bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A cross-sectional study of association between ocular pressures and different grades of myopia in young adults
Authors: B. Sreenivas Sudha , C. M. Ramya , K. R. Vinitha , M. R. Sreenivas , Gopi Arun
Published: November 2022

Introduction and Aim: My­opia is one of the most common refractive errors causing visual disability worldwide. Uncorrected refractive error poses a public health challenge especially in young adults who have to spend most of their time in literary works. Intra ocular pressure (IOP) is one of the crucial factors intertwined in the pathophysiology of myopia. Ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) determines ocular blood flow. Studies done on association between IOP and refractive errors are contradictory. There is paucity of literature on relationship between OPP and myopia. Hence this original article aimed to assess the association of IOP and OPP changes with myopia and to analyze the relationship between ocular pressures with severity of myopia.
 
Materials and Methods: Hundred normal adults in the age group of 18-24 years of either gender were recruited for the present study. Voluntary written and informed consent was sought from all participants and the refractive power of their eyes was noted. They were categorised into three groups based on the severity of myopia. Controls were the emmetropes. All participants were asked to relax for 5-10 minutes and the resting BP and IOP were recorded using sphygmomanometer and rebound tonometer respectively. OPP was calculated.
 
Results: IOP values were comparatively higher in myopes than emmetropes.  A significant reduction in OPP values were observed in moderate myopes.
 
Conclusion: Myopes have a higher IOP suggesting myopia is one of the major risk factor for ocular hypertension. Low OPP values in moderate myopes indicate reduced ocular perfusion, making the progressive myopes highly susceptible to glaucoma.
TNF-alpha gene polymorphism and its relation to vitamin D, calcium, alkaline phosphatase and ferritin status in Iraqi beta thalassemia patients
Authors: Jasim Mohammed Bushra
Published: November 2022

Introduction and Aim: Due to a lack of effective medications, beta-thalassemia is a serious issue in Iraq. Thus, the current investigation aimed to explore the relationship between TNF-alpha gene polymorphism G/A (rs 1800629), Vitamin D (Vit D), Calcium (Ca), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and ferritin status in Iraqi beta thalassemia major and intermediate patients.
 
Materials and Methods: Blood samples were collected from 46 patients suffering from thalassemia major (TM) plus 48 patients suffering from thalassemia intermediate (TI) and 48 of apparently healthy volunteers as control group aged 18-60 years, from Ibn Al-Baladi Hospital, Baghdad.
 
Results: Studies for the distribution of TNF- alpha G/A (rs 1800629) genotype showed that among TM patients and TI patients, the prevalence of the mutant AA genotype (rs 1800629) was higher in TM patients, while in the control group, it was lower.  Similarly, for the wild genotype (GG), the prevalence was highest in control group followed by T1 and TM patients. The frequency of A allele was high in TM patients, while the G allele frequency was more in the control group. Results also showed that the TNF- alpha genotype variations influenced Vitamin D, Calcium, ALP, and ferritin levels in TM and TI patients, wherein the patients with TNF-alpha mutant genotype (AA) were associated with highest levels of ferritin and ALP among all genotypes groups, while the patients of with TNF-alpha wild genotype (GG) were associated with high levels of Vitamin D and Calcium among all genotypes groups.
 
Conclusion: Patients with at least one copy of (A) allele had a higher risk of TM and TI and there was an association between the heterogeneous (GA) and mutant (AA) genotypes, also presence of (A) allele with status differences of Vit D, Ca, ALP, and ferritin in Iraqi beta thalassemia major and intermediate patients.
The predictive value of prognostic nutritional index in patients with COVID-19
Authors: N. Mohsin Naser , K. Shaker Ekremah , S. Salih Khalid , Jabbar K. Ibrahim Abdul
Published: November 2022

Introduction and Aim: It is crucial to identify and start treating the COVID-19 patients who are most at risk of becoming seriously ill as soon as possible. There is some evidence that prognostic nutritional index (PNI) could predict the outcome of some diseases. The study objective was to determine whether PNI is a useful prognostic tool for predicting the outcome of COVID-19-positive patients.
 
Patients and Methods: At Al-Shifaa Hospital in Baghdad Medical City, a total of 160 patients with COVID-19 participated in a study that was designed as a cross-sectional. At the time of admission, information was collected on the patient's history, including clinical, laboratory, and demographic details. The PNI score was determined by 10 × serum albumin (g/dL) + 0.005 × total lymphocyte count (/mm3). Patients were followed up for survival.
 
