| Abstract [eng] |
The dissertation is devoted to Lithuanian folk ballads. Besides general questions, it examines selected texts of Lithuanian folk ballads and balladic motifs in songs, with a focus on the problematics of ballads’ plots, migration of their motifs and the meaning of these motifs. It is claimed that (1) due to its scope and versatility, the European ballad phenomenon should be associated not with the agrarian oral tradition but rather with the folk expression of a wider character which resists a unified definition in terms of genre; (2) Lithuanian ballads are a result of the interaction between the local singing tradition and the balladic folk expression which provides this tradition with additional meanings and value; and (3) based on the material of performance contexts, it could be asserted that ballad plots, actualised in distinctive, individual ways, act as microforms of personal experience narratives. The affinity of Lithuanian folk ballads with the folklore of other countries is determined not only by typological similarities but also by genealogical ties resulting from direct contacts. Yet ballads – the folklore stratum of foreign origin, full of unfamiliar signs – in Lithuania grew into unique songs which did not become similar to either European ballad examples or the authentic songs of the Lithuanian canon. Frequently, Lithuanians alter the borrowed theme in an independent manner in respect to both form and content. |
