Įkurtas 1935 m. Žurnalą leidžia Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas. Skirtas folkloro, mitologijos, kultūrinės antropologijos, etnologijos ir kitų susijusių sričių tyrimams, reikšmingiems kultūros istorijai ir šiuolaikiniams jos procesams pažinti.
The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore / Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas
The Long-Awaited 26th Volume of the „Book of Lithuanian Folk Songs“ – Second Volume of the Calendar Songs
<em style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">Lietuvių liaudies dainynas<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1"> 26: <em style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">Kalendorinių apeigų dainos<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1"> 2: <em style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">Pavasario-vasaros ciklo dainos<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1">, parengė Jurgita Ūsaitytė, melodijas parengė Aušra Žičkie<a id="_idTextAnchor000" style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1">nė, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2023. – 563 p.: gaid. + 2 kompaktinės plokštelės
Copyright (c) 2025 Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A Comprehensive Guide to the World of Latvian Mythology
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1">Sandis Laime, <em style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">Latviešu teiku tipu un motīvu rādītājs: Raganas = Latvian Legend Type and Motif Index: Witches<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1">, Rīga: LU Literatūras, folkloras un mākslas institūts, 2024, 688 p., ISBN 978-9984-893-79-2
On the Occasion of Publication of Janina Degutytė’s Letters
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Pokalbis su knygos sudarytoja GIEDRE ŠMITIENE ir moksline redaktore JURGA JONUTYTE
Touched by Venus: The Concept and Treatment of Syphilis in the First Half of the 20th Century Lithuania
<strong style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1">In this article, using studies by the Lithuanian and foreign medical historians, data from archaeological research conducted in Lithuania, and the interwar press, I delve into the history of a new disease appearing in Europe at the end of the 15<sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">th<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1"> century – syphilis – in order to answer the question, why this disease, in spite of the number of patients, which grew extremely rapidly in Lithuania in the first half of the 20<sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">th<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1"> century and caused great concern among doctors and general public, practically left no traces in the Lithuanian folklore. I assume that the lack of material about syphilis in our folklore could have been determined by the complexity of diagnosing this disease, including its sexual nature as an uncomfortable and shameful topic. The conducted research enables me to confirm this hypothesis, because, as testified by the collected material, in the first half of the 20<sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">th<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1"> century, especially in the provinces, syphilis was likely not to be distinguished from other diseases (e. g. skin diseases), so this sexually transmitted infection could be treated in the same way as other diseases. In addition, among the people, catching the “French” disease was considered a great shame, which could result in exclusion of the sufferer from the community.
Modern Situational Sayings by Children and Young People
<p lang="en-GB" style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">An important incentive for the emergence and existence of situational sayings is the eternal human desire to make fun, to surprise, to express themselves more suggestively, and when angry, to respond more or less rudely. This article presents and analyzes situational sayings existing among Lithuanian children and young people at the beginning of the 21st century. Having outlined their main features characteristic of the analyzed age group, the author demonstrates how these features are reflected in several currently popular thematic groups of the situational sayings. <p lang="en-GB" style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Young people employ traditional sayings known to several generations, but often create new ones as well. The impetus for the emergence of new sayings is given by various relevant everyday phenomena and objects, as well as excellent use of the opportunities provided by the native language – consonances, puns, and diversity of word meanings. Situational sayings, like the entire modern children’s and youth folklore, are characterized by comicality, absurdity and obscenity. The use of the situational sayings highlights their playful function. However, witty sayings not only enliven speech – some situational expressions (for example, those used when greeting, thanking, or arguing) also partially perform a didactic function, introducing the rules of etiquette and correct behavior to the children.
