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National Heroic Narratives in the Baltics as a Source for Nonviolent Political Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Guntis Šmidchens
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Abstract

The national heroes of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania that emerged in literary culture during the nineteenth century were warrior heroes. In the twentieth century, a series of interpretations and adaptations by leading authors disarmed and desacralized Kalevipoeg, Bearslayer (Lāčplēsis), and King Mindaugas, tempering or rejecting their violent actions and recasting these central allegories of national myth into a nonviolent mold. These heroes are part of the cultural context in which the nonviolent Baltic “Singing Revolution” emerged; they offer an intriguing example of evolving (or devolving) aggressive drives and the civilizing process in the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian national cultures.

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Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , Fall 2007 , pp. 484 - 508
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 2007

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References

I am grateful to the University of Washington Libraries for compiling and continually expanding its superb collection of Baltic books and periodicals. Signe Suursöödi and Krōōt Liivak at the Estonian National Library helped me find critical bibliographical references. I also wish to thank Violeta Kelertas and the two referees at Slavic Review for their suggestions.

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6. Nineteenth-century European intellectuals followed a “checklist” of items that every nation should have; they were participants in a transnational cultural phenomenon and historical process, as outlined by Lofgren, Orvar in “The Nationalization of Culture,“ Ethnologia Europaea\, 6 no. 1 (1989): 7–9 Google Scholar.

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11. This article does not present a mechanism by which art has influenced politics in the Baltic, a topic that deserves further discussion. Roger D. Petersen, for example, outlines mechanisms that inidated and sustained Lithuanian rebellions against the Soviet regime in the 1940s and 1990s. Regarding the function of cultural symbols in polidcal events, Petersen argues that somekey actors may have internalized the roles offered by such symbols. He comments, however, that further analysis would rely heavily on interpretation and intuition and therefore not correspond to the analytical methods preferred by social scientists. Petersen, , Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe (Cambridge, Eng., 2001), 292-94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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17. Uibo, Udo, “Küll siis Kalev jōuab koju (Enn Vetemaa abiga),” Keel ja Kirjandus, no. 6 (1986): 342 Google Scholar.

18. Estonians retold episodes concerning the Estonian chieftain Lembitu, and Latvians adapted the story of the Singer of Beverīna from the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia. See Mugurēvičs, Ēvalds, ed., Heinrici Chronicon, Indrifra hronika (Riga, 1993), 21:1–3, 12:6Google Scholar.

19. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (1290) tells that the Lithuanian ruler Mindaugas (Myndowe) converted to the Christian faith, following which he and his wife Morta (Marthe) were crowned king and queen of Lithuania in 1253 (lines 3453-3576). The chronicle later describes his conspiracy against Christianity and his attack on Christians, against the advice of his wife (6427-6586), and then briefly notes that he was assassinated (7121-38). See Livländische Reimchronik, with translation into Latvian by Valdis Bisenieks, commentary by Ēvalds Mugurēvičs and Kaspars Kļaviņš (Riga, 1998). For the English translation, see Smith, Jerry C. and Urban, William L., The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, 2d ed., rev. and enl. (Chicago, 2001)Google Scholar.

The Volhynian Chronicle (1292) describes events in die same epoch: Some time after 1219, Mindaugas (Mendowg, Mendovg) is reported to have killed Vismantas (Višumut) and married his wife; Mindaugas's conversion to Christianity is seen as a ruse to help him in his power struggles against other Lithuanians; another passage states that Mindaugas was assassinated by Daumantas (Dovmont), whose wife Mindaugas had married after the death of her sister, his first wife. See Perfecky, George A., ed., The Hypatian Codex, Part Txuo: The Galician-Volynian Chronicle (Munich, 1973), 26, 62-63, 82-83Google Scholar. Historians disagree on the actual sequence of events. The available historical sources conflict on such simple matters as the years of Mindaugas's marriage to Morta and the death of her first husband, Vismantas; the exact kinship between Mindaugas and his murderer, Daumantas, is also unclear. See Gudavičius, Edvardas, Mindaugas (Vilnius, 1998), 147-50Google Scholar.

20. Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius asserted that he based his drama “Šarūnas, Prince of Dainava” on heroic songs from the oral tradition, but he was later shown to have himself invented the prince. Skrodenis, Stasys, “Žvilgsnis į Krėvę—tautosakininką,” Pergalė, no. 10 (1967): 135-43Google Scholar.

