On the threshold of editorship. Or from collection to Oeuvre
ENThe sole collection of verses by Jonas Mačiulis (1862–1932, pen name Maironis), the father of modern Lithuanian poetry, went through five editions in the author’s lifetime. The poet continued to improve the works of his youth until his advanced age, producing hundreds of textual variants. The first published versions of some verses, which are ranked as national classics today, cannot be considered finely crafted works by a long shot. From a retrospective point of view, one is surprised that such lengthy and tedious corrections could have yielded such nice final results, while a prospective approach might incite amazement at how the crude, primary rock of first versions could have concealed the possibility of such poetic gems. Taking a grandmotherly attitude towards his works, the author did not only polish their versification, but also applied different strategies throughout his rewriting process to use new editions to consolidate his own social and cultural position with the changeable standards of bibliographic codes over time. The problem editors of the Maironis’ posthumous editions face is that the authorial editions of his works differ in title, textual variants, and arrangement. As this article argues, both Maironis’ high standing in the Lithuanian cultural landscape and the elusive expectation of stability and comprehensiveness have discouraged editors to plunge into the dynamic nature of Maironis’ authorial manipulations up until today. Keywords: authorial edition, bibliographic code, composition, genetic editing, revision, version, Lithuanian literature (19th–20th century). [From the publication]
- Anapus ribos : Maironis ir istorinė Lietuva / Brigita Speičytė. Vilnius : Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2012. 262 p.
- Bendrinė kalba : tarmės pasirinkimas ir kodifikacija katalikiškoje ir pasaulietinėje periodikoje (1889-1905) / Jurgita Venckienė. Archivum Lithuanicum. 2006, t. 8, p. 9-42.
- Eina garsas : nauji Maironio skaitymai / sudarytojas ir redaktorius Manfredas Žvirgždas. Vilnius : Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2014. 329 p.
- Jono Mačiulio-Maironio raštų rašyba ir kalba : Jauniaus sekėjo dinamika / Jurgita Venckienė. Archivum Lithuanicum. 2012, t. 14, p. 191-208.
- Maironio kanonizacijos dinamika XX a. I pusės lietuvių literatūros kritikoje / Viktorija Šeina. Colloquia. 2016, 37, p. 49-71.
- Maironio "Pavasario balsai": lyrikos rinkinys / Brigita Speičytė. Maironio balsai : kūryba, veikla, atmintis / sudarė Manfredas Žvirgždas. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2019. P. 29-141.
- Maironis ir jo „Pavasario balsai“ lietuviškosios pavasario vaizdinijos kontekste / Giedrė Jankevičiūtė. Lietuvių katalikų mokslo akademijos metraštis. 2019, t. 42, p. 127-153.
- Maironis' Pavasario balsai (1895) and the question of its romanticism / Stephan Kessler. Eina garsas: nauji Maironio skaitymai. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2014. P. 66-75.