Results: The mortality rate was 14.37%. Survived patients had a mean age of 55.85±16.03 years compared with 64.30 ±14.76 years for died patients with a significant difference. Diabetes was more common among died (39.13%) than survived patients (15.33%) with a significant difference. The median serum level of C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer and ferritin in deceased patients was 84 mg/L, 2208 ng/ml and 650 ng/ml, respectively compared with 48 mg/L, 858 ng/ml and 550 ng/ml in survived patients with highly significant differences. The mean PNI in survived and non-survived patients was 40.89±5.9 and 37.86±4.36, respectively with a significant difference. The area under the curve (AUC) for PNI was 0.888, 95%CI = 0.827 and 0.939, p = 0.002 At an ideal cutoff value of 39.08, the test's sensitivity and specificity are 80 % and 74 %, respectively.
 
Conclusion: The PNI score is an easy-to-use, speedy, and cost-effective tool that has the potential to be utilized on a routine basis to predict mortality in patients with COVID-19.
Assessment of asprosin level and some of physiological variables in patients with cardiovascular diseases in Kirkuk city, Iraq
Authors: Khalaf Al-Hadidi Elaf Erfan , Al-Obaidi Wedad Mahmood Lahmood
Published: November 2022

Introduction and Aim: Asprosin is a novel fasting-induced glucogenic adipokine, which stimulates the liver to release glucose into the blood stream. The aim of this study was to examine the role of asprosin as well as various physiological and oxidative stress factors in atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction patients in comparison to healthy controls in Kirkuk city, in order to clarify whether asprosin helps in protecting heart and preventing heart disease.
 
Materials and Methods: This study included blood samples collected from patients (n=70) and normal healthy controls (n=20), aged between 45-65 years from the Kirkuk General Hospital and external specialized clinical between December 2021 to February 2022. The samples were divided into three groups which included healthy controls (n=20), patients suffering from atherosclerosis (n=40) and myocardial infarction (n=30) respectively. Individuals in all groups were tested for their blood ASP, CPK-BM Tnt and lipid profile levels. Blood serum was also tested for concentration of FBS, INS, HbA1c, MDA and GSH.
 
Results: The asprosin, CPK-BM, Cardiac troponin (TNt) and INS levels was observed to be significantly elevated in atherosclerosis patients in comparison to healthy controls. However, in myocardial infarction patients significant increase levels was seen only for CPK-BM and INS levels. Lipid profiling showed that except for HDL levels, significant increased levels for TC, TG, LDL and VLDL in both atherosclerosis and MI patients as compared to healthy individuals. The concentration of FBS was seen elevated in blood serum of atherosclerosis and MI patients in comparison to controls.  No significant increase was observed for HbA1c and oxidative stress hormones MDA and GSH).
 
Conclusion: Changes in asprosin levels in patients with cardiovascular disease could be considered as a biochemical marker to estimate the severity of injury in heart and heart muscles.
Evaluation of leptin serum concentration in cases of blood transfusion dependent Beta thalassemia and its relationship with thyroid dysfunction
Authors: Yousif Al-Fatlawi Abeer Cheaid
Published: November 2022

Introduction and Aim: Thalassemia disorder is characterized by the body’s inability to produce hemoglobin. This is an inherited disorder and arises due to defects in one or more globin chains. Thalassemia patients have been associated with endocrine dysfunction leading to toxic and deleterious effects. In the present study, we aimed to correlate leptin levels in Transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT) patients to their thyroid hormonal levels and hematological parameters.
 
Materials and Methods: The study included 50 individuals (25 male and 25 female) aged 11-20 years with beta-thalassemia major and 20 healthy individuals (10 male, 10 females) aged 13-20 years as controls. All individuals included in the study were assessed for their BMI, complete blood count, serum ferritin and iron, thyroid function, leptin and ghrelin hormonal levels.
 
Results: This study showed a low BMI in patients as compared to healthy individuals. A high increase in TSH and ferritin was found in patients of both genders as compared to controls. T4 significantly decreased in males and females as compared to control. Significant reduction in leptin levels was observed in both male and female patients. A positive correlation was observed between leptin and TSH in males while a negative correlation between leptin and T4 was observed in females. A significant positive correlation was seen between leptin and T4 and between TSH and T4. BMI in males and female significant low compared to control.
 
Conclusion: Leptin probably plays an important role in thyroid dysfunction. Serum leptin, ferritin and thyroid hormonal levels in patients could be used as a guide in predicting hormonal modulation in major beta thalassemic patients.
Molecular characterization of HBB gene mutations in beta-thalassemia patients of Southern Iraq
Authors: Odah Al-Musawi Ali Habeeb , Mohammed Aziz Hussein , Khudair Safa , Hadi Saleh Tahreer
Published: November 2022

Introduction and Aim: Beta-thalassemia is a serious inherited genetic disorder and an increasing health burden globally. Beta -thalassemia is caused by genetic globin abnormalities within the hemoglobin beta (HBB) gene. This study aimed to characterize the HBB gene mutations in beta -thalassemia among southern Iraqi patients.

