MAIRONIO KAIP GENIUS LOCI VAIZDINYS LIETUVIŲ ESEISTIKOJE
The Image of Maironis as Genius Lociin Lithuanian Essay Writing

Summary/Abstract: The article puts into dialogue the concept of genius loci (the spirit of place) with the representation of Maironis in seven essays by Lithuanian writers (Jonas Kossu-Aleksandravičius, Eduardas Mieželaitis, Tomas Venclova, Sigitas Geda, Gintaras Beresnevičius, Regimantas Tamošaitis, and Marcelijus Martinaitis) written from 1935 till 2012. Though Maironis is not explicitly named to be a spirit of place in these texts, the article aims to argue that these texts construct such an image implicitly and attempts to reconstruct it from the details in the texts, mostly from metaphors, as they are the main means of visualization, creating a perceptual image and making something to be seen as something else. Drawing upon the concept of genius lociin classical Roman culture, the article analyses the representation of Maironis first of all focusing on the etymological meaning of word genius– to engender or man’s power to engender – and shows that the image of engendering Maironis is created by the metaphors, which make us see Maironis as a father, mother, origin, and source of the Lithuanian poetry and culture. Then follows the analysis of the image of Maironis as a spirit, drawing upon the conception of “aura”, defined by Walter Benjamin as the appearance of the distance, and the metaphors, which make us see Maironis as being high, big, above the earth, and distant. The lociaspect as expressed by often used metaphor of house and home is also briefly discussed, arguing that the place, the spirit of which is Maironis, is the Lithuanian literature and culture. The analysis of the functions, which Maironis, as the spirit of place, gets in the essays, shows that some texts present Maironis as a guardian and the others stress his formative power. In all texts Maironis is represented as rigorous, austere, as the one who is always right, and it fosters the image of bad genius loci. And finally, the representation of Maironis as a visual image (statue, sculpture, portrait, and photo) is discussed, drawing upon Jurij Lotman’s insights about a doll in cultural system. The representation of Maironis as the genius lociin essays may be related to the fact that Maironis himself almost in all his texts was trying to evoke the spirit of place – “the shadow, which runs by side”.

• Details
• Contents