Istorinė tarpukario Lietuvos dramaturgija: naujumo ir konservatyvumo sankryžoje
The historical dramaturgy of interwar Lithuania: at the crossroads of novelty and conservatism

Summary/Abstract: Contrary to the dramaturgy of neighbouring countries which, to a greater or lesser extent, pushed history aside during the interwar period, history was one of the most important themes in Lithuanian dramatic literature of that time. When the biggest Lithuanian literary authorities, Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis, Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius, Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, and Balys Sruoga, started to produce dramaturgical works, in many cases they chose to concentrate on historical topics. Lithuanian dramaturgy's dependency on history was also formed by the great relevance of national issues in the culture of that time, as well as by a peculiar complexity of Lithuanian dramatic literature and its disability to produce impellent and original plots. On the one hand, history inspired a variety of second-rate eulogistic plays; on the other, it became the pretext to a dramaturgy overflowing with deep dramatism. It was a theme that, so to say, "imprisoned" Lithuanian literature in a soil of conservative ideas and oddly disturbed the process of dramaturgical modernization.

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