Žemaitė

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Žemaitė on the 1 litas note from 1993

Žemaitė , actually Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė , (born May 23 . Jul / 4. June  1845 greg. In Bukantė in Plungė ; † 7. December 1921 in Marijampolė ) was a Lithuanian writer . Coming from an impoverished nobility, she participated in the national awakening movement of Lithuania . She wrote in a realistic style about rural life.

Life

As a child, her parents forbade her to play with the children of her serfs or learn their Lithuanian language . She disregarded these prohibitions because she felt drawn to the farm workers. In doing so, she became aware of their oppression by serfdom and of their misery resulting from poverty and misery. These experiences later formed the basis of her creative work. Žemaitė did not receive a proper school education, it formed itself from reading numerous books.

In 1863 she was one of the supporters of the January uprising and a few years later married Laurynas Žymantas , one of the activists of this uprising, whom she met at the Džiuginėnai estate , where she worked as a maid and he as a forester. For the next 30 years she worked on her farm, raised children and battled poverty. In 1883 the family moved to the village of Ušėnai near Užventis . There Žemaitė met Povilas Višinskis , who introduced her to Lithuanian magazines ( Aušra , Varpas , Apžvalga ) and encouraged her to write herself and take part in the national awakening of the Lithuanians. Her first work, Herbstabend (Lithuanian: Rudens vakaras ), appeared in a calendar from 1895. Višinskis and Jonas Jablonskis proofread their work, gave advice and thus promoted their talent.

In 1912 Žemaitė moved to Vilnius, where she worked in the administration and editing of various publications. During the First World War , she went first to Russia and later to the United States , where her son Antanas had already lived for several years. She gave speeches to the Lithuanian-American communities , raised funds for war victims and wrote articles for the local press. In 1921 she returned to Lithuania, where she died that same year.

Works

Žemaitė wrote about the farmers in a language that is closely related to their spoken language, vividly, graphically and with an extensive vocabulary . Her works usually appear gloomy when they depict poverty, the pursuit of property and family disputes. The author draws an everyday life full of small conflicts, lively arguments, poor circumstances in a beautiful natural environment. It does not offer explanations, theories, or suggestions. Although she was born into a noble family, she did not describe the noble life, which she experienced as alien and hostile.

The best of her approximately 150 works are from the years 1896–1898. The most well-known are:

  • Marti (the daughter-in-law)
  • Topylis
  • Petras Kurmelis
  • Sutkai
  • Gera galva (good head)

Various complete editions have appeared, most recently:

  • Rastai: [sesi tomai] / Ed .: Seselgis, Aleksandras. Vilnius: Žara, 1995- ISBN 9986-34-003-9

Also:

German:

  • The daughter in law. Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 1973 (Ent .: The daughter-in-law, Topylis, Petras Kurmelis)

Trivia

Soviet postage stamp (1956)
  • Your pseudonym means schemaitin .
  • In 1956, the Soviet Post issued a special stamp on the 35th anniversary of Žemaite's death .
  • She is the only woman on a Lithuanian banknote (the 1 litas note was replaced by a coin in 1998).

source

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