Variations of the poetics of taste in Maironis’s works

ENIn the works of Maironis, the primary models of many poetic genres of Lithuanian literary tradition may be recognised, as well as stereotypical self-images and the rules of alimentary code, which is related to the style of the author’s epoch and sociocultural context. Maironis, who was an exclusive public figure of his time, was acquainted with Western gourmet culture and was influenced by the pretentious customs of provincial nobility of the 19th century; however, by that time he was equally passionate about the emerging national cuisine as with the formation of a classical Lithuanian literary canon. The consumption of meals and drinks is linked with the significant moments of transformation, rites of initiation, and the calendar cycle of spiritual holidays in Maironis’s poetry; the poet was, in this sense, a true traditionalist. A sampling of well-prepared food is represented as the means of communication in the “epoch of banned books” (during the Russian Tsarist suppression), when other instruments of cultural education and intellectual dispute were very restricted. Maironis was a founder of a “higher style” in poetry, as well as the promoter of a “higher taste” in traditions and gastronomical etiquette within his private environment. He mentions “tasty health” in one of the most famous of his poems; this was the ideal classicist model of balance and harmonious existence. This article refers to some typical aspects of taste, as well as to the problems of alimentary morality and social distinctions between different types of national cuisine. Keywords: gastronomic; alimentary code; taste; Romanticism; Classicist world-view; consumption of food; nationalism. [From the publication]

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Literatūrologija / Literary Studies