Pasakojimai apie respubliką. Literatūra ir politika Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės saulėlydyje
Narratives about the republic: literature and politics at the twilight of the grand duchy of Lithuania

Summary/Abstract: One can conditionally distinguish two strategies of literary narrative in respect to political reality, panegyric and critical. In the first case, a literary work establishes and protects current political order by constructing an array of visuals, symbols and ideas that support this order. In the other case, a literary text is aimed at changing the prevailing political nexuses, the existing order. It critically evaluates and deconstructs political reality and offers a new array of ideals and symbols intended to serve as the basis for changes in reality. The article analyzes literary and political nexuses that prevailed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the second half of the 18th century and then examines the different strategies prevalent in literary narratives. It interprets panegyric and critical texts dedicated to Lithuanian political realities and shows that at the twilight of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania literature of the Enlightenment was incorporated into the rescue project of the Republic ofTwo Nations; official texts created by supporters and opponents of the ruler became part of the project. The analysis pays particular attention to memoirs and diaries by contemporary politicians, arguing that these narratives had a distinctive relationship with the then prevailing political reality: their main purpose was not to protect or change political order but rather engage in a dialogue with future generations, pass on the accumulated political heritage or explain the reasons why this heritage had been lost. Such memoirs can be also read as panegyric or critical deconstructions of other contemporary texts.

• Details
• Contents