Klaipėdos universitetas

The article presents short characteristic of lexical borrowings from Lithuanian in the Polish language in Lithuania and characteristic of the Polish society in Lithuania and functional style division of the Polish language with particular emphasis on the official version of Polish. The article analyzes new stage of development of the Polish language in Lithuania since 1991 reflecting economic and political changes in Lithuania as well as the appearance of new areas of the use of standard Polish by the representatives of Polish intelligentsia. The aim of the article is to present new lexical borrowing from Lithuanian in the language of Polish intelligentsia in Vilnius region, and it refers to various development tendencies of the Polish language in Vilnius region.

The article is devoted to present the literary research results on another view of Poles in the novel ‘The White Shroud’ by Antanas Škėma (1910-1961). The negative image of Poles has been predominant in Lithuanian literature from the late 19th to the end of the 20th century and is linked to the stereotypical views of a very close ethnic community and to the traditional opposition of an ideal village to the corrupt manor-house. Antanas Škėma represents another paradigm in which characters of the Polish origin are as-sociated with the values of high culture as opposed to the cultural unawareness and the parochial conceit of the Lithuanian peasantry. Škėma’s novel The White Shroud holds its significance to Lithuanian culture for a number of reasons. A different view towards Polish cultural values – and the independent stance of the author on the issue – is one of them.

The article is devoted to the new literary research results on the Polish literature in Lithuanian and the Lithuanian literature in Polish languages during last 15 years. Both the concept of Polish literature in Lithuania and of Lithuanian literature in Poland is a complex phenomenon. Although presently the interest in literatures of both countries does not contain any trace of obligation, its nature is specific. In consideration of the approach toward Lithuanian literature in Poland, one may expect that assuming he knows nothing about Lithuania; the Polish reader will treat the literature as source of information. The presence of the Lithuanian theater in the world’s stages somehow clears the way for the literature. It would be desirable that the presence of Polish literature translations in Lithuania and of the Lithuanian literature in Poland will gain dynamics because of close neighbourhood and common past.

The article is devoted to the new sociological research results on the Polish Diaspora as a factor of ethnical identity. After the restoration of independence of Lithuania, numerous national communities have emerged in Klaipėda region. The Polish Diaspora plays an important role in the socio-cultural grid of the city. The Honored Consulate of the Polish Republic in Klaipėda and the city’s municipality support and promote friendly relationships between Lithuania and Poland. Interstate programs of cooperation of the Polish community include cultural relations (tutoring the Polish language, the education of specialists in Poland, ethno-cultural development of the Diaspora members) and economic ties (logistic, business, relationships of the cities-ports). All those relationships promote the political stability of the Baltic region countries.

The article is devoted to the new results on literary research about the power of memory in “Roadside Doggy” by Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004). Cz. Miłosz remembers episodes from his life in Vilnius, which is a proof of his special point of view. Miłosz’s journey, which started at the beginning of the previous century, has no limits in “Roadside Doggy”. “Two horses driven carriage” goes without obstructions, penetrates deeply into the mind, and reaches the farthest neighbourhoods. It is a kind of account with one’s past according to the idea that “man without memory is nearly dead and represents the inferior part of humanity.”

The article is devoted to the new research on the Lithuanian and Polish dramaturgy by Jozef Albin Herbaczewski (1876-1944). His works are the dramas of ideas which present the fight of the personifications of the evil and the good. The extremely moral protagonists listen to their hearts, and they fight for the freedom of their nation or wish to redeem the Satan. The antagonists are the destructive forces representing the logics and mind. In his dramas Herbaczewski presents some popular types of the decadent woman. The dramas of Herbaczewski are under the influence of romanticism and the movement of The Young Poland. We can also draw a parallel between dramaturgy by A. Herbaczewski and Vydūnas.

The article is devoted to the historic and poetic studies on the literary heritage of Julia Wichert-Kairuksztis (1864-1949) – unremembered poetess and translater. Julia Wichert-Kairuksztis was stressing her polishness continuously during all her life, even though she was living in Lithuanian environment and all of her children grew up in the spirit of Lithuanian patriotism. She wanted to be a link between two nations, between two homelands. After the renovation of diplomatic relations between Poland and Lithuania, that initiative had to be the second step for linking two countries and nations. Unfortunately, there was became an obstacle for realization of that initiative. The most copies of the prepared anthology were lost during the war. The memory of the poetess Julia Wichert-Kairuksztis was also unstable.

The article is devoted to the literary and historical studies on the heritage of the Lithuanian poet Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584). He was a nobleman and a citizen of Sandomierz district in Malopolska region. It is possible he thought about himself like about a polish nobleman, just about a Pole. It appears that there are not any problems to define his nationality. It seems that we have not also problems with “the national identity” of his writings. The main criterion in this process was a question of using Polish language, however not always. This national perspective had made the deep divisions between the ‘own’ and the ‘alien’ culture. Firstly we would be asked if Jan Kochanowski was the strange poet from the outside. The same questions we would be asked about other writers who had lived in Lithuania in 16th–17th centuries but who were born in the Polish Kingdom: Piotr Skarga, Andrzej Wolan, Daniel Naborowski and Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, etc.

The subject of the article is the personality of priest (father) Alojzy Osiński, important but rather forgotten scholar living at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, well educated in human sciences, who was one of the precursors of working out the large-scale studies and great synthesis in the field of historiography of literature and church historiography. And there are some of his activities and works which are worth reminding and presenting. The article deals with two great works prepared while his staying in Vilnius. These works are the excellent example of the attitude of documentary patriotism typical for Polish elites during the period after all of the partitions of Poland and show us how researchers tried to cope with the problem of suitable methodology for new type of large-scale studies and what ideas of solution were successful and what were not. The aim of the research is also to show cause and effect relations between historical situation, the state of culture, the atmosphere in elite circles and the ways of putting intentions into practice, the ambitions, plans and works of individual people.

The article is devoted to the new historical and political investigations on the Poland in regard to Lithuania’s admission into European structures during last decades. The Polish state authorities took part at generation of actual political events of independence receiving in Baltic States in memorable 1991 year. As an important part of the background for the States strategic partnership it is possible to admit the collaboration in the developments of economical and industrial units, which reached the high point of its intensity in the middle 1990, having the possibility to use the positive results of free market since January 1, 1997. The important element in the positive process in normalizing relations between Poland and Lithuania was the forthcoming political support to join NATO for all Baltic States from the Polish State side. The Polish support for Lithuania to join NATO as well as EU was consistent, principled, and made non-conjuncture way.