| Abstract [eng] |
This master’s thesis analyses how the country and the city are represented in the 21st-century Lithuanian literary canon taught in schools. Literature is understood as a cultural and social phenomenon that not only reflects societal values but also actively shapes them. The school literature canon occupies a particular role in this process, as it institutionally conveys specific worldviews and models of identity. One of the most prominent oppositions established in Lithuanian literature is the rural-urban dichotomy, which functions not only as a thematic motif but also as a system of cultural meanings. The aim of this study is to examine how rural and urban spaces are represented in the 21st-century school Lithuanian literary canon taught in schools and how their relationship is constructed in textbooks. The object of the study is the representation of the country and the city in 21st-century Lithuanian literature textbooks for 11th–12th grade students. The study examines literature textbooks published by Šviesa and Baltos lankos in 2003–2004 and 2009–2012. A qualitative content analysis method is applied to examine the presentation, interpretation, and contextual commentary of the literary works included in these textbooks. In the theoretical part of the study, based on a sociocultural perspective, the representation of the country and the city in literature (R. Williams, G. Simmel), the concept of the literary canon (R. Aston, J. Guillory), its functions, changes, and the specifics of the school canon are discussed. The research section of this paper analyses how rural and urban spaces are represented in the literary works presented in textbooks, which semantic and value-related aspects are emphasized, and what position these spaces occupy in the school literature canon. The analysis revealed that in textbooks, the country is most often associated with tradition, morality, community, and cultural identity, while the city is associated with experiences of modernity, alienation, and the search for identity. A value-based disparity also emerges: the countryside is presented as a culturally and morally privileged space, while the representation of the city is more fragmented and less consistently reflected upon. The results suggest that the school literature discourse not only conveys but also constructs a specific system of rural and urban representations. The research may be further developed by analysing the latest textbooks in order to assess how the representation of these spaces is changing. |