21. Laugaste, E. and Normann, E., Muistendid Kalevipojast (Tallinn, 1959), 132-92, 243-60, 412-17Google Scholar.

22. Oinas, , Studies in Finnic Folklore, 58 Google Scholar; Lönnrot, Elias, comp., The Kalevala, or Poems of the Kaleva District, trans. Francis Peabody Magoun Jr. (Cambridge, Mass., 1963), poem 35, 245-50Google Scholar. Uibo, “Küll siis Kalev,” 343, quotes a poem that Kreutzwald may have adapted from folk poetry. Kalevipoeg appears in only one song type documented in Estonian oral tradition, where he attempts to seduce a girl who then stabs him. See “Suisa suud” (Reckless kiss), no. 75 in Herbert Tampere, comp., Eesti rahvalaule viisidega (Tallinn, 1964), 4:206-10; and type 14 in Ulo Tedre, comp., Eesti Rahvalaulud: Antoloogia (Tallinn, 1969), 1.1:35-36.

23. Pumpurs misidentifies the genre of this narrative. In his introduction, he quotes the story of Bearslayer in full, classifying it as historical legend rather than fictional folktale, and concludes that the story is thus close to native Latvian historical tradition. Latvian folktales often include a hero who is the offspring of a bear and a human, but this motif is unknown in Latvian legend tradition. The tragic ending recounted by Pumpurs is rare in folktales, however, as the hero is killed in only two Latvian folktales besides Pumpurs's. Pumpurs, , Lāčplēsis, 142-44,280-84,337Google Scholar. The tale belongs to international type ATU 650A.

24. Ants Viires identifies numerous items created by Estonian nation builders that Estonians have come to accept as real. Viires, , “Pseudomythology in Estonian Publicity in the 19th and 20th Century,“ Ethnologa Europaea 21 (1991): 137-43Google Scholar.

25. Kreutzwald, Friedrich Reinhold, Kalevipoeg: Üks ennemuistne jutl kahekümnes laulus (Tallinn, 1998)Google Scholar; Kreutzwald, Fr. R., Kalevipoeg: An Ancient Estonian Tale, trans. Kurman, Jüri (Moorestown, N.J., 1982)Google Scholar; Nirk, Endel, Kreutzwald ja eesti rahvusliku kirjanduse algus: Monograafia (Tallinn, 1968), 326 Google Scholar; Oinas, , Studies in Finnic Folklore, 53–54 Google Scholar; Valk, Heiki, “'Kalevipoeg' kui ajaloonägemus ja ajalookäsitus,” in Ōpetalud Eesti Seltsi aastaraamat (Tartu, 2003), 41–70 Google Scholar; Jaago, Tiiu, “Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald and the Cultural Bridge,” in Kuutma, Kristin and Jaago, Tiiu, eds., Studies in Estonian Folkloristics and Ethnology: A Reader and Reflexive History (Tartu, 2005), 19–36 Google Scholar.

26. Kreutzwald, , Kalevipoeg: An Ancient Estonian Tale, 76 (Tale VI, lines 589-92)Google Scholar.

27. For example, Kreutzwald added to the conclusion of the Ninth Tale an antiwar poem that he had written earlier; in the translator's notes, Jüri Kurman notes that this was done “without great regard for its coherence with the events of the epic.” Kreutzwald, , Kalevipoeg: An Ancient Estonian Tale, 272 (Ninth Tale, note 4)Google Scholar.

28. Kreutzwald, , Kalevipoeg: An Ancient Estonian Tale, 225 (Tale XVII, lines 821-28)Google Scholar. The dialogue with the sword appears in Tale XI, lines 634-61. The psychotherapeutic value of nonviolent episodes in Kreutzwald's Kalevipoeg is analyzed by Peter Petersen, “Kalevipoeg tänapäeval: Ūhe tulevase Euroopa kultuuri document humain; psühholoogilis- antropoloogilisi aspekte,” Akadeemia 15, no. 12 (2003): 2559-91.

