The Apparatus of writers and four generations of writers in Soviet Lithuania

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Sovietų ideologija; Rašytojai; Sovietmečio literatūra; Soviet ideology; Writers; Soviet literature.

ENDuring the Soviet years, artists were affected by the ideology of the time and political demands, so an author's autonomy was limited. The artistic unions, together with other institutions of ideology and inspection, carried out the regulation of the artists; they performed the function of propagating the ruling priorities and supervising the artists. The creative class was formed through membership, privileges, and the supervision of creative works. With the collective conditions of the time, individual artists experienced pressure; however, specific group statutes frequently helped cover an artist (if he was established) if he had deviated slightly from the direction of the government's forbidden "formalism" or "lack of principle." The creative unions of the time and their requirements can be seen as a specific creative apparatus that artists attempted to accommodate themselves to, to adapt to changing circumstances. The Soviet creative apparatus was fairly stable and the cultural processes were stationary; however, this institutional solidity was only one side of the coin. One must look beyond merely the relationship between the artist and the system; different networks and groups of artists, that is, the social circumstances, assist in understanding the importance of these groups in the apparatus of art. In examining the effect of these groups, it becomes clear that separate chains of artists formed the dynamic of creation. The apparatus adapted to several chains, and the ideological boundaries slowly changed.This article utilizes the standpoint of historic and literary sociology (the insights of Evgeny Dobrenko and Ilja Kalinin), in which more attention is paid to separate generations of writers in order to more clearly see the development of their works. The basic thesis is that the generational factor assists in understanding the creative dynamic in the writers' apparatus and in authors' works, as well as the maintenance, discipline and balance between the differing chains. The article examines four of the outstanding generations of writers in the Soviet era and their relationship with the establishment of that era, evaluating their ability to act or to deviate from the priorities of that time. The article relies on studies such as Rašytojas ir cenzūra (Writer and censorship) or Nevienareikšmės situacijos: Pokalbiai apie sovietmečio literatūros lauką (Ambivalent situations: a conversation about the field of literature during the Soviet era) and the published insights of literature scholars, taking into account the dictates of the system and observations of people's reactions to them, as well as the specific maneuvers of writers and material collected by the author. [Extract, p. 73-74]

• Literatūrologija / Literary Studies
• Istorija / History