 

Materials and Methods: The study included 30 beta -thalassemia patients referred to the Thi-Qar Center for Genetic Diseases, Iraq and 15 control samples from a random group of apparently healthy individuals. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood sample collected from each individual. The DNA was amplified for specific regions of the HBB gene and the amplified products sequenced. The sequences generated were analysed for mutations using sequence analysis tools.

 

Results: Molecular analysis revealed several mutations in the HBB gene including translocation, deletion and substitution mutations in the population tested positive for the beta -thalassemia trait.

 

Conclusion:  Thalassemia major is a serious concern in southern Iraq and therefore this study emphasizes a need for complete mutation profiling of the beta -globin gene as a strategy for screening of carriers within the population. Such examinations could be useful in pre-marital genetic counseling and for undertaking prevention and treatment measures.
Apresentação
Authors: Hubler Sonia Maria Packer
Published: November 2022

.
Apie doktorantūros studijas, laisvalaikį ir akademines erdves
Authors: Kučinskienė Aistė , Sprindytė Jūratė , Cibarauskė Virginija , Čerškutė Jūratė , Bertašavičiūtė Rima
Published: November 2022

-
Baltijos šalių konferencija – tarptautinė ar regioninė?
Authors: Jurgutienė Aušra
Published: November 2022

-
„Man literatūra yra ėjimas į mūsų bendrą kultūrą“. Lietuvių išeivijos literatūrologę Audronę Barūnaitę-Willeke kalbina Akvilė Rėklaitytė
Authors: Rėklaitytė Akvilė , Barūnaitė-Willeke Audronė
Published: November 2022

-
Social Atmospheres: The Cultural Psychology of the “Šatrija” and “Trečias frontas” Societies
Authors: Kvietkauskas Mindaugas
Published: November 2022

Analyses of many controversial episodes in twentieth century Lithuanian literary history increasingly call not only for debates about political and social processes, and about ideological contexts, but for examination of the cultural psychology of that era. Drawing on psychohistorical and emotional history approaches opens up the path to a more integrated understanding of historical situations and motivations. The author of this article undertakes to reconstruct and compare two literary societies – the neo-Catholic “Šatrija” and the leftist “Trečias frontas” (“Third Front”) – and the atmosphere around them during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Following Walter Benjamin, the concept of atmosphere takes into account the quality of sociocultural situations and relates objective historical contexts to subjective psychological states. The interplay between sociocultural environment and individual feelings is also stressed in foundational works of cultural psychology: correlations between them reveal common societal codes (c.f. Richard Schweder, Jerome Bruner, Michael Cole, Vytautas Kavolis). The article draws on a number of key elements in cultural psychology – relationship to authority and institutions, spaces and practices integrating the collective, private platonic and erotic relations – to analyze the wealth of memoir material left by members of the groups and individuals close to them. The study makes it possible to more clearly identify the liberal-salon and revolutionary-bohemian atmospheres that were operating among the young Lithuanian intellectuals in the late 1920s and early 1930s and to grasp that members of both groups faced various mechanisms of political and psychological repression. Their relationships with these mechanisms marked the beginning of a period of identity crisis for the members of “Šatrija” and “Trečias frontas” and led some of them to make radical ideological choices during the 1940s.
Contents
Authors: Sprindytė Jūratė
Published: November 2022

-
Studying the History of Emotions: The Theories of Peter and Carol Stearns, Barbara Rosenwein, and William Reddy
Authors: Bleizgienė Ramunė
Published: November 2022

The author of this article presents the outcome of several decades in the study of emotional history, a field that emerged in the West during the 1970s. She focuses primarily on the work of Peter and Carol Stearns, Barbara Rosenwein, and William Reddy, who not only analyzed emotions in concrete historical periods but developed conceptual models for studying how emotions change.The Stearns propose making a distinction between emotional standards (or emotionology) and emotional experience. They claim that until they began to work on the topic, most writing about emotions in history explored societal emotional standards rather than revealed human emotions. The author of this article argues that the distinction introduced by the Stearns is losing functionality: according to them, because all historical sources are shaped by dominating emotional standards, trying to grasp concrete emotional experience is problematic.Rosenwein opposes the idea of the Middle Ages as a period of unbridled, childish emotion; she argues that because emotions are the products of social experience and education, it is erroneous to think that there was a time when the experience and expression of emotions were not controlled. Rosenwein proposes the concept of emotional communities and argues that more than one of these can exist in a society. An emotional community emphasizes some emotions while avoiding or suppressing others, thus encouraging a type of emotional expression characteristic to that community. The author of the article notes that, while Rosenwein separates the Stearns’s image of a monolithic society into smaller components, that author neglects the question of concrete individual’s experience.For his part, Reddy takes into account both society’s influence on emotional experience and expression, and the individual’s capacity to shape his or her emotional life. Reddy explains emotional experience as an internal process of translation in the individual, in which signals received by the body and the surrounding environment are translated into a socially defined language. The idea of the performativity of language helps Reddy to demonstrate that emotional statements not only describe experience but help to shape it. This article argues that Reddy’s theory is most closely aligned with concrete individual experience, and can explain how, as a result of the combined influence of sociocultural conditions and individual experience, emotions change over time.
Censorship of Public Lithuanian Theatre Evenings in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Imperial Russia
Authors: Avižinienė Birutė
Published: November 2022

