Lietuvininkai, Kristijonas Donelaitis ir Lietuvos kultūros branda

LTKristijonas Donelaitis rašė lietuvininkams ir Lietuvai - lietuviškai kalbančioms XVI-XVIII a. etninės bendrijos dalims Prūsijos Karalystėje ir Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje. Straipsnyje aptariamos jas siejančios kultūros bendrybės ir skirtumai, lietuvininkų subkultūros susiformavimas, jos kilmė. Teigiama, kad Donelaitis buvo istorinės Lietuvos kultūros brandos reiškėjas, sulydęs kūryboje europinę Antikos kultūros recepciją, Vidurio Europos mentalitetą, Prūsijos Karalystėje vykstančią lietuvių kalbos vartojimo institucionalizaciją. Pasirinkęs kūrybai lietuvininkų bendruomenės gyvenimą ir lietuvių kalbą, suteikė jiems naują statusą, būtiną protomodernios tautinės kultūros kūrimui. Tuo spartino ir LDK lietuvių tautinės kultūros raidą. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Baltai; Kristijonas Donelaitis; Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); Lietuvininkai; Lietuvos kultūra; Mažoji Lietuva; Raštų adresatas; Tautinė kultūra; „Metai“; Adress of the writings; Balts; Kristijonas Donelaitis; Lithuania Minor; Lithuanian; Lithuanian culture; National culture; Prussian Lithuanians; The Prussian Lithuanians; „Metai“ („The Seasons“).

ENKristijonas Donelaitis thought of himself as a Prussian Lithuanian, wrote for Prussian Lithuanians (Lith. Lietuvininkai) and for Lithuania, which for him meant, above all, the Lithuanian-speaking part of the Kingdom of Prussia, or Lithuania Minor. Some historians are of the opinion that the latter was formed through mass migration from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL). A current assumption is that this process was influenced by many factors: the language and cultural proximity of the Balts living in the territories of Lithuania Minor and the GDL in the 5th-15th centuries; the presence of a continuous territory inhabited by Lithuanians in the GDL; the Lithuanization of the Scalovians, Nadruvians and some descendants of Prussians conquered by the Teutonic Order in the 13th century; bilateral migration; internal colonization of the residents of Lithuania Minor; and cultural and economic relations among the Balts. The formation of a Lithuanian subnation, the Prussian Lithuanians, took place from the 13th to 16th century. Both parts of historical Lithuania were connected by the language, numerous phenomena of folk culture and intensive mutual cultural interaction; Lithuanians mostly belonged to the lower social strata, but were beginning to have aspirations to rise above their lowly status.However, it was other participants of cultural interaction that were prevalent in both parts of Lithuania; political realities and the rates of development of folk culture in both parts were different; Prussian Lithuanians had a social group of proto-intelligentsia. Donelaitis’s work expressed the maturity of the culture of historical Lithuania understood in a broad sense. In his writings, he fused the European 16th-18th century reception of classical culture, the awareness of the value of one’s native language proclaimed by the Reformation, the cosmopolitan mentality of Central European science, the then ongoing institutionalization of the use of the Lithuanian language in the Kingdom of Prussia, and the achievements of Lithuanian literature. Having chosen as a subject of his work the life of the Prussian Lithuanian agricultural community and the Lithuanian language, he gave them a new status necessary for the creation of protomodern folk culture. It was a significant contribution to the development of culture of Lithuania Proper, where similar phenomena came into existence several generations later. [From the publication]