Novel
Aukštujų Šimonių likimas
Not translated into English
Ieva Simonaitytė · 1935
Synopsis
Le Destin des Šimonys d'Aukštujai: over two centuries, starting with the plague of 1709-1711, the story of an old family of Lithuania Minor. After the epidemic and the arrival of German settlers, Matas Šimonis, the only one of his family left, settles at Aukštujai. His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, nobles who gradually become simple peasants, lose their property, their language and their bearings under the pressure of Germanization; Mikėlis goes over to the Germans, and the prejudices of his milieu weigh on Urtė.
Context
The first major work of its author, the novel appeared in the last months of 1935 and won her the State Prize for literature and a pension. Composed in three parts, it records births and deaths with a chronicler's precision, to convey the passage of time. R. Dambrauskaitė read in it in 1960 a response to German nationalist pressure on the Klaipėda territory; critics also note that its historical setting owes more to imagination than to scholarly history, despite a rich ethnographic content.
Who it is for
A multi-generational novel, rich in characters bound by blood; Lithuania Minor was Prussian, Lutheran and Lithuanian-speaking. No French or English translation has been recorded.
Prizes and reception
Lithuanian State Prize for Literature; the book that made its author the great chronicler of Lithuania Minor.
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