Lithuanian literature

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First Lithuanian book (1547) Simple Words of Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas

Kristijonas Donelaitis (1714-1780)

Lithuanian literature is literature written by Lithuanians, or by Lithuanians in exile.

1 History
2 20th century literature
3 Lithuanian Literature in Exile
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

In contrast to other European languages, Lithuanian literary works were first published in the 16th century. In 1547 Martynas Mažvydas compiled and published the first printed Lithuanian book The Simple Words of Catechism, which marks the beginning of printed Lithuanian literature. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Lithuanian literature was primarily religious. The 18th century witnessed a modest increase in secular publications, including dictionaries. Kristijonas Donelaitis wrote the first Lithuanian poem Metai (The Seasons, 1818), thus laying the foundations for Lithuanian poetry. The University of Vilnius promoted the usage of the language and the creation of literary works in the first half of the 19th century. However, Russia announced a 40-year ban on the printing of Lithuanian language, for fear of an uprising from Lithuanian nationalists. As a result, publishing was transferred to East Prussia and Lithuanian books were delivered to Lithuania by book smugglers.

[edit] 20th century literature

When the ban against printing the Lithuanian language was lifted in 1904, various European literary movements such as symbolism, impressionism, and expressionism each in turn influenced the work of Lithuanian writers. The first period of Lithuanian independence (1918-40) gave them the opportunity to look into themselves and their characters more deeply, as their primary concerns were no longer political. An outstanding figure of the early 20th century was Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius, a novelist and dramatist. His many works include Dainavos šalies senų žmonių padavimai (Old Folks' Tales of Dainava, 1912) and the historical dramas Šarūnas (1911), Skirgaila (1925), and Mindaugo mirtis (The Death of Mindaugas, 1935). Petras Vaičiūnas was another popular playwright, producing one play each year during the 1920s and 1930s. Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas^[1] wrote lyric poetry, plays, and novels, including the novel Altorių šešėly (In the Shadows of the Altars, 3 vol., 1933), a remarkably powerful autobiographical novel.

The self-educated Žemaitė (1845-1921) published a number of short stories in the early 20th century; her frank and compassionate stories of Lithuanian village life were commemorated by her image on the 1-litas note.

Žemaitė (1845-1921)

The Keturi vėjai movement began with the publication of Prophet of the Four Winds by the talented poet Kazys Binkis (1893–1942). It was a rebellion against traditional poetry. The theoretical basis of Keturi vėjai initially was futurism which arrived through Russia from the West; later influences were cubism, dadaism, surrealism, unanimism, and German expressionism. The most influential futurist in Lithuania was the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky ^[2].

Oskaras Milašius (Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz) (1877-1939) is a paradoxical and interesting phenomenon in Lithuanian culture. He never lived in Lithuania but was born and spent his childhood in Cereja (near Mogilev, Belarus) and graduated from Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris. His yearnings toward Lithuania were more metaphysical than concrete. When forced to choose between two conflicting identies — Lithuanian and Polish — he preferred Lithuania, which for him was an idea more than a motherland. In 1920, when France recognized the independence of Lithuania, he was appointed Chargé d’Affairs for Lithuania. His publications included: 1928, a collection of 26 Lithuanian songs; 1930, Lithuanian Tales and Stories; 1933, Lithuanian Tales; and in 1937, The origin of the Lithuanian Nation, in which he tried to persuade his readers that Lithuanians have the same origins as Jews from the Pyrenees peninsula^{[citation needed]}.

The internationally known satirist, playwright, and children's author Vytautė Žilinskaitė^[3] (b. 1930 in Kaunas) graduated in 1955 from Vilnius University’s Faculty of History and Philology with a degree in journalism. She has been publishing her work since 1950. In 1961, she released Don’t Stop, Little Hour, a collection of poetry that approaches prose. Žilinskaitė has inspired new trends in Lithuanian humour with her satire, and has in addition written many children's books. In her stories and plays, Žilinskaitė displays a keen insight into children’s psychology, their everyday lives, their pregnant imaginations, and childhood's characteristic situations. Žilinskaitė was awarded the State Prize of the Republic in 1972 for her humorous works and in 1979 for the children’s book The Robot and the Moth, and in 1964 she was given the Journalists’ Union prize. She has received the Šarūnas Marčiulionis Prize for the best work of children’s literature on two occasions (1997 and 2001).

The poet and essayist Tomas Venclova was born in Klaipėda just before World War II. He began publishing poems while still in his teens. After graduating from Vilnius University, he stayed on to teach there. Because of his outspoken membership in the Lithuanian Helsinki Group^[4], which monitored Soviet violations of human rights in Lithuania, Venclova was threatened with a number of sanctions, but he was finally allowed to emigrate. He has since settled in the United States and is currently teaching at Yale University. Although he has been widely published, Venclova is not very prolific. The Sign of Speech^[5] was the only volume of his poetry published in Lithuania, prior to his leaving the country in 1977. Two more books consisting of poems and translations have been published in the United States, along with a volume of polemical essays which reflect his involvement in dissident politics. A retrospective collection of his poems was published in Vilnius in 1992. Venclova's spirited re-engagement with the modes and subjects of a cosmopolitan classical tradition has influenced an entire generation of Lithuanian poets. His dry and witty style is marked by a highly developed sense of irony, which plays against the bleak eventuality of his appraisals. Backlit by a high-contrast historical consciousness, his understatement is luminously Audenesque. Venclova is a vigorous essayist and has published articles in English and Polish, as well as Lithuanian, on cultural and political topics. His extensive and highly original study of Aleksander Wat (Yale, New Haven), was published in 1996.

[edit] Lithuanian Literature in Exile

A body of work exists by those Lithuanians who were compelled to leave the country or emigrated with their parents in childhood. These authors include Kazys Bradūnas, Bernardas Brazdžionis, and Henrikas Radauskas ^[6].