LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Didysis (Pirmasis pasaulinis) karas; Diskursas; Karių kapai; Literatūra karo tema; Karo nuostoliai; Lietuvių-prancūzų draugija; Great War (World War I); Discourse; Military cemetery; Literature on war; War losses; Lithuanian-French Association.
ENThe paper offers analysis of the discourses on the Great War (World War I) and of the practices of the culture of remembrance in interwar Lithuania. The research addresses the scope and the nature of literary fiction dealing with the theme of the Great War in interwar Lithuania (with the focus on the literary merits of translated works by foreign authors and of those by local authors, the ‘upsurge’ of and changes in the fiction on war), and the significance of the war to the public at large; the research also expands on the practices of the commemoration of the Great War and on the maintenance of military cemeteries in interwar Lithuania. On the one hand, literature on war in interwar Lithuania was an object of analysis, while, on the other hand, it represented a field of publishing industry with the works by foreign authors translated and local authors published. The Great War was a landmark event for a whole generation. It changed people’s lives and attitudes to war, and opened up new horizons for war fiction. Multitudes of young gifted people had to spend several years at the front because of universal conscription. Later they wrote books often based on their own experience, or even their diaries, that became literary classics. In Lithuania translated works came first: the publication of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front can be considered a turning point that was followed by the works of Lithuanian authors. In a sense, the 1930s were a time of a breakthrough for the literature on the subject of the Great War in Lithuania. [...]. [From the publication]