The goal of this article is to examine the censorship of public Lithuanian theatre evening repertoires under imperial Russian rule in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author offers a short history of theatre censorship in imperial Russia and identifies the general principles that guided state censors. Drawing on archival material, she reconstructs how the repertoires of public Lithuanian theatre evenings was censored. She examines specific edits that have been preserved in copies of censored plays and compares banned and approved plays, identifying specific requirements that were made of Lithuanian playwrights: state censorship prohibited the expression of nationalist aspirations in any form, and the performance of any works that portrayed the Russian people in a negative light.Lithuanian works were censored somewhat more lightly than Russian plays of the same period, particularly after the Revolution of 1905. This loosening of censorship reflects the general tendencies of softening censorship, a process to which Eduard Volter, a censor who was sympathetic to the Lithuanian nationalist movement, contributed. Volter viewed Lithuanian historical dramas in formal terms and did not withold permits for performances of plays that might inspire patriotic feelings.The author of the article comes to the conclusion that theatre censorship during this period was ineffective: it does not appear to have had a significant effect on Lithuanian playwrights, as censorship guidelines were not applied to the texts of published dramatic works. This was a result of Lithuania’s particular, northwestern situation. Because of imperial Russia’s ban on Lithuanian-language publications, most earlier plays had been printed outside of the Russian Empire; moreover, the organizers of public Lithuanian theatre evenings had the experience and alternative of holding secret Lithuanian events prior to 1904. In the Lithuanian consciousness, because the organization of Lithuanian theatre evenings was associated with a stance of defying official policy, censorship rules were not always adhered to. While censorship sought to control Lithuanian theatre evenings repertoires, it ultimately reinforced the politicization of Lithuanian theatregoers.
Rebellion Under the Conditions of “Mature Socialism”: The Case of Sigitas Geda
Authors: Kmita Rimantas
Published: November 2022

Drawing on German researcher Angela Borgwardt’s interpretive political theory, the author of this article raises the question of how we should speak about Soviet era writers’ attitudes without making generalizations based on models of resistance/compliance. He analyzes one of the most innovative and rebellious poets of Soviet Lithuania, Sigitas Geda, examining the poet’s attitude during the period of mature socialism and on the eve of the Lithuanian independence movement Sąjūdis.Based on concrete situations and conflicts with the government, the author identifies Geda’s attitude as that of public rebel. Although Geda was not a political dissident, both his creative work and his public attitude represented individual resistance to the system. His poetry generated constant debate, and Geda became famous for his candid character. Like many writers of that older generation, Geda did not belong to the Communist Party, and, although he never engaged in public self-criticism, he was publicly chastised more than once.Geda’s letters and other archival documents reveal that the poet used personal conversations and letters to defend his loyalty to the state and guarantee his legitimacy, and to resolve conflicts with the government and other problems; a more distinct and public compromise was his 1977 play Komunarų gatvė (Communard Street). In his private correspondence, Geda interprets his position and writing as loyal to the Soviet regime and inoffensive to Socialist Realism. Moreover, in defending his position, Geda often went over into attack, and drew on his own well-deserved official status and official aesthetic theory to demonstrate his legitimacy.
The Dynamic of Maironis’s Canonization in Lithuanian Literary Criticism of the First Half of the Twentieth Century
Authors: Šeina Viktorija
Published: November 2022

Drawing on the literary sociology principle that the position of a concrete author or text within a canon is the result of a socio-cultural selection process, this article seeks to determine which selection and communication factors and conditions led to the canonisation of the work of the Lithuanian national revival poet Maironis (1862–1932) in Lithuanian literary criticism of the first half of the twentieth century. Already during Maironis’s first period of canonisation, before the First World War, the dual nature of this poet’s assessment was evident in literary criticism: while professional literary critics considered Maironis’s contemplative, intimate lyric to be his strongest writing, they recognised that Maironis became a popular poet thanks to his patriotic poems. The identification of Maironis’s popular poetry’s role in the national revival as the essential criterion for evaluating his writing was emphasised by individuals not connected to literary studies – members of the Lithuania press; this determined the poet’s significance in the canon during the period under analysis. Although, following the restoration of statehood in 1918, younger critics began to question Maironis’s position within the contemporary literary canon, during the same period – in publications by the older generation of critics, in academic discourse and in school literature programs and textbooks – Maironis was both clearly established as a prophet of national revival and accorded the status of leading national classic.
Intertexts of Theatrical Experiments in the Plays of Kostas Ostrauskas
Authors: Martišiūtė-Linartienė Aušra
Published: November 2022