29. Kreutzwald, , Kalevipoeg: An Ancient Estonian Tale, 266 (Tale XX, lines 1052-54)Google Scholar.

30. For example, Kalevipoeg: Jutustus noortele Eesti muinaskangelase elust ja seiklustest (Stockholm, 1953), 14. The first scholarly translation into English also censored the rape scene; see Kirby, W. F., The Hero ofEslhonia and Other Studies in the Romantic Literature of That Country (London, 1895), 32 Google Scholar. The Stalinist-era publication cut references to the Island Maiden's loins and hipbone, lines 591 and 592 of Tale VI. See Kreutzwald, Fr. R., Kalevipoeg: Eesti rahva eepos (Tallinn, 1951), 94 Google Scholar. Kreutzwald himself edited several obscene passages, but not the rape episode, out of the epic's second edition, and it is this newer version that is considered the standard edition today. See Kreutzwald, Fr. R., Kalevipoeg: Tekstikriitiline väljaanne ühes kommentaaride ja muude lisadega, 2:73–74 Google Scholar; in English, see Kurman's notes in Kreutzwald, Kalevipoeg: An Ancient Estonian Tale, 273 (Thirteenth Tale, notes 7 and 8) and 274 (Fourteenth Tale, note 1 and Fifteenth Tale, notes 3, 4 and 6).

31. Tuglas, Friedebert, “Pōrgu väravas” [1908], and “'Kalevipoeg': Mōtteid teose parandamise puhul” [1916], in Kogutud teosed (Tallinn, 1996), 7:74–77, 80-97.Google Scholar

32. Mirov, Ruth, “'Ralevipoja’ parandamisest ja Ridala umberluulendusest,” Looming, no. 4 (2006): 569-81Google Scholar.

33. Tammsaare, A. H., “'Kalevipqja’ parandamise ümber” [1916], in Kogutud teosed (Tallinn, 1988), 16:301-6Google Scholar; Tammsaare, A. H., “'Kalevipojast'ja kirjandusest” [1935], in Kogutud teosed (Tallinn, 1990), 17:388-91Google Scholar.

34. Kōiv, “'Kalevipoeg’ Tammsaare tähendamissōnade kumas,” 1854-55 and 1857. The concept of Kalevipoegas a “traditional lie” was coined by Tammsaare, who also pointed out similarities between the Estonian epic and Macpherson's fabrications. Tammsaare, , “'Kalevipoja’ parandamise ümber,” 303 Google Scholar.

35. Nirk, Endel, “Estonskii narodnii epos ‘Kalevipoeg,'” in Kreitsval'd, F. R., comp. and ed., Kalevipoeg: Estonskii narodnyi epos, trans, from Estonian to Russian by Derzhavin, V and Kochetkov, A. (Tallinn, 1961), 366 Google Scholar.

36. Kreutzwald, Kalevipoeg: Tekstikriitiline väljaanne ühes kommentaaride ja muude lisadega; Annist, August, Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwaldi “Kalevipoeg” (Tallinn, 2005) [revised, combined edition of 1934, 1936, and 1944 books]Google Scholar; Valk, Ülo, “Lābivalgustatud ‘Kalevipoeg,'“ Keelja Kirjandus, no. 1 (2006): 66–71 Google Scholar.

37. Vetemaa, Enn, Kalevipoja mälestused (Tallinn, 1985)Google Scholar. Ain Kaalep has pointed out the similarity between Vetemaa's novel and Maurice Druon's Memoirs of Zeus, which appeared in Estonian translation three years earlier. Kaalep, , “Kahte moodi tosidusest meie kirjanduskultuuris,” Sirpja Vasar 1477 (31 March 1972), 8 Google Scholar; and Uibo, Udo, “Küll siis Kalev,“ 345 Google Scholar. Vetemaa agrees that Druon exercised some “subliminal influences” (e-mail to author, 31 May 2006), but I see very few similarities in the style and content of these two novels.

38. Kreutzwald, Kalevipoeg: Üks ennemuistne jutt kahekümnes laulus, Tale IV: 343 and 346. Note diat the memoirist Kalevipoeg skips lines 344 and 345 of the epic: “with the foolishness of a child she fell / unintentionally on the shore.“

39. Vetemaa, , Kalevipoja mälestused, 20 Google Scholar.

40. Hellat, H.-K., “Kalevipoeg täpsustab oma elulugu,” Ōhtuleht, 8 February 1972, 2 Google Scholar. The author was responding to Ülo Tonts, who had termed the novel a “gigantic feuilleton“ in “Veel kolm numbrit ilukirjanduslikku ‘Loomingut,'” Sirp ja Vasar 1468 (28 January 1972): 5.

