Šventieji ir nelabieji pirmaisiais sovietmečio dešimtmečiais

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Ideologija; Literatūra; Literatūrinė laikysena; Perversijos; Pirmieji sovietmečio dešimtmečiai; Sovietmetis; Šventieji ir nelabieji; Early soviet decades; Idelogy; Literary posture; Lithuanian literature; Perversion; The Saints and the Elves; The first decades of the Soviet era.

ENThe concepts of sainthood and fiendishness are inextricably linked to the outflow of the contents and meanings in both the ethical and religious fields. In the dictionary of the Lithuanian language the words a saint and a fiend are explained in this way: the former is “a person renowned for his/her exceptional religiosity and after death formally recognized by a Christian church as an honoured patron of the believers”, the latter is defined as “an evil spirit, the devil, a dickens”, a villain. In the years of the Soviet occupation the concept of sainthood radically changed not only its “geography” but also its merits by descending from transcendence to ideological idolatry. The Christian God being the key enemy of the new-Soviet man, God’s transcendence was substituted by the eternally live Lenin, Stalin, their “apostles” and other “saints”. In the Soviet period Pergalė (Victory) used to be the main literary periodical issued by the Lithuanian Writers’ Union, closely monitored and censored and by the means of the language of art serving the needs of the new pantheon of saints, making them icons and setting the fashion for their commemoration.The Bible features only one saint – Jahveh, from Him the people gain sainthood. In the 1950s and 1960s Pergalė focused its attention on Lenin and Stalin, who sometimes were depicted as if equal to saints or as God the Father and God the Son. The only thing that differentiates them from their biblical counterparts is the phraseology which is more vivid and more revering (“Šviesumas tavo žodžių tamsą nugalėjo / Brightness has conquered the darkness of your words” (Teofilis Tilvytis); “O Tu, tiesos negęstančioji saulė / O You, the unquenchable sun of the truth“ (Valerija Valsiūnienė). Fiends, on the other hand, are revealed as the friends of ordinary people who care for them and help them (Ambraziejus Jonynas). With reference to archive documents, the publications in Pergalė, and the comparison of the 1939 and 1956 issues of the novel Kaimynai (Neighbors) by Juozas Paukštelis, the article attempts to reveal the mechanism and “theology” of the demonization of traditional saints, as well as the glorification of the ideological leaders. [From the publication]