Abstract [eng] |
The Master’s thesis investigates the process of modernization which occurred in the transition from novel to short story in 1970s Lithuanian prose. The research is carried out by analysing the works that illuminate this process of modernisation by authors of this period, namely Romualdas Lankauskas and Jonas Mikelinskas. The paper analyses all of their short prose collections published within 1960-1970s along with the historical context, while leaning on both contemporary and past literary criticism of the aforementioned period. Literary modernization is thought of in the context of the changing and expanding scope of socialist realism – it is in this period that the concept of socialist realism “without shores” emerges. The theoretical framework is comprised of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the literary field and his concept of habitus. Throughout the investigation three stages of the modernisation of the short story are made apparent: 1) the strengthening of humanity – lyricism, empathy; 2) topics based on pertinent events, mostly presented through the perspective of an intellectual; 3) the heightening intensity of individuality, sensual portrayal, the emergence of the poetics of detail. The authors discussed in the paper are considered to be one of the pioneers of the modernised Lithuanian short story in the Soviet period. |