41. Vetemaa, , Kalevipoja mälestused, 9 Google Scholar.

42. Vetemaa also remembers receiving letters of apology from the teachers who had earlier attacked him but who then changed their minds after reading reviews (e-mail to author, 31 May 2006).

43. Vetemaa, Enn, e-mail to author, 2 June 2006 Google Scholar.

44. Vetemaa, , Kalevipoja mälestused, 87 Google Scholar.

45. Kaplinski, Jaan, “Enn Vetemaa teise romaaniraamatu puhul,” Keel ja Kirjandus, no. 8 (1973): 499 Google Scholar; Kurg, Kalle, “Motiivimärkmikust (Vaike Vetemaa-visand),” Sirpja Vasar, no. 1597 (19 July 1974): 3-4 and no. 1598 (26 July 1974): 3-5Google Scholar; Mallene, Endel, “Uhe iseolemise teisenemine ja eneseksjäämine,” Looming, no. 10 (1973): 1746-48Google Scholar.

46. Uibo, , “Küll siis Kalev,” 345-47Google Scholar.

47. Daitz, Mimi S., Ancient Song Recovered: The Life and Music of Veljo Tormis (Hillsdale, N.Y., 2004), 188-95Google Scholar. A connection between Tormis's “Ballads” and Kreutzwald's epic was recently made by a reviewer who noted in passing that both works are “folksong projects“ that have been essential to Estonian national identity. See Madis Arukask, “'Eesti ballaadid' ja maarahva regilaululised lood,” Sirp, 10 September 2004. Another reviewer comments that “ballads are, unfortunately, the true, actual Estonian epic.” See Arne Merilai, “'Eesti ballaadid': Kalk, külm, körk—kaunis,” Postimees, 31 August 2004.

48. “Eesti ballaadid: Regilaululine sajandi suurvorm” (Von Krahli Teater, 2005), 2-3 (Event Program; English translations of songs by Pillejohanson). Also available at the Von Krahl Theater web site, http://www.vonkrahl.ee/et/arhiiv/lllllll.html (last accessed 28 May 2007). The text is quoted in an appendix to this article, published on the Slavic Review web site.

49. Tormis, Lea, “The Story of Estonian Ballads,” Estonian Culture 1 (2005): xxiv Google Scholar.

50. Tormis, Veljo, e-mail to author, 2 March 2006 Google Scholar.

51. Pumpurs, Lāčplēsis, Canto II, lines 153-60. Bearslayer encounters these ideas again in scrolls of an ancient library (Canto HI, lines 654-84) and when he is elected to lead the batde against the crusaders (Canto VI, lines 361-64). See English translations of the epic in Andrejs Pumpurs, Lāčplēsis (Bearslayer): The Latvian People's Hero. A NationalEpic, trans. Rita Laima Krieviija (Riga, 1988); and Cropley, Arthur, Bearslayer, by Andrejs Pumpurs (1841-1902): A Free Translation from the Unrhymed Latvian into English Heroic Verse by Arthur Cropley (Hamburg, Germany, 2005)Google Scholar.

52. Property-based municipal elections had, in fact, already been established by the tsar's decree in 1877, leading to some limited activity typical of civil society. See Bradley Woodworth, “Patterns of Civil Society in a Modernizing Multiethnic City: A German Town in the Russian Empire Becomes Estonian,” Ablmperio, no. 2 (2006).

53. Pumpurs, , Lāčplēsis, 265 Google Scholar.

54. Rainis, Jānis, “Uguns un nakts: Sena dziesma—jaunās skaņās,” in Kopoti raksti 30 sējumos (Riga, 1980), 9:165–314 Google Scholar. For the English translation, see Rainis, , “Fire and Night,“ trans. Straumanis, Alfreds, in Straumanis, Alfreds, ed., Fire and Night: Five Baltic Plays (Prospect Heights, 111., 1986), 1–90 Google Scholar.