During the past decade, the plays of Kostas Ostrauskas (1926–2012) have been studied in terms of their intertextuality, with researchers such as Irina Melnikova, Reda Pabarčienė and others highlighting the structural and semantic dialogue between the author’s own vs. borrowed words, and with literary texts, different art forms (literature, music, painting, cinema), and so on. However, theatre had yet to be included in the intertexts being studied, even though it is often referred to as one of the most important contexts (c.f. Jonas Lankutis, Jurgis Blekaitis, Ingrida Ruchlevičienė, etc). Drawing on the theatre performativity studies of Hans-Thies Lehmann and Erika Fischer-Lichte, the author of this article explores the question of context and how it becomes intertext in Ostrauskas’s dramas.In his first-wave avantgarde works Ostrauskas creates a relationship of parody (the intertext of the microdrama “Instaliacija” (Installation) is Marcel Duchamp’s sculpture “The Fountain”; the microdrama “Šauksmas” (The Cry) references Edvard Munch’s Expressionist painting). In secondwave avantgarde works – in “Fluxus” events and performances – Ostrauskas creates an imitative relationship, further extending the limits of experimentation (the “Fluxus” intertext – George Maciunas’s performance “Piano Activities” – is reduced to one performer, the action is complicated by the introduction of classical music; the text of “Paskutinis monologas” (Final Monologue) consists only of the title and the comment “silence,” extending John Cage’s idea of silent plays by eliminating the stage’s actor and object). The playwright reduced the extent of the verbal text to a minimum (referring to the play as a microdrama), focusing on the ideas of performance and action.
Dimensions of Poetic Expression in Drama and Theatre
Authors: Gudavičiūtė Aušra
Published: November 2022

The author of this article has two goals: a theoretical one – to use the concepts of “poetic drama” and “poetic theatre,” which date from the first half of the twentieth century, to explore the concept of “poetics in theatre,” and a practical one – to discuss poetic forms of expression in contemporary theatre. The author reveals that the concepts of “poetic drama” and “poetic theatre” still lack strict genre definitions, so that poetic means of expression in drama and theatre can only be named. She discusses means of poetic expression within several examples of contemporary Lithuanian theatre – the plays “Audra” (The Tempest, by William Shakespeare; staged in 1997); “Jobo knyga” (The Book of Job, from the Old Testament; staged in 2014); Nutolę toliai (Distant Distances, based on the poetry of Petras Širvys; staged in 2010); and the performance “Gondii sindromas” (The Gondii Syndrome, by Gabrielė Labanauskaitė; 2014) – and comes to the conclusion that poeticism is expressed both through the reinforcement of early twentieth century principles about the use of poeticism in drama and their deconstruction, and in the highlighting of characteristics typical of postdramatic theatre – the shifting of emphasis from meaning generated by spoken discourse to sensuality, spatialisation, “textual landscape,” dedramatizing, and so on. Even though postdramatic theatre deconstructs traditional means of expressing poeticism – the generating of a poetic verbal text through drama – the author discerns, in postdramatic theatre, continuation of neoromantic Lithuanian drama traditions.
A View of the Soviet Empire Through the “Window” of the Lithuanian Writer’s Ethnic Identity (Vilius Ivanauskas, Įrėminta tapatybė: Lietuvos rašytojai tautų draugystės imperijoje/ Framed Identity: Lithuanian Writers Within the Empire of National Friendship
Authors: Baliutytė Elena
Published: November 2022

Vilius Ivanauskas, Įrėminta tapatybė: Lietuvos rašytojai tautų draugystės imperijoje, Vilnius: Lietuvos istorijos institutas, 2015, 472 p., ISBN 978-609-8183-04-7
Elements of Iconicity in the Texts of Antanas A. Jonynas
Authors: Butnoriūtė Neringa
Published: November 2022

The author of this article presents, and examines the expression of, iconicity in the poetry of Antanas A. Jonynas. Drawing on the American semiotician Charles S. Peirce’s sign theory and hermeneutic analysis she reveals how, in Jonynas’s poetry, reality is contextualized through language – its characteristics, expression, and meaning. Unusually for Lithuanian literary studies, the article dicsusses iconicity in terms of cognitive poetics.The article relates poetic expression with both iconicity in language and the function of metaphor within the literary text. These reflect the complex phenomenon of literary visualization and convey the fundamental human ability to think in terms of analogy.As is characteristic for modern poets, Jonynas stresses the importance of language: it is a means, a separate motive, and a problematized aesthetic effect – it is the power to both create a world and to decipher human experience through language. The image of reality within the text is based on the logic of spectacle (the analysis reveals the latter’s metatextual status), and for this reason the drama of the poem can appear to be both real and theatrical. But Jonynas’s texts are characterized by the ability to simultaneously talk about and describe states, and to convince and engage the perceiver: the texts combine sensations and draw on the transmission function (speaking and listening). The author of the article offers a detailed analysis of the nature of the poet’s language and the motif of memory in his writing. Images and the entire texts’s metaphoric level reveal the discontinuity between conscious speaking and nondiscursive experience in Jonynas’s poetry. The poetic text combines elements of reality; existential categories merely create the misleading impression that the status of emotion in the text is equivalent to the represented object or landscape.
The Concept of Literary Baltistics: Several Versions
Authors: Butkus Vigmantas
Published: November 2022

