Lithuanian literature

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Lithuanian Literature 5 famous Lithuanian writers

Content: 1. Martynas Mažvydas 2. Kristijonas Donelaitis 3. Maironis 4. Šatrijos Ragana 5. Vincas Mykolaitis - Putinas

1.

Martynas Mažvydas Writer of the Renaissance era

1510 – 1563

Martynas Mažvydas One of the most famous and remembered Lithuanian writers in 16th century, the author of the first Lithuanian book "Catechism", published in 1547.

It is also important to emphasize that Mažvydas' language is somewhat complicated. It is conceptual - taken out of context, taking certain words and giving them a whole new meaning. The influence of Latin and Polish is felt in the translations and in all the texts in general.

This is a unique work by Martynas Mažvydas the first published Lithuanian book with a volume of 79 pages.

Unfortunately, only a few copies remain to this day.

Probably, the main goal of Martynas Mažvydas was to educate the public. Mažvydas cared about educating people comprehensively.

The Catechism is obviously the beginning not only of Lithuanian writing, but also grammar and terminology, important secular poetry and the history of music, that laid the most important foundations for human growth and development - great significance even today.

2.

Kristijonas Donelaitis Writer of the Age of Education

1714 – 1780

Kristijonas Donelaitis Pioneer of Lithuanian fiction

He was born in 1714, in Lazdynėliai, Lithuania. His parents were free peasants, living in poverty.

He died of exhaustion. Buried in Tolminkiemis. After his death Z. Rėza said: “K. Donelaitis died cherished by the bosses, loved by his parishioners and pitied by his friends.”

Donelaitis' poem "The Year" is the most popular and first work of fiction in Lithuania.

This work is written in the style of hegzameter.

Genre: a fourpart poem with didactic elements (with lessons).

Four parts of ,,The Year”: ·Spring fun ·Summer job ·Goods of the autumn ·Winter toil

Composition: ·Four seasons and booth conversations about the work, life and celebrations of each time. ·There is no fable - separate conversations, separate episodes of life.

3.

Maironis (Jonas Mačiulis) Writer of the Romantic era

1862–1932

Maironis (Jonas Mačiulis) Pioneer of Lithuanian fiction

Maironis, pseudonym of Jonas Mačiulis, was born Nov. 2, 1862, Pasandravys, Lithuania. The poet considered to be the bard of the Lithuanian national Renaissance.

He died in Kaunas (aged 69), where he was interred in the mausoleum constructed in the cathedral.

In his poetry Maironis expressed the hopes and aspirations of the Lithuanian people at the time of their struggle for independence. He wrote about his love for his country.

All of Maironis’ lyric poetries were published in the collection "Pavasario balsai" (1st ed., with 45 poems, 1895; 6th ed., with 131 poems, 1926; “Voices of Spring”).

The first of three epic poems -"Jaunoji Lietuva" (“Young Lithuania”,1907) has passages of great lyric beauty.

Maironis also wrote three historical dramas about the life of Vytautas the Great (1350–1430), grand duke of Lithuania.

4.

Šatrijos Ragana Writer of the Modernist era

1877–1930

Šatrijos Ragana (Marija Pečkauskaitė) The writer was born in Medingėnai manor.

Since 1896 Marija Pečkauskaitė, encouraged by her friend, started printing short stories in Lithuanian periodical press. It was various images of rural life, that the noble spiritual principles of man were exalted and moral vices were condemned.

Shatriya Witch wrote as if to describe her worldview trying to convey it to others and thus make it conscious in a didactic way. Those characters are self-sacrificing, altruistic, but not boring. They are just bright. Religious depiction of the individual Shatriya Witches was a kind of ideal. Creation covers human life, events in it, human possibilities, etc. factors.

The short story "Old Manor" is told in two voices daughter's Irutė and mom's.

The composition of the short story is created without the sequence of events, but according to emotional impulses. Also, inner experience is refreshed by memories.

The most important place in this work is occupied by a frustrated child and his shattered world. There is a clear emphasis on the different conceptions of the world of adults and children. A vivid picture of an incomplete, broken family.

5.

Vincas Mykolaitis Putinas Writer of the Realism era

1893–1967

Vincas Mykolaitis - Putinas Famous poet, playwright, prosaist, translator, professor of literature science, one of the most celebrated Lithuanian writers of the XXth century.

He was born on January 6, 1893, in Pilotiškė village, in a farmers' family.

V.Mykolaitis-Putinas died on June 7, 1967 in Kačerginė, near Kaunas city.

Best known for his symbolist poems and novel “Altorių šešėly” ("In the Shadow of the Altars").

“Altorių šešėly” is the first work in Lithuanian literature, which presents the beginning of the 20th century, the life of priests and the experiences of a young priest.

It caused a scandal in Lithuania as it described a priest doubting and eventually renouncing his mission.

Resources: Kultūros epochos ir literatūros srovės | Gimtoji kalba (wordpress.com) Martynas Mažvydas | Potemes.lt (biografija, kūrybos bruožai, konspektas, kalbėjimai, pastraipos) Šatrijos Ragana | Potemes.lt (biografija, kūrybos bruožai, konspektas, kalbėjimai, pastraipos) Kristijonas Donelaitis - Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (vle.lt) Šaltiniai (xn--altiniai-4wb.info) Maironio kūrybos savitumas | Gimtoji kalba (wordpress.com)

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2022.04.04-04.08