55. Rainis, , “Uguns,” lines 1628, 1084-86, 200Google Scholar.

56. Pumpurs, , Lāčplēsis, Canto 5, lines 329-360Google Scholar.

57. Rainis, , “Uguns,” lines 1898-1997Google Scholar.

58. Ibid., lines 2599-2630; Rainis, , “Fire,” 85–86 Google Scholar.

59. “But even when the castle will be unlocked, Lāčplēsis's path will not end, and the beautiful battle without blood will begin in the realm of Spīdola.” Rainis, “Uguns,” 170. The meaning of “changing upward” is also illuminated in Rainis's later literary heroes: Antinš, the litde boy who relinquishes all his earthly desires and only then is able to rescue the princess see Rainis, “The Golden Steed,” trans. Astrida Barbina Stahnke, in Alfreds Straumanis, ed., The Golden Steed: Seven Baltic Plays [Prospect Heights, 111., 1979], 37-1120 and most significantly the biblical Joseph, son of Jacob, who in Rainis's masterpiece rises above revenge and punishment to forgive his cruel, undeserving brothers (see Rainis, , Joseph and His Brothers, trans. Rhys, Grace, ed. Cedrinš, J., 2d ed. [Västerås, Sweden, 1965]Google Scholar). It is difficult, and perhaps unnecessary, to identify one of these three plays or heroes as more influential than the others in the formation of Latvian national identity.

60. l£empe, Mirdza, “Pārdomas par ‘Uguns un nakts’ jauniestudējumu” [1966], in Kopoti raksti (Riga, 1981), 2:406-7Google Scholar; Hausmanis, Viktors, Rainis mūsdienu teātrī (Riga, 1990), 21–22, 32, 90Google Scholar.

61. Māra Zālīte, e-mail to author, 19 May 2006; see also Zālīte, Māra, Dzeja; “Lāčplēsis“ (Riga, 2002), 148-49Google Scholar.

62. Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall similarly argue that the 1905 Revolution in Russia failed because its leaders chose violence as a means of political change. Ackerman, and DuVall, , A Farce More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict (New York, 2000), 13–39 Google Scholar.

63. Ziedonis, Imants, “Kungs un kalps,” in Raksti 12 sējumos (Riga, 1997), 7:291 Google Scholar. The theme of nonviolent resistance in this series of poems is identified by Radzobe, S., “Ziedonis, Imants,” in Hausmanis, Viktors, ed., Latvišsu rakstniecība biografijās (Riga, 1992), 370 Google Scholar.

64. “I have, of course, read that cycle of poems, but I don't remember that part.” Māra Zālīte, e-mail to author, 6 December 2005.

65. Zālīte, Māra, “Lāčplēsis: Librets operai pēc A. Pumpura eposa motiviem,” in Sauciet topartedtri (Riga, 2001), 201-31Google Scholar; Vāvere, Klass, “Latviešu roks 13, ‘Lāčplēsis,'” Liesma, 1 January 1990, 18 Google Scholar. A reviewer commented on the perceived clash between profane rock music and a sacred symbol, “the ‘sacred’ must not be left behind, but rather it must be carried along, dusted off, made current.” Avotinš, Viktors, “Īrēju lāci privātpersonām,” Avots, no. 1 (1989): 46 Google Scholar. The significance of the rock opera is noted by Andrejs Plakans, The Latvians: A Short History (Stanford, 1995), 106-7; Cimdina, Ausma, Teksts un klātbūtne (Riga, 2000), 112-13Google Scholar; Vārdaune, Dzidra, “Ceja vārdi dzejai, kas dzimusi mīlestībā,” in Zālīte, , Dzeja, 24–26 Google Scholar; Ikstena, Nora, Zīdtārpinu musināšana: Māra Zālīte (Riga, 2003), 108, 114-15Google Scholar.

66. Kamergrauzis, Normunds, “Pasaulei atvīrts,” Skolotāju Avīze, no. 38 (21 September 1988): 16 Google Scholar.

67. Zālīte, , “Lāčplēsis,” 223 Google Scholar. The film of the premiere documents that the batde was staged without a sword, with die demon's heads simply disappearing during the dialogue. Zigmars Liepinš and Māra Zālīte, Rokopera Lāčplēsis, Videoieraksts 1988. gada augustā (Riga, n.d.).

68. Amateur singers regularly choose to perform this song, “Atgriešanās,” in the annual “Song for My Generation” pop singing competition. See “Dziesmu tops” and “TV raidījumi” at http://www.dzmp.lv/info/index.php?mid=13 (last accessed 28 May 2007).

