Martynas Liudvikas Rėza ir pirmoji lietuvių grožinės literatūros publikavimo programa Prūsijos Lietuvoje | Martin Ludwig Rhesa and the First Programme of Publishing Lithuanian Secular Literature in Prussian Lithuania
The article notifies the significance of the cultural dialogue which has the history of four centuries, the dialogue between Prussian Lithuania and Lithuania Proper. Taken into account are the peculiarities of ethnic formation of both areas, as well as different strategies of assimilation policy used by Prussia and Russia. Consequently, these different strategies were accepted differently and yielded different effect. The activity of two cultural societies, that of Litauische literarische Gesellschaft, and that of Birutė is taken for comparison in the aspect of rising Lithuanian national self-consciousness, and the emphasis is laid upon sociopsichological aspects of the dialogue (which was not always direct) rather than upon historical or cultural parallels. To refresh run-of-the-mill academic attitude and discourse, unconventional literary means of the detective genre are put to use as a compositional and stylistic instrument.
The article focuses on kuršininkai ethnic group living in the Curonian Spit since 15th C. as an object of scientific investigations at the end of 19th C. and the beginning of the 20th C. My attention is paying also to the reasons which stimulated scientists interest to this small ethnic community cultural traditions in the German Empire, where the policy of ethnic minorities levelling was growing sharpat that time. I emphasize in this my article the importance of Franz Tetzner’s cultural perceptivity concerning kuršininkai ethnic culture transformations in the context of processes of modernisation and assimilation. It is very important to have a comprehensive information from Tetzner investigations on such ethnic traditions of already disappeared kuršininkai community at present times. This information helps us to understand much better the specific features of kuršininkai local identity (such as Latvian speaking at home, specific customs, fishery terms) and their ties with Prussian Lithuanians’ culture traditions (Evangelical Lutheran confession, Lithuanian language in the church and at school). The investigations from this my article have an idea to enrich particular research works on historical Prussian Lithuania region cultural heritage.
Journal:Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis
Volume 34 (2017): The Great War in Lithuania and Lithuanians in the Great War: Experiences and Memories = Didysis karas Lietuvoje ir lietuviai Didžiajame kare: patirtys ir atmintys, pp. 147–163
Abstract
Works of fiction and memoirs relating to the First World War written in the Lithuanian language or by Lithuanian authors have so far not been a preoccupation of Lithuanian literary scholars. Due to the breadth of the topic, the analysis in this article is limited to the most important works of fiction and witnesses’ memories of the Great War. The first fictional and documentary works analysed in the article were written during the war itself, the last at the beginning of the Second World War. There is quite a large and very varied (from the point of view of artistic quality) amount of this kind of literature. Using methods of narratology and comparison, the author sets out to analyse the main themes, plots and possible influences, while placing the writings in the history of Lithuanian literature.
Journal:Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis
Volume 26 (2013): Kristijono Donelaičio epochos kultūrinės inovacijos = Cultural Innovations of the Epoch of Kristijonas Donelaitis, pp. 90–98
Abstract
The article explores the musical culture of East Prussia of the 18th c. in different forms of its expression. The epoch of Enlightenment provided a new impetus for the development of the culture in the region. The Protestant Lutheran hymnody was developing, and the tradition of Evangelical surinkimai (prayer hours held in private homes by lay preachers (German: Stundenhalters)) was progressing. Königsberg University was of great significance for the promotion of the regional culture. In the 18th c., the East Prussian school of composition was born, different techniques of instrumental ensemble and solo music making started developing, the house music making traditions were gaining popularity, and big cities had the first musical theatres. It was in that context that the personality of Donelaitis and the character of his cultural activity was maturing and developing.
Journal:Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis
Volume 26 (2013): Kristijono Donelaičio epochos kultūrinės inovacijos = Cultural Innovations of the Epoch of Kristijonas Donelaitis, pp. 65–78
Abstract
The present article is a contribution to the research in the intellectual biography of Kristijonas Donelaitis. It aims to discuss the environment of Königsberg libraries in mid-18th c. not only as an institutional, but also an intellectual environment of the studies of Donelaitis which ought to be analyzed more in depth than it had been analyzed before. The first part of the article summarizes the efforts of Lithuanian, German, and Russian schollars after 1945 to save and reconstruct the funds of Königsberg libraries destroyed during WW2. The second part presents the environment of the ancient Königsberg libraries as a space of communication opportunities where student Donelaitis could find the principal literature. The context raises another issue that is merely mentioned in the article: next to the “public“ libraries, there was a number of personal collections in Königsberg. Some of them belonged to professors of theology whose lectures were attended by Donelaitis. Therefore, one can reasonably raise a question about the impact of scholars in Königsberg on Donelaitis in the years of his studies.