Lietuvių tautosakos mokslas XX amžiuje : tyrėjai ir jų darbai

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Tautosaka; Tyrėjai; Jonas Basanavičius; Mykolas Biržiška; Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius; Balys Sruoga; Algirdas Julius Greimas; Folklore; Researchers; Jonas Basanavičius; Mykolas Biržiška; Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius; Balys Sruoga; Algirdas Julius Greimas.

ENThis book portrays 25 bright personalities - already rest in peace - who distinguished themselves in Lithuanian folklore research during the 20th centuiy. As compared with previous times, the period they lived in was full of significant historical, social changes. Lithuania was still the part of Russian Empire in the beginning of that century and endured two World Wars later on and the extremely severe plight of Soviet occupation that lasted for half a century. Two interwar decades and the last decade of that century saw the independent state of Lithuania. Lithuanian culture and sciences matured during this great historical turmoil of processes of advancement, while the scientific activities of folklore researchers developed gradually, putting forward distinct personalities who enriched the chapters of Lithuanian folklore research history with original works. They were eminent figures who contributed to the cause of folklore and their occupational pursuits were far from uniform. Among them were: a doctor, a lawyer, a writer, a poet, a literary scholar, and a folklorist who devoted a lot of attention to the music. Some of those personalities played a major role in various areas of Lithuanian public and cultural life, and the results of their activities have already been discussed and evaluated on different occasions. The main subject-matter in this book is the folklore research carried by them. Only for the portrayals to be clearer the brief biographical details are provided in the book chapters about every personality after a somewhat freestyle introduction. The chapters are arranged chronologically, based on the scholar’s lifetime and the intensity of his folklore research efforts. [...].In the Afterword of the book, a number of deceased persons are mentioned who contributed to the Lithuanian folklore research in the 20th century. Their works are very diverse, and this was determined by many things, including the living situation of a person in question, cultural and political conditions at that time, the aims of those who wrote studies, etc. In some cases, there are evident efforts to reveal the features of folklore, to acknowledge its importance, beauty, originality, value, in other cases, to define individual genres, etc. Literary scholars, too, studied folk poetry, giving consideration to the persons related to it. This comes to view when discussing the creative life and the work of poets, the relation with folk poetry. A number of works of foreign researchers have been published over a century, which focussed on individual genres (ballads, songs, proverbs) and images in various respects. Important for the development of folklore research are the publications of texts that allow for further research, as well as the achievements of neighbouring disciplines (ethnomusicology, folk choreography, ethnography, and ethnology). At the end, it is noted that there is still a considerable number of living researchers - the elderly and the young - who studied Lithuanian folklore in that period. A book giving an overview about them is needed as well for the picture of the development of Lithuanian folklore research in the last century and the beginning of this century to be comprehensive. [From the publication]