shift of literature from socialist realism to more modern literature. Among the works of prose, the author singles out Bitė Vilimaitė’s cycle of short stories “Apsakymai apie Žemaitę” (Short Stories about Žemaitė) from her collection Papartynų saulė (Fernery Sun, 2002). The stories reveal both the character of Žemaitė, her environment and people close to her, and the most important features of Vilimaitė’s own work: attention to a woman’s fate, subtle psychological insight, attention to detail, and a specific model of a short novella. Since the protagonists of the cycle are usually real people, Vilimaitė’s talent for using documentary material and combining it with fiction is also evident here. The article concludes that Soviet-era authors portraying Žemaitė’s character raised aspects relevant to the time of writing, such as the promotion of national culture, problems of women’s emancipation and, also the fact that for female writers, Žemaitė was a role model.

Maironio autoredagavimas: neapsisprendimo dėl pakeitimų pernaša

Dovilė Gervytė The Self - editing of Maironis’ Late Poetry: the Transport of Indecision Over Revisions S u m m a r y The 20th century Lithuanian writer Maironis is known for his collection of poems called The Voices of Spring. It was reprinted five times during the author’s lifetime and contains revisions made by the poet himself. Yet the strongest textual evidence of doubt, rejection, and pondering upon poetical decisions is to be found in the surviving manuscripts (drafts). The reconstructed dynamics of the textual variation within the fragments (a verse or a word phrase) or the segments (a stanza or the whole structure) of seven different poems within those drafts reveal intricate genetic interference between the units of the poems’ texts. The case of self-editing in Maironis manuscripts suggests that the concept of textual variation may be interpreted as the process of transferring the doubt – which concerns the decision whether the textual variant is to be accepted as suitable for the textual situation or to be rejected altogether – within the segments of a particular poem or between its versions, or even different poems (e.g., Vakarop Mintys and Dienų Sielvartai). Based on the macrogenetic analysis of Maironis’ drafts, the former trend of self-editing was called ‘the transport of indecision over revisions’. This concept was concluded by creating models and schemes of the micro- and macrogenetic changes reconstructed from the manuscripts. The interpretative manner of the research – the formation of the avant-texte alongside the application of the analogy of molecular transportation in biochemistry – also inspired the more general reflections. For example, the idea of indecision being transported over revisions helped to consider both the overall dynamics of genetic processes in Maironis’ manuscripts and the individuality of the particular acts of self-editing. As for the latter, the poet tended to edit his works so that the attributes assigned to a particular verse’s subject/object were altered most intensely, changing the semantics to achieve the most metonymical meaning of the verse. Revision of the more rigidly structured works – Maironis’ hymns – contained the indecision as to which of the two works would carry the actual hymn’s name and which would be called its ‘variant’ (as it is in the case of Šv. Aušros Vartų Marijai).

Literature and Its Authors in the Interwar Lithuanian Radio Programs

In the article, the author discusses the presentation of the Lithuanian literature by the State Radio Broadcast “Valstybės radiofonas” in 1926-1940. The author presents specific literary radio program genres (recitations, radio drama, lectures, and commemorations), identifies those Lithuanian authors who received the most attention, examines the image of the national writer and the function it played in radio lectures and programs, and the ways in which the writers themselves took part in the radio programs.Radio lectures dedicated to Lithuanian writers and literature and commemorations of the writers’ anniversaries had consistently strengthened the point of view of the Lithuanian Nationalist and Republican Union towards literature and attributed educational function to it. This function is particularly noticeable in the interpretations of the works and biographies of the three authors most often discussed on the air: Maironis, Kudirka, and Vaižgantas. These writers were treated as heroes, whose example was fostered to follow. The image of national writers was employed to create the personal cult of President Antanas Smetona. In accordance with this image, the political leader was presented as the successor of the activities of the writers’ who occupied a significant place in the society.In addition to this ideologized attitude to literature, another approach, which created preconditions for more independent literary processes and more critical reader, began to emerge. Interwar radio broadened the usual forms of literary communication and provided a platform for discussing literary news and a stage for the youngest writers who made their debut in the late 1920s and 1930s. Radio programs dedicated to literature (such as literary evenings and book reviews) demonstrate both the emerging reflection on literary processes and the more critical listener, and testify to the growing autonomy of literature.

Cultural and Social Inclusion Efforts – A Significant Aspect of Early Lithuanian Children’s Literature

Children’s literature is an important part of national culture. Its mission has always been to help mature a young person, to form valuable foundations of personality. The aim of the article is to reveal the work of early Lithuanian children’s literature, especially of the 19th century, playing an important role in the life of society, i. e. playing the role of a mechanism of cultural and social inclusion, changing society and human mentality. It is necessary to emphasise that the field of children’s literature discussed here also includes early Lithuanian writing, which cannot be directly considered children’s literature, but it undoubtedly integrated the care for children (in the form of catechisms, elementary publishing, etc.). What functions of cultural and social inclusion did the texts intended for children (or also for children) perform, and what impact did they have? Methods used: sociology of literature, cultural analysis, interpretation of the text. The phenomenon of inclusion is an important aspect of Lithuanian children’s literature and culture. This is also testified by the history of Lithuanian books for children and works of particular writers. It is significant that in the cultural situation of the 19th century, children’s literature contributed to overcoming children’s illiteracy and helped create and unite the readership community in the making. Children (and often youth) were getting used to the book, a completely new form of communication for them. Little by little, people became aware of the importance of reading, writing, and education in general. Some texts of educational type have been left by Lithuanian writers of the 18th–19th centuries, and their traditions were continued by the creators of the early 20th century, portraying the fate of the book smuggler, the wish of a country child to learn, the authority of a published book, and other similar aspects. The book and the ability to read decrease seclusion, include the child and the youth into community life, and open wider horizons for thinking. Different aspects of inclusion (and there are more of them than mentioned in this paper) can also be found in modern children’s literature. A book and literature dedicated to the child or young person help to survive social seclusion, isolation and show the ways and means of overcoming them. Finally, children’s literature adjusts to the social environment, participates in society modelling, change, and establishes itself as an integral part of an inclusive society. Today children’s literature is perceived as an integral part of an inclusive society.

