Dyskusja o Litwie: Józef Ignacy Kraszewski – Henryk Sienkiewicz − Vincas Pietaris

Abstrakt

The article introduces a comparative analysis of these authors’ projects of a literary rendition of past and present Lithuania since 1840’s until the beginning of the twentieth century. According to Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, the image of Lithuania as the North-Eastern Borderland, perceived as a projection of an ideal world by the former nobility, is derivative of the Lithuanian pagan Arkadia myth, in its idyllic version. On the other hand, Sienkiewicz who refers to the Romantic tradition of the Niemen riverside description, reinforces Polonocentric political myths. Discussed as a creative dialogue with his masters Pietaris’ Algimantas, the first Lithuanian historical novel, becomes an interesting example of a polemical confrontation of Polish visions of Lithuania in the context of the literature of the neighbouring nations.