Classic Juozas Baltušis versus outsider Icchokas Meras

Abstract

The article analyzes the paradoxes of positions in the field of literature by Lithuanian writers Icchokas Meras and Juozas Baltušis: their competition in the 1960s and exchange of the outsider and the classic roles in the restored independence era. The focus is made on the best novel of Baltušis Sakmė apie Juzą (Tale of Juza) and its similarities to the novel of Meras Ant ko laikosi pasaulis (What the World Rests Upon), which after Meras’ emigration in 1972 was removed from public libraries of Lithuania and not publicly discussed. It is assumed that the latter novel could have influenced Baltušis’ novel model and poetics, his efforts to enrich social realism with the possibilities of mythologized narrative. Comparing the two novels, their different moral basis is discussed, although the common effort of both writers to create the generalized sense is emphasized. The conclusion is that Meras’ novel belongs to the dynamic and Baltušis’ novel to the static myth model. The tale is considered as a variant of the national character expression and an example of the Lithuanian passion of persistence.