Author(s): Roma Bončkutë / Language(s): Lithuanian
Issue: 23/2021
The article addresses citations from vol. I, III, IV, VI of Johannes Voigt’s (1786–1863) Geschichte Preußens von den ältesten Zeiten bis zum Untergange der Herrschaft des Deutschen Ordens (Königsberg, 9 vols., 1827–1839) in BUDĄ Senowęs–Lëtuwiû Kalnienû ir Ƶámajtiû (1845) by Simonas Daukantas. The goal of the article is to use the inventory of the references made by Daukantas to identify the places in the original GP text, revise the references, discuss the nature of the citations, and the impact of the tract as such. The article also touches upon the history of Daukantas citing Voigt’s GP in his prior work, ISTORYJE ƵEMAYTYSZKA (1834). The article analyses 20 references to Voigt’s text. Daukantas identified the page number wrong in seven references out of the twenty; four of the references were one page number off; one did not specify the volume. Nonetheless, all of these references were successfully revised and corrected. Analysis of the nature of reliance on GP has suggested that Daukantas treated this tract as a font of new resources. Daukantas used GP to recite handwritten work by medieval chroniclers or Königsberg scholars, university graduates or residents of the region that he was having difficulty accessing himself. The prevalence of work by Königsberg scholars shows that Daukantas valued this historiographical tradition first and foremost. In his reliance on GP references, Daukantas would obtain and quote some of the sources from the original texts. Comparing the indirect citations by Daukantas and the original text, one could say that it was only once (Bd 214) that he did not add information from elsewhere in the GP text or other sources to the text. Even though Daukantas did not have any open discussions with his predecessor, the ample revisions and the content of the supplementary material point to his critical stance. Relying on the narrative historic tradition (‘noumone patioie tautoie tebesąntĩ patwĩrten’ Bd 214), the Lithuanian language and folklore (‘kou dar pates patarles kałbo tebesąntes twĩrtĩn’ Bd, Pratarme 9) as sources of Lithuanian history with the highest degree of authority, he revised the text written by Voigt from a German position. However, the expression of Germanism in GP helped Daukantas create images of Lithuanianism. The GP text and the ample explanations given in footnotes sparked Daukantas’s creativity. GP was an example of composition of material to Daukantas. Drawing inspiration from GP, Daukantas discussed the history of the formation of the region, the characteristics of the landscape, delineated the borders of Lithuania, talked about the daily living and about the holidays, gave a lot of attention to the dynamics and sanctuaries of the ancient Lithuanian religion, the history of regional institutions, commerce as the key element of the viability of the state. The importance of the substrate of the ancient Prussians and crusaders in building the new German nation that Voigt had highlighted helped Daukantas understand how the development of the Lithuanian identity could not bypass the culture of Prussian Lithuanians, or rather that of the Balts in general. Daukantas assimilated many concepts that, despite being Herder-esque, had been assimilated by Voigt and made relevant in the historic tract, such as: the history of the nation (‘tautos wejkałus’ Bd 127), the culture of the nation (‘akyłómą sawo tautoie’ Bd 236), the manner of the nation (‘pagał budo sawo tautós’ Bd 190), the freedom of the nation (‘tautû lousybę’ Bd, Pratarme 9). GP’s expression helped Daukantas create multiple romantic images that later made their way into the golden fund of Lithuanian literature.
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