69. Zālīte, , “Lāčplēsis,” 223-24Google Scholar.

70. Gorsevski, , Peaceful Persuasion, 9–12 Google Scholar.

71. Normunds Naumanis, for example, wrote, “I accept Bearslayer as a given, as a static unit which is good and noble. But at die present moment that is too little; it is not the kind of political situation in which one can afford to simply be good without an action plan.” Naumanis pointed out that the hero was humiliated, his self-esteem reduced by the fact that he was given wise ideas by two women. Naumanis, “Laīmigu jauno gadu: Jeb jūtu ekstrēmisms uz nelabvēlīgas sociālās ainavas fona,” part 1, Avots, no. 1 (1989): 34 (emphasis in original). Daiga Mazvērsīte also equated nonviolence and weakness and imagined that Bearslayer's condition was imposed by die Soviet government: “Could Bearslayer be a typical victim of the cult of Stalin, forced to beg and grovel by the bureaucracy tiiat had also stolen his sword and golden armor, his will power and heroic strength?” Mazvērsīte, “Nekad nenolasīta runa …, “ Avots, no. 1 (1989): 43.

72. Zālīte, , “Lāčplēsis,” 228 Google Scholar.

73. Veisbergs, Andrejs, ed. The New Latvian English Dictionary (Riga, 2001), 306 Google Scholar.

74. I have not found textual proof for Naumanis's assertion that “the rock opera screams, ‘Death to traitors!’ and warns that traitors continue to be national heroes of the Latvian people.” He does not quote specific lines from the libretto. Naumanis, “Laimigu jauno gadu!” part 2, Avots, no. 3 (1989): 35.

75. Zālīte, , Dzeja, 147 Google Scholar; Daiga Mazvērsīte, “Es gribu, lai mežā augtu vairāk koku, puku un mētru … ar visām ogām, protams,” Padom jujaunatne, 27 September 1988, 4.

76. Māra Zālīte, interview, “Labvakar ar Māru Zālīti,” Latvijas TV, 11 November 1995; I am grateful to Vilnis Āpše (1939-2005) for sending me a videorecording of this broadcast. Contemporaries also identified Kangars as something that each individual encounters inside themselves; for example, Kamergrauzis wrote, “We have both Bearslayer and Kangars inside ourselves. They battle inside each of us. And they battle outside us. And they will battle forever, as long as the world exists.” Kamergrauzis, “Pasaulei atvērts,” 16.

77. Zālīte, , “Lāčplēsis,” 216 Google Scholar. These last two lines of the aria resemble a passage in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 13:3). Zālīte notes, however, that a biblical reference was not intentional when she wrote the libretto, e-mail to author, 23 October 2006. The text of this song is translated in an appendix published on the Slavic Review web site.

78. Current research indicates that the consolidation of Lithuanian political and military power preceded Mindaugas by a generation or two. Baranauskas, Tomas, Lietuvos Valstybes ištakos (Vilnius, 2000), 167-78Google Scholar.

79. Mindaugas's “rabbit god,” “Divirikis,” is mentioned in Perfecky, ed., Hypatian Codex, 63.

80. Slovackis, Julijus, “Mindaugis, Lietuvos Karalius,” translated from Polish into Lithuanian by Kudirka, Vincas, Raštai (Vilnius, 1989), 1:494–561 Google Scholar; the play was first published in Chicago in 1900. It was staged in 1905 by Lithuanians in St. Petersburg, and then in 1923 by the Kaunas Drama Theater in independent Lithuania. Ibid., 1:705-6. For an excerpt of the play translated into English, see Sobieski, Paul, “From ‘Mindowe,'” in A Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern (New York, 1897), 34:13511-17Google Scholar.

81. See annotation by A. Vaitekuniene and Pilypaitis, J. in Slovackis, “Mindaugis, Lietuvos Karalius,” 706 Google Scholar.

82. Berlin, Isaiah, The Roots of Romanticism, ed. Henry Hardy (Princeton, 1999), 8–12, 84Google Scholar.

83. Slovackis, , “Mindaugis, Lietuvos Karalius,” 506 Google Scholar.

84. -Puidiene, O. Pl., “Mindaugis,” Gains, no. 1 (1923): 46 Google Scholar.