Folklore in the Lithuanian Elementary Books from the 19th to the Beginning of the 20th Century
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1">Since the beginning of the 19<sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">th<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1"> century, the number of new Lithuanian elementary books kept growing in Lithuania. In addition to their religious content, secular content became more important, so along with prayers, truths of faith, litanies and mass texts, these publications increasingly included secular didactic pieces of fiction and various cognitive information. At the beginning of the 20<sup style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;" data-mce-fragment="1">th<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-mce-fragment="1"> century, secular elementary books became well established. In some of them, literary pieces prevailed, others relied on folklore, but most often the compilers of elementary books used both literary and folklore texts. By combining examples of written and oral traditions, the authors sought to achieve ethical, didactic, cognitive and emotional impact. The study presents and discusses elementary books in more detail, starting with Kajetonas Nezabitauskis’ publication “New Science of Reading for Young Children of Samogitia and Lithuania” (1824), and concluding with elementary books published before the declaration of the Lithuanian Independence in 1918. The main points of discussion include these questions: 1) what were the social, cultural, and political prerequisites for the use of folklore in elementary books, 2) what folklore genres are used in them, 3) how is folklore combined with other reading, 4) what artistic, didactic, and ideological qualities distinguish the folklore presented in elementary books, and 5) what could have been the declared goals of educators of the time for using folklore?
Conforming but not Forgetting: Stories by Partisan Children about (Non)adaptation to the Soviet Occupation
<p lang="en-GB" style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Based on the second generation stories collected in 2019–2024, the article examines the forms and practices of resistance and adaptation to the Soviet regime in the families of participants of the partisan war. Resistance was expressed by means of cultivating the ideas of freedom, transmitting the memory of partisan activities and repressions against partisans to the children, as well as religious practices, listening to the foreign radio stations, singing partisan and deportees’ songs, and criticism of the regime. These practices either compensated for the silenced experiences of the parents or supplemented them in terms of value. <p lang="en-GB" style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Children willingly and with pride mention their parents’ non-reconciliation with the Soviet reality, but they also remember the surveillance of the families and restriction of their rights. One of the signs of adapting to the regime was participation in the Soviet children’s and youth organizations. Parents sought to ensure that their children did not stand out in public; however, this was perceived as a mere necessity that did not change the values fostered within the family. <p lang="en-GB" style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Partisan families lived a double life during the Soviet era: while adapting publicly, they maintained the spirit of resistance privately. This duality shaped the second generation’s view of the family and the national history, and it is on this basis that partisan children still reflect the Soviet occupation and the essence of partisan warfare today.
“Maybe They Really Were Collaborators and Got Attacked?” (Non)recollections of Collaboration and the Memory Work of Different Generations in the Families
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">The author of the article discusses the relationship between collective memory and memory in the families in the context of issues of collaboration with the Soviet regime, presenting theoretical and methodological assumptions that enable the analysis of the symbolic work of memory performed by three generations in sixteen Lithuanian families – grandparents who remember the entire Soviet era, parents who were born and raised during this period, and grandchildren who grew up after the “break” in the 1990s. The text emphasizes issues of (implied) collaboration that arise when family members reflect on their experience of contact with the partisan war (1944–1953) and direct or indirect confrontation with the Soviet security structures. It is based on the assumption that family members encounter dominant meanings of the occupation and the repression-based regime, embedded in the collective memory and indicating how this period of the past should be remembered and evaluated. Memories related to collaboration issues force different generations to rethink their experiences and attitudes, their current assessment of them, and young family members to reflect “which side” they were on. The analysis allows us to better understand the multi-layered nature of the issues of collaboration with the Soviet regime discussed in public debates today and the complex intersection of different levels of memory, which requires witnesses of the past and their descendants to perform complex memory work.
