Between universalism and localism: the strategies of Soviet Lithuanian writers and "sandwiched" Lithuanian ethnic particularism

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Partikuliarizmas; Universalizmas; Rašytojai; Sovietmetis; Particularism; Universalism; Writers; Soviet period.

ENWriters played an important role in expressing Lithuanian national identity during the Soviet period. They both legitimized and dismantled the system, not only by developing a Soviet Lithuanian identity, but by helping to form the "Soviet nation" in general. Lithuanian ethnic particularism in the Soviet period, analyzed through activities of writers and the scope of their literature, have embodied expressions of national identity in three stages between titular Lithuanian culture and Soviet national policy: 1. legitimization of the Soviet system and redesigning of the titular culture and the nation itself under Stalinism; 2. recognition of the titular culture on the union level in the late 1950s and 1960s; and 3. an increase of authentic ethnicity and its related deviations during the 1970s and 1980s. [...] Using archival documents and interviews with Soviet writers, this article reveals the phenomenon of "sandwiched particularism", showing the effect of top-down Soviet policies on shaping both universalism and particularism as well as revealing the impact of local interests and strategies in Lithuanian literature from the bottom up. [Extract, p. 37-39]

• Literatūrologija / Literary Studies
• Istorija / History