85. Kreve-Mickevičius, Vincas, Rinktiniai raštai, vol. 2, Dramos (Vilnius, 1982), 628 Google Scholar.

86. Marcinkevičius, Justinas, “Mindaugas,” trans. Ona Čerškūtė-Spidell, in Straumanis, , ed., Fire and Night, 145–207 Google Scholar. Marcinkevičius writes that he first read Kreve-Mickevičius's “Death of Mindaugas” later, when the author's Works were published in 1982 (letter to author, 19 December 2006).

87. Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas magnifies the negative image of the new version when he contrasts Kreve-Mickevičius's portrayal of Mindaugas, “a duke of his epoch,” with that of Marcinkevičius, “a dictator of today.” Nyka-Niliūnas, , ‘Justino Marcinkevičiaus Mindaugas ,“ in Katkuviene, Jurga, ed., Kūrybos studijos ir interpretacijos: Justinas Marcinkevičius (Vilnius, 2001), 193 Google Scholar.

88. Marcinkevičius quotes the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle to support the fact that Morta was alive; “I do not know what historical sources were used by Krėvė and Slowacki, who both, I believe, caused Morta to die too early” (letter to author, 19 December 2006).

89. To my knowledge, Morta's role in Mindaugas's first act of mercy and subsequent confession has not been analyzed. Morta is seen as a passive character, “Mindaugas's tool,“ by Zigmas Papečkys, “Dvi Justino Marcinkevičiaus knygos,” in Katkuviene, ed., Kūrybos studijos ir interpretacijos, 185. Morta's madness is interpreted as an anti-Christian motif by Jonas Grinius,'Justino Marcinkevičiaus Mindaugas,” in Katkuviene, ed., Kūrybos studijos ir interpretacijos, 205. Jonas Lankutis writes that she experiences a doubly tragic fate: first, in her love for Mindaugas and second, in the collapse of her character into the web of mystic religion. Lankutis, Jonas, Monografiniai etiudai: Juozo Grušo ir Justino Marcinkevičiaus kūrybos bruožai (Vilnius, 1987), 323-24, 334Google Scholar. Viktorija Daujotyte lists Morta as one of several women in Marcinkevičius's plays who “die or are destroyed, not one of them remains by her husband, not one of them lifts the burden of history.” Daujotyte, , Raštai ir paraštes apiejustino Marcinkevičiaus kūryba (Vilnius, 2003), 150 Google Scholar. Morta's similarity to Shakespeare's Ophelia is often noted, but her madness has not been interpreted in the context of Soviet Lithuanian literature's battle with censorship, where an altered state of consciousness such as drunkenness allowed characters to say things that would otherwise have been censored. See, for example, Kelertas, Violeta, “Introduction,” in Come into My Time: Lithuania in Prose Fiction, 1970-90 (Urbana, 1992), 41-l4Google Scholar.

90. Lankutis, , Monografiniai etiudai, 313-14, 326-27, 418Google Scholar. Marcinkevičius himself noted that Mindaugas is first in a trilogy which, taken as a whole, is a “unique national epic or myth,” “Mazvydas,” Literatūra ir Menas, 8 May 1976, 8.

91. Pakalniškis, Ričardas, “Nuo poemos i drama,” Literatūra ir Menas, 1 February 1969, 4 Google Scholar. See also Lankutis, , Monografiniai etiudai, 422 Google Scholar.

92. Marcinkevičius, Justinas, eulogy on Cathedral Square in Vilnius, 16 January 1991, Lietuva 1991.01.13: Dokumentai, liudijimai, atgarsiai (Vilnius, 1991), [69]Google Scholar. The eulogy is translated in an appendix published on the Slavic Review web site.

93. A photograph of the 2003 Mindaugas monument is available in Wikipedia. A photograph of Mindaugas's seal appears on the web site of the Lithuanian Art Museum, http://ldmuziejus.mch.mii.lt/Naujausiosparodos/Naujparimages/Mindaugo_aktas.jpg (last accessed 28 May 2007).

94. Mareckaite, Gražina, Romantizmo idejos lietuviu teatre nuo XIX iki XXI amžiaus (Vilnius, 2004), 230-32Google Scholar.