Copyright (c) 2024 Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
What Do the Egodocuments of Prelate Kazimieras Steponas Šaulys Tell Us
Prelato Kazimiero Stepono Šaulio dokumentai, sudarytojas Algimantas Katilius, Vilnius: Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus, 2024, 292 p., ISBN 987-609-478-081-3
On an Unforgettable Partisan and a Slightly Forgotten Price of Freedom
Apie anuos nepamirštamus laikus: Juozo Lukšos-Daumanto ir Nijolės Bražėnaitės susirašinėjimas, sudarytoja Laima Vincė-Sruoginis, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2021, 478 p., ISBN 978-609-425-309-6
Jonas ir Adolfas Mekai, Gyvenimo lai(š)kai, sudarytojas Kęstutis Pikūnas, Vilnius: Post Scriptum. Litera, 2019, 159 / 320 p., ISBN 978-609-95853-4-5
Letter as a Way of Survival: The Case of Etty Hillesum
Etty Hillesum, Mąstanti barako širdis: laiškai iš Vesterborko lagerio, vertė Aušra Gudavičiūtė, Vilnius: Abigailė, 2021, 118 p., ISBN 9786098153217
Letters Are Like God’s Cakes. The Book of the Epistolary Legacy by Bishop Teofilius Matulionis
Teofilius Matulionis. Laiškai, sudarytojas Vaidotas Žukas, Vilnius: Palaimintojo Teofiliaus Matulionio labdaros ir paramos fondas, 2023, 520 p., ISBN 978-609-08-0104-8
Love and Method. Lessons and Example of Arendtian Tradition
Maria Tamboukou, Epistolary Narratives of Love, Gender and Agonistic Politics. An Arendtian Approach, London, New York: Routledge, 2024, 182 p., ISBN 978-1032208428
All Available Sources Must Be Relied Upon. Exploring the Context of Balys Sruoga’ Letters from Stutthof
Does not Choose Writings or Letters – They Just Happen. On Publication of Balys Sruoga’ Letters from Stutthof
Revelations of Partisan War in the Letters of Mingėla Family
Researching Documentary Heritage. Letters of Lithuanian Partisans
The article discusses letters written by the participants of the Lithuanian anti-Soviet armed resistance to their family members, loved ones, comrades-in-arms, contact persons, supporters, as well as provocateurs and Soviet collaborators. This is the first attempt at covering this unique part of the documentary heritage of the partisan war, which has survived in the archives hidden by the partisans themselves, files from the state security agency and the criminal ones, and by the families of the fighters’ relatives, and has not been researched so far. Using the method of content analysis, the author of the article examines over 400 letters written by the partisans under wartime conditions, presenting in more detail letters of farewell, concern, longing and love, news or agreements. He uses two examples to show the exceptional value of the partisan letters as historical sources. Special attention is given to the communication networks and contact persons who made the partisan mail service operational and correspondence possible. It is concluded that partisan letters in Lithuanian history and culture are war letters, or war correspondence, imbued with pain caused by separation of the freedom fighters from their families and the loved ones, as well as their concern for the living conditions and fate of the latter. However, these letters also express their determination to fight, hatred for the enemy, and love of the homeland. Although the content of many partisan letters is businesslike, they often openly reveal or imply the fragile existential situation of the freedom fighters.
Linguistic Attitudes and Activities of Petras Klimas. Diplomat’s Written Language in Private Correspondence
The epistolary legacy of diplomat Petras Klimas is valuable not only in terms of disclosing the geopolitical, social and cultural reality of the interwar Lithuania and Europe, but also as an important corpus of manuscripts enabling us to trace the development of the written language. Having evaluated the field of P. Klimas’ activities that is currently rather overlooked by the modern scholarly discourse, i. e. his endeavors to accumulate the resources of the living language, to enhance the prestige of the Lithuanian language, and to solve issues related to its development, the author of the article identified the typical features of his written language and compiled a collection of paremias. The study is based on a hitherto unanalyzed correspondence of P. Klimas and his wife Bronislava Klimienė. An analysis of his personal writings has brought to light orthographical variations and causes, as well as the national attitudes reflected in his modified spelling. P. Klimas, it turns out, often inserted paremia, various French words and even words of his own making following Lithuanian standard word-formation, into his speech. This has allowed him to shape a unique, distinctive prose style that merges traditional (ethnic) and modern (Western) elements.