This article is comprised of two parts. The first part analyses the traditional concept of Literary Baltistics, based on an ethnolinguistic criterion of commonality which in turn presupposes this academic discipline’s comparativist dimension and situates it within Baltic philology as a whole. This concept encompasses: 1) traditional comparativist studies of the literatures of the two Baltic states (Lithuania and Latvia), both genetic and typological research (the work of Kostas Korsakas, Alfons Vilsons, Kęstutis Nastopka, Silvestras Gaižiūnas, Eva Eglāja-Kristsone, and others); and 2) and poetic Baltistics, which draws mainly on linguopoetic and mythopoetic methodological approaches and is primarily focused on the analysis of manifestations of cross-Baltic phenomena in literature and especially language (the work of Skrimantas Valentas is most notable here).The second part of the article analyses what can be called a functional concept of literary Baltistics. It is especially reinforced in foreign practices of studying Lithuanian and Latvian literatures. This concept encompasses: 1) the tendency of conceptually seeing comparative or traditional studies of Lithuanian or Latvian literature as Baltistics (this tendency is especially noticeable in the work scholars studying these literatures beyond the borders of Lithuania and Latvia); and 2) the tendency to somehow relate (or fuse) literary Baltistics to Baltic literary studies (the work of Radegast Parolek, Friedrich Scholz, and Benedikts Kalnač is mentioned).
What is the Poet Writing on a Scrap of Paper?
Authors: Rėklaitytė Akvilė
Published: November 2022

Marcelijus Martinaitis, Viskas taip ir liks: 1988–2013 metų užrašai, sudarė ir parengė Valentinas Sventickas, Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 239 p. ISBN 978-9986-39-996-4
Foreword
Authors: Sprindytė Jūratė , Bernotienė Gintarė
Published: November 2022

-
Juozas Aputis’s Short Story “It Is Unfortunate That You Are Left Alone”: Bronius Radzevičius’s Implication
Authors: Vaitiekūnas Dainius
Published: November 2022

The author of this article seeks to describe the effect of a dedication to the writer Bronius Radzevičius (1940–1980) upon the short story “It’s Unfortunate That You Are Left Alone,” written by his friend Juozas Aputis. This work was published in Aputis’s collection of short stories titled Keleivio novelės (A Traveller’s Stories, 1985). Radzevičius’s collection of short prose, Link Debesijos (Toward the Debesija) was published in 1984, followed in 1985 by the full, two-volume edition of Radzevičius’s novel Priešaušrio vieškeliai (The Predawn Roads), the second volume of which was edited by Aputis.A narratological analysis of the Aputis story dedicated to Bronius Radzevičius reveals that the dedication can be understood as having a metanarrative effect: it can be seen as a second narrative within the story and one which envelops the story’s own narrative. The story’s narrative can be seen as connected to the enveloping narrative by, at the very least, a thematic connection which encourages us to look for a parabolic connection between these two narratives. The paratext of the dedication, which establishes a relationship between the work of these two authors, encourages us the read both the title of Aputis’s story and the text itself differently. For this very reason the dedication can be compared to the laconic foreword, in which the main rhetorical device is the ellipsis.
Oh, Juozaputis!
Authors: Lukšas Gytis
Published: November 2022

-
A Personal History of Poetry
Authors: Satkauskytė Dalia
Published: November 2022

Algis Kalėda, Kornelijaus Platelio kūrybos kontekstai, arba tarp Dioniso ir Apolono, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2016, 245 p., ISBN 978-609-425-178-8
Misfortune as a Choice
Authors: Banytė Elžbieta
Published: November 2022

Tomas Venclova, Nelyginant šiaurė magnetą: Pašnekesiai su Ellen Hinsey, vertė Laimantas Jonušys, Vilnius: Apostrofa, 2017, 534 p., ISBN 978-609-8205-04-6
Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas’s Literary Review: Polemical Dialogues
Authors: Kuizinienė Dalia
Published: November 2022

Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas (1919–2015), the celebrated Lithuanian poet of the 20th century, was also one of the most prominent literary critics. For more than two decades, he had been an active literary critic, publishing his texts in Lithuanian émigré literary and culture magazines. In addition to his studies on the history and criticism of Lithuanian literature, articles on Western and Lithuanian classics, Nyka-Niliūnas wrote literary reviews. In the field of Lithuanian émigré literature and criticism, he validated a certain type of critical review which emphasized novelty, originality and evaluation of the book in question.Nyka-Niliūnas wrote his first reviews in a monthly pedagogical journal, Tremtinių mokykla [School of Exiles], published in a German DP camp. The reviews published in the journal, and later in the cultural magazine, Aidai [Echoes], stood out for their completeness, coherent structure, and strict and straightforward evaluation that allowed seeing a particular book in a broader context. A number of Nyka-Niliūnas’s reviews of this period sparked controversy and encouraged literary dialogue.In the US, Nyka-Niliūnas continued to publish literary reviews in Aidai and literary magazine, Literatūros lankai [The Pages of Literature]. In the reviews written during this period, he debated with a group of critics who held a different opinion, established the criteria for evaluating the literature, and highlighted the objectives and the importance of a literary review. Nyka-Niliūnas’s reviews can be characterized not only by author’s suggestive argumentation and fiery style, but also by his poetic metaphors.
Navigation of the National Bibliography Is Functioning!?
Authors: Bliūdžiuvienė Nijolė , Cicėnienė Rima , Gieda Aurelijus , Žaltauskaitė Vilma , Šeina-Vasiliauskienė Viktorija , Petreikis Tomas , Tiukšienė Zita , Misiūnas Remigijus , Budriūnienė Jolanta
Published: November 2022

-
New Reconstruction of the Fragment of the History of Lithuanian Aesthetic Modernization
Authors: Šeina Viktorija
Published: November 2022

Nida Gaidauskienė, Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė: modernėjančios savimonės kontūrai: monografija, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2018, ISBN 978-609-8231-01-4.
A Variety of Encounters: Czesław Miłosz and Tomas Venclova
Authors: Fiut Aleksander
Published: November 2022

-
On Henrikas Nagys’ Niveau
Authors: Bernotienė Gintarė
Published: November 2022

The author of the article examines the trajectories of the Lithuanian diaspora poet, Henrikas Nagys’ (1920–1996), works, their recognition and his ability to remain an influential figure in the field of literature. The assessment of poet’s works and his personality are highlighted by introducing behindthe-scenes actions and circumstances, which did not resonate in the literary criticism of the time, but were captured in the diaspora cultural press and in the private egodocuments that became available later, such as memoirs, diaries, and vast correspondence. These egodocuments constitute the basis of this research.The author of the article has chosen the historical empirical method, which suits the most to observe the dynamics of Nagys’ aesthetic and moral choices and evaluations in the context of Lithuanian diaspora—the early recognition of Nagys’ poetry; the strengthening of his generation’s literary position, actively pursued by the poet himself; promoting the authors of similar poetic aesthetics to the ranks of the leading writers (i.e. hierarchical actions); and later, poet’s sore reaction to his exclusion from the top of hierarchy.Nagys, an ardent patriot of Lithuania, who firmly defended his position in the disputes, was uncompromising towards the Soviet regime. Ideological and worldview differences were one of the reasons why Nagys broke ties with the associates of the monthly Akiračiai and the literary journal Metmenys and the Santara Federation. Nagys felt unappreciated when the literary criticism professing the new literary research methods put forward the authors of the renewed canon of Lithuanian diaspora poetry (Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas, Tomas Venclova, Henrikas Radauskas).Nagys learned of the value of his works and of his influence on poets living in Lithuania only after 1990s, relying on the reactions to his poetry (political context was also important for understanding its value orientation) revealed in private correspondence with Lithuania’s writers.
My Life: Reminiscences. Prepared by Eugenijus Žmuida
Authors: Girdzijauskas Juozas , Žmuida Eugenijus
Published: November 2022

Šis Vilniaus universiteto profesoriaus Juozo Girdzijausko (1935–2014) autobiografinis pasakojimas buvo įrašytas 2007 m. rudenį, kalbantis jo bute Antakalnio gatvėje. Garso įrašą su gyvu profesoriaus balsu bus galima išgirsti Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos instituto šiuo metu leidybai rengiamoje knygoje Profesorius Juozas Girdzijauskas: atsiminimai, laiškai, interviu. Čia pateikiamą tekstą pagal garso įrašą parengė Eugenijus Žmuida.
Forms of Pride in Vaižgantas’s Pragiedruliai
Authors: Kazarinova Ksenija
Published: November 2022