95. Bronius Kutavičius, “Opera-baletas ‘Ugnis ir tikejimas'; Sceninis diptikas,” libretto by Bronius Kutavičius and Gintaras Beresnevicius (unpublished text provided by the Lithuanian Music Information Centre, 2005). The event was performed by the Lithuanian National Ballet and Opera Theatre at Trakai Castle, an island fortress that once served as the capital of medieval Lithuania. It was broadcast on national television and remained in the repertoire of the National Opera that fall. Janulyte, Juste, “Diptichas diptiche, arba keletas Broniaus Kutavičiaus naujosios scenos duo ,” Lileratūra ir Menas, 25 July 2003, 19–23 Google Scholar. The text of Mindaugas and Morta's dialogue is reproduced in an appendix to this article, published on the Slavic Review web site.

96. The author of the libretto made explicit the connections between Mindaugas's story and the world of Lithuania today. He saw convergences between medieval Lithuanian history and the European Union in 2003 and argued that Mindaugas showed Lithuania where she must go —westward, “where nobody wanted her at that time, and nobody helped her.” Beresnevicius, Gintaras, “Mindaugas ir Lietuva: Abu per stiprūs,” Metai: Lietuvos rašytoju sajungos menraštis, nos. 8/9 (2003): 183 Google Scholar. The 2003 performance resonated with the political situation described by Klaudijus Maniokas, where Lithuania's accession to the European Union (in the context of a general lack of will among member states to enlarge) was seen as a sacrifice of spiritual independence. Maniokas, , “The Method of the European Union's Enlargement to the East: A Critical Appraisal,” in An toaneta Dimitrova, L., ed., Driven to Change: The European Union's Enlargement Viewed from the East (Manchester, Eng., 2004), 33 Google Scholar.

97. “Maarjamäe memoriaali juurde merre rajatakse 21-meetrine Kalevipoeg,” Postimees, 14 September 2006. The story of a giant who rescues a ship exists in the Estonian folk tradition, but it is attributed to a giant named Suur Toll, not Kalevipoeg. See Laugaste, E., Liiv, E., and Normann, E., Muistendid Suurest Tōllustja teistest (Tallinn, 1963), 62–64, 199Google Scholar.

98. Dorson, Richard M., “Fakelore,” American Folklore and the Historian (Chicago, 1971), 3–14 Google Scholar.

99. Kask, Merit, “'Eesti ballaadid’ tulevad taas,” Postimees, 29 July 2005 Google Scholar; Mihkelson, Immo, “Eesti ballaadid tulevad vōimsalt,” Postimees, 19 August 2004 Google Scholar; Mihkelson, Immo, “'Eesti ballaadid’ otsib jätkamiseks raha,” Postimees, 6 January 2005 Google Scholar; “Veljo Tormise triumf,” Postimees, 19 August 2004, 1.

100. Kivirähk, Andrus, “Kalevipoeg: Näidend kahes vaatuses,” Looming, no. 12 (2003): 1779 Google Scholar. See also a performance review, Marko Mägi, “Head seapüüdmist!” Eesti Ekspress, 17 June 2003.

101. The restoration of the Jelgava monument is described by Korsaks, P. and Kuškis, G., Ceļā uz neatkarību: Brīvības cīnu pieminekļi (Riga, 1997), 145-51. 102Google Scholar. Latvijas Pasts, “Europa,” (1995), http://www.pasts.lv/en/veikals/prece/Pshop_id=260 (last accessed 28 May 2007).

103. Bensons Auto in Riga advertised the 2006 Honda CRV with the caption, “Stiprs kā Lāčplēsis, gudrs kā Sprīdītis” (Strong as Bearslayer, Smart as Tom Thumb); Lāčplēša alus, http://www.alus.lv/ (last accessed 28 May 2007).

104. Zālīte, , interview, “Labvakar ar Māru Zālīti,” Latvijas TV, 11 November 1995 Google Scholar.

105. Pantomime, Riga, “The Light Became at Night” (2001), http://www.pantomima.lv/index.php?page=6&lang=en (last accessed 28 May 2007)Google Scholar.

106. Freud, , “Why War?” in The Standard Edition, 22: 215 Google Scholar; Bildt, Carl, “The Baltic Litmus Test,” Foreign Affairs 73, no. 5 (1994): 72–85 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

107. Petersen, , “Kalevipoeg tänapäeval,” 2585-86Google Scholar, also finds in Kreutzwald's Kalevipoega “spark of hope” for the future of European culture.