“I Hate Writing Letters!”: Social Portrait of Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas in His Correspondence
The article purports to introduce the social background of the famous Lithuanian poet Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, outlining his main social connections. Having surveyed the corpus of his correspondence, the author interprets the map of the social relationships maintained by the poet, attempting to establish the ways by which these letters could (and did) make impact on his literary creativity. The surveyed materials include egodocuments written from 1910 till 1967 and stored at the Lithuanian Archives of Literature and Art, Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum in Kaunas, the manuscript collection of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, and the Vilnius University Library. The considerable amount of letters could be classified according to certain criteria: the addressees (family members, relatives, colleagues, classmates, strangers, editors and translators) and contents (businesslike, aimed at maintaining the relationships, egocentric, esthetical). The types of the addressees also shape the structure of the article, since this study is oriented at social analysis rather than at a historical survey. Letters enabling to establish bidirectional relationships functioned at that time as the most common form of communication, as well as means of learning the news and gaining emotional support. V. Mykolaitis-Putinas rarely initiated the correspondence himself; however, he felt obliged to answer the letters that he received, at least those from his acquaintances. Among the most interesting letters are those written by the admirers who were usually unrelated to the poet. These people expressed their admiration of the poet’s work, suggested translating it, sent their own creative attempts, and sometimes also criticized (albeit rarely and mostly anonymously). Why did these people write this, especially bearing in mind that in the Soviet period, when many in the occupied Lithuania did not dare discuss certain topics in writing and were even afraid to talk about them with family members? Some letters were received from abroad, or from places of deportation, but these were mostly attempts to establish businesslike connections or to seek help. The problems described in the letters left their mark in V. Mykolaitis-Putinas’ introspection, as testified by his diary from the later period (1961–1967). However, the diary is more open and literary, and much more frequently engages with metaphysical problems than the letters.
Correspondence Time as an Alternative Plane: Togetherness, Encounter, Virtuality
The article is based on a mutual correspondence by a married couple, written in the middle of the 20th century to and from the places of imprisonment. The aim is revealing, with the help of this correspondence, the role of the common letter as an artefact maintaining the relationship between these close people, and its capacity of creating the virtual common duality of time. The notion of time in this article focuses on simultaneity (Alfred Schutz); however, the author demonstrates how written correspondence on paper creates a special kind of this temporary modus. Handwritten letters display traces of movement left by their author’s hand, thus enabling a peculiar experience of intercorporeality, or a bodily presence of another person (Tim Ingold). Therefore, rather than just conveying the meaningful content, they are capable of infecting the reader with their author’s state of mind (the notion of infection here is borrowed from Eric Landowski). The practice of corresponding enabled its participants to distance themselves from the real time and space (that is, from the painful surroundings of imprisonment), and to move into the virtual time (Henri Bergson, Gilles Deleuze). The author maintains that, rather than signifying uncertainty, illusion or mistake, such virtuality may be perceived as a readily available, benevolent status of mind, which is typical for humans finding themselves in painful situations, and familiar to many. The author also discusses the ethical and methodical issues raised by researching such kind of material. She concludes that if the material is enabled to speak first (Maria Tamboukou), its details leave traces that can be followed and interpreted, enabling us to broaden our understanding of this human activity (Adriana Cavarero, Hanna Meretoja).
Epistolary Becomings: Archival Traces and Diffractive Readings
In this paper, I offer the concept of diffraction as both a methodological approach and an epistemological lens. This dual move has guided my archival research, encompassing various types of archival documents, and has shaped my reading, understanding, and analysis of letters by European women mathematicians, who lived and worked in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The discussion draws on a Leverhulme-funded research project of writing a feminist genealogy of automathographies, tracing the process of becoming a woman mathematician, philosopher, and scientist. I argue that analogue, digitised, and photographed letters should be regarded as distinct types of archival documents, each positioning the researcher in unique, but entangled ways relative to their sources and data. Furthermore, recognizing the interweaving of personal and scientific elements in the correspondence of women mathematicians is crucial for understanding the formation of the female self in the realms of gender, science, and mathematics.
Greta Paskočiumaitė defended her thesis “Lithuanian Partisan War Narrative: a Study of Three Generations”
Profesoriaus Kazio Grigo 100-osioms gimimo metinėms skirta tarptautinė konferencija
“Looking at the World, I Spot Small Details”: the Researcher‘s View on Folklore, Mythology, and Local Culture. A conversation with the National Jonas Basanavičius Prize Winner for 2023 Daiva Vaitkevičienė