| Abstract [eng] |
SUMMARY EXISTENTIAL EXPERIENCE OF AN IMMIGRANT IN MARIUS KATILIŠKIS’S NOVEL “MONDAY ON EMERALD STREET” AND ANTANAS ŠKĖMA’S NOVEL “THE WHITE SHROUD”: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH Marius Katiliškis (Albinas Marius Vaitkus) – one of the most famous Lithuanian novelists of the 20th century, a Lithuanian expatriate writer, who in his novel “Monday on Emerald Street” (1993) described the complex existential being of the immigrant Benius Uogintas, who lives in America. Antanas Škėma – another 20th century Lithuanian expatriate writer, prose writer, literary critic, who in his novel “The White Shroud” (1967) depicted the tragic existence of the emigrant Antanas Garšva in a foreign land. The aim of the master’s thesis is to compare the different existential experiences of the main characters of the two novels, i.e. emigrants from Lithuania, using the principle of comparative analysis. The thematic comparative aspects of the influence of a foreign space on national consciousness, relationship building, the alienation of the environment and the self are identified in the exploratory analysis. The juxtaposition of these thematic guidelines is based on Albert Camus’s (2019) philosophy of existentialism and the absurd, Algis Mickunas’s and David Stewart’s (1994) ideas of existential phenomenology, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s (2018) theory of phenomenology. Albert Camus’s philosophical essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942) analyses the meaning of life in the light of the permanence of the absurd in human life. The fundamental moment of awakening, which occurs in the context of a complex spiritual upheaval, prompts man to realize the tragic nature of his existence and to take concrete action, either to resist or to surrender to the state of the absurd. Drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s “Phenomenology of Sensory Perception” (2018), the novels analyze the phenomena of space, the body, and the concept of the other, it is known only through individual experience. This approach can be said to aim to directly describe human experience as it is, without taking causal explanations into account. The protagonists of the novels by Marius Katiliškis and Antanas Škėma, while living in America, experience a state of alienation that is characteristic to expatriates, and which affects their consciousness in different ways: the habits of everyday life, the perception of national identity change, and the state of alienation from oneself and the other change. In Marius Katiliškis’s novel “Monday on Emerald Street”, the protagonist Benius Uogintas, in the face of complex spiritual reflections, realizes the tragic nature of his existence, but does not take concrete actions that could change his tragic existential state. The experience of the loss of national identity, the lack of sincere relations with others, the lack of self-fulfillment become obvious evidence of an absurd existence. According to Albert Camus’s philosophy of the absurd, he succumbs to the absurd state he experiences. In Antanas Škėma’s novel “White Shroud”, the protagonist Antanas Garšva is aware of his own difficult existential situation but tries to take concrete actions that can be seen as a way of resisting the absurdity. His desire to express himself in poetry, to create a close relationship with the woman he loves, shows his willingness to act and to resist futility. However, the progress of a mental illness renders his efforts futile, and he becomes an example of an absurd existence in a foreign land. Key words: Marius Katiliškis, Antanas Škėma, Albert Camus, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, existentialism, existential phenomenology, diaspora, diaspora literature. |
