Net jeigu ir Angelas...: Klemensas Kairys: poezijos ir tremties tekstai
- Klemensas Kairys: poezijos ir tremties tekstai
- Or an Angel from Heaven: Klemensas Kairys: texts of poetry and exile
ENThe book investigates the texts of poetry and exile covering the life period of Klemensas Kairys in Varniai, St. Petersburg and Vilnius. The book is intended for both the general public and the researchers of literature and history of the mid-19th century. The title "Or an Angel from Heaven..." is the utterance of St. Peter, cited by Klemensas Kairys during the lesson at the gymnasium and which formed the basis of the main accusation in his case. The subtitle ("Klemensas Kairys: Texts of Poetry and Exile") accurately defines the content of the book. The first part ("The Text of Poetry") discusses the poetry written in the dialects of the Eastern Aukštaičiai and different readings of Kairys' poetry. For the first time in the history of literature, the book presents the facsimiles of almost all known (two were not found) of the author poems written in the Lithuanian language and kept in the collection of manuscripts of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore and in the collection of manuscripts of Vilnius University, as well as interpretation (rewriting) of those facsimiles, translation in standard language and the comments on each poem are presented. Attempts are made to reveal the path of Kairys' poetry publication; different variants of the same text are discussed. The manuscripts show that the poet recorded individual sounds of the dialect; they also reveal the principles of his spelling, and very often subtle observations, for example, the reduction of the first component of a diphthong in the unstressed syllables.The second part ("The Text of Exile") describes the era of Kairys' life; the main documents of the case, accusations (due to the conflict between consistency of fidelity to Catholicism and obedience to the tsarist government) are discussed. The first (most important) accusation is related to his posture during the lesson at Kaunas Gymnasium: the teacher of religion clearly defined the boundaries of the monarch's authority. Klemensas Kairys was ordered to deliver a lecture on obedience to the Tsar. Kairys, having read the corresponding article from the catechism, added from himself: "But if Tsar tells something contrary to our religion, we have to resist this with the greatest indignation" (in Polish, z największym oburzeniem). The second accusation is related to the correspondence with other clergy and the activities of the Baublys Republic, a kind of carnival, in St. Petersburg, although this Republic was only an imitation of the Babin Republic (Rzeczpospolita Babińska) founded in Poland during the Renaissance. The book tries to trace the place where Kairys was imprisoned in Vilnius and to show how he appeared in Verkhoturye. The life of that period in Western Siberia is described. Attempts are made to define (according to the death certificate) the cause of Klemensas Kairys' death. At the end of the book, a bibliography about Klemensas Kairys is presented. The main material of the case is published (12 documents in Russian and the translation of these documents into Lithuanian).