Picture of MOTHER Based on Selected Writings of Vanda Juknaitė

The article provides the analysis of the linguistic picture of mother in contemporary Lithuanian literature. The analysis is based on the writings of contemporary Lithuanian writer Vanda Juknaitė, namely on her novella Stiklo šalis (‘Land of Glass’) and novel Šermenys (‘Funeral’). The research is carried out using cognitive linguistics methodology and the description of linguistic worldview in texts. Through multiple aspects and meanings, fragility, the author shows the real view of mother, with all her weaknesses and dark sides. mother is called using a very general word woman , which probably highlights the importance of maternity in each woman’s life. mother takes no care of her appearance: looks tired, dark, and sad. Her psychological world is full of contrasts; she is strong and weak, decisive and reluctant, brave and timid at the same time. However, she features very strong relations (both physical and psychological) with her child. The analysis of Juknaitė’s idiolect has shown that the author provides no idealised picture of mother.

Mielcke or Milkus, or How to Write Prussian Lithuanian Personal Names of Non-Lithuanian Origin?

The history of the adaptation of the surname of Christian Gottlieb Mielcke (1733-1807), one of the most important creators of Lithuanian language and literature at the turn of the 19th century, covers the period from the 19th century to the present day. The adaptation of this personal name of non-Lithuanian origin has undergone probably the biggest changes in Lithuanian culture. Today, we count eight different variants of its usage: Mielcke, Mielckė, Mielke, Mielkus, Milkė, Mylkė, Milkus, and Mielcke’ė. In the 20th century, two variants were the most common: Milkė in the interwar period and the first years after the war and Milkus from the mid1960s. Jurgis Lebedys (1913-1970), the most authoritative researcher of old Lithuanian literature and a lecturer at Vilnius University, introduced this form in the Lithuanian language. Adapted following the example of the popular Prussian Lithuanian name (not surname!), the form took root rather quickly and easily not only in Lithuania but also in the diaspora. After Lithuania regained its independence at the end of the 20th century and when the world of the Western culture opened up, two groups of researchers formed. One group advocates the original form Mielcke and implement it in their works, while other group, trying to preserve the connection with the long tradition of Lithuanian research, uses the adapted form, Milkus. As a single drop reflects the entire ocean, so the tradition of the use of the personal name Mielcke’ė and today’s practice reveal the problem of the use of personal names of all famous Lithuanian writers of non-Lithuanian origin. It can only be solved by an extensive scientific discussion.

KLEOFO JURGELIONIO LAIŠKAI VALERIJAI TYSLIAVIENEI

The article examines the letters of Kleofas Jurgelionis (1886–1963; Kleopas Jurgelionis, USA – Ray Jurgen), who was a moderniser of Lithuanian poetry, a literary critic, a translator, an editor of periodicals, publicist and lawyer, to Valerija Tysliavienė (1914–1984), who from 1938 to 1940 was a secretary of his newspaper “Tėvynė”, preserved at the Klaipėda University Library (KUB RSS). These letters (1949–1961) are very rich in content, in them the subject themes are abundantly weaved with courtship. This article discusses the topics of Jurgelionis’s letters to Tysliavienė. Taking into account the reasearch into Jurgelionis’s life and creative works and the KUB RSS archive and publications, this article sets out a twofold purpose: to discuss the content of Jurgelionis’s letters to Tysliaviene and to discuss poetry manuscripts and their publications with a textological lens.First of all, this article discusses the general features of the letters, then the article touches upon the dominant topics in the letters. Another, co-stored material is used for interpreting the letters: dozens of letters from the poet to other people; a letter from Henrietta Jurgen, his third wife, to Tysliavienė; several poetry poems; manuscripts of articles revealing new details about his life and the origins of his creative work, his relationship with the Lithuanians in the USA, the activities of the Lithuanian Writers’ Society (USA), the behind the scenes look at the operations at the newspaper “Vienybė”, the cultural and social life of the emigrants, etc.; as well as a bundle of the American Lithuanian periodicals from the archive of “Vienybė”.

(NE)SUPRANTAMASIS VYDŪNAS: BALIO SRUOGOS, JULIJONO LINDĖS-DOBILO IR VYDŪNO LITERATŪRINĖ POLEMIKA

The article seeks to emphasize peculiarity of reception of the oeuvre of Prussian Lithuanian philosopher and writer Vydūnas. The author represents analysis of the literary polemic between Lithuanian writers Balys Sruoga and Julijonas Lindė-Dobilas. This polemic arose from B. Sruoga’s sharp review written for Vydūnas’s mystery play Jūrų varpai. Subsequently Vydūnas involves himself in to polemic with B. Sruoga which developed into direct literary controversy. The article discusses not only question about intricacy of Vydūnas’s works but seeks to answer the question: why B. Sruoga rejects professional critical evaluation of the play and insistently holds an opinion that Vidūnas’s oeuvre is unacceptable for Lithuanian reader. The article also introduces how after a few years changed B. Sruoga’s attitude in respect to Vydūnas’s personality and his oeuvre.