The author of the article analyzes the expression of pride in Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas’s novel Pragiedruliai [Flashes]. She argues that pride, in addition to being employed as a rhetorical and stylistic device, becomes an axiological tool used to highlight society’s flaws that need to be corrected and to encourage the reader to take a stand against political and cultural injustice. The author discusses three main forms of pride. The first form is used to present the fallacies of the nobility. The social behavior of its representatives is often perceived as false pride in the novel. The author exposes this feature in Sviestavičius’s figure and shows the way how to release oneself from the patemic cage. In order to illustrate the ingrained ‘noble’ vanity, the article briefly discusses Vaižgantas’s early work, a short story Tėvo palikimas [Father’s Legacy], in which Matjošauckienė, doctor’s wife, blinded by false pride, destroys social and family ties and loses touch with reality. The portraits of characters, who are constructed by giving them attributes associated with the patemic behavior and consciousness of vanity, provide another context for the pride in Pragiedruliai. A detailed description of a cunning pharmacist Viadorelli is a good example of the second form of pride. Alongside such spiritually crippled characters, the writer juxtaposes positive features of intellectuals and enlightened peasants working for the benefit of Lithuania. The third form of pride is related to the specifics of the act of communication. In order to intensify verbal discourse and to express their disapproval of the political system, the characters in the novel act out a patemic play—they repeat external actions related to false pride.
Perceiving Vydūnas
Authors: Kardelis Naglis
Published: November 2022

Vaclovas Bagdonavičius, Aušra Martišiūtė-Linartienė, Vydūnas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras, 2017, 727 p. ISBN 978-5-420-01796-8.
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis’s Socio-Cultural Connections and Professional Self-Realisation in Lithuania
Authors: Gaidauskienė Nida
Published: November 2022

In 1907–1909, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis worked with seven national societies active in Lithuania: Lithuanian Art Society, Amateur Music and Theatre Society “Vilniaus Kanklės”, Lithuanian Association “Rūta” in Vilnius, Music and Theatre Society “Daina” in Kaunas, Lithuanian Scientific Society, Lithuanian Mutual Aid Society of Vilnius, and Charitable Society for Pupils and Students “Žiburėlis”. He was a member of the formerthree organizations. The Lithuanian Art Society was the main platform for Čiurlionis’s professional and social self-realisation. He served as its vice-chair and from September 1907 to September 1909 stood in for its chair, Antanas Žmuidzinavičius. He organised the Second Lithuanian Art Exhibition. On Čiurlionis initiative, the music section was established at the Society. Together with his colleagues, he organized a competition for Lithuanian composers; he also envisaged a periodical of music, art, and literature.The article discusses the question of the affiliation with the Lithuanian Vilnius Choir led by Čiurlionis. The research has revealed that Čiurlionis conducted a united choir consisting of the singers from the Lithuanian Mutual Aid Society of Vilnius and “Vilniaus Kanklės”. His participation in two soirees organised by “Žiburėlis”, quite favourable reviews of his artworks written by the liberals, and the principled criticism by the conservative cleric Aleksandras Dambrauskas (nom de plume Adomas Jakštas) demonstrate that Čiurlionis found it easier to work with democratic left-wing cultural figures. In June of 1909, Čiurlionis’s concert and the design of the curtain on the premises of the Lithuanian Association “Rūta” were associated with Andrius Domaševičius and Kipras Petrauskas. In his letter, Čiurlionis called himself “progressive.” It was uncharacteristic to indicate one’s party affiliation; in Čiurlionis’s case, it meant to be of liberal orientation. However, it was precisely because of his “leftist” views that the Educational Society “Aušra” deemed his membership unreliable. On July 11, 1909, Čiurlionis was nominated to the commission to collect songs for the Lithuanian Scientific Society. Unfortunately, the illness that manifested itself in December of 1909 prevented the composer from carrying out the work.
Literature and Its Authors in the Interwar Lithuanian Radio Programs
Authors: Avižinienė Birutė
Published: November 2022

In the article, the author discusses the presentation of the Lithuanian literature by the State Radio Broadcast “Valstybės radiofonas” in 1926-1940. The author presents specific literary radio program genres (recitations, radio drama, lectures, and commemorations), identifies those Lithuanian authors who received the most attention, examines the image of the national writer and the function it played in radio lectures and programs, and the ways in which the writers themselves took part in the radio programs.Radio lectures dedicated to Lithuanian writers and literature and commemorations of the writers’ anniversaries had consistently strengthened the point of view of the Lithuanian Nationalist and Republican Union towards literature and attributed educational function to it. This function is particularly noticeable in the interpretations of the works and biographies of the three authors most often discussed on the air: Maironis, Kudirka, and Vaižgantas. These writers were treated as heroes, whose example was fostered to follow. The image of national writers was employed to create the personal cult of President Antanas Smetona. In accordance with this image, the political leader was presented as the successor of the activities of the writers’ who occupied a significant place in the society.In addition to this ideologized attitude to literature, another approach, which created preconditions for more independent literary processes and more critical reader, began to emerge. Interwar radio broadened the usual forms of literary communication and provided a platform for discussing literary news and a stage for the youngest writers who made their debut in the late 1920s and 1930s. Radio programs dedicated to literature (such as literary evenings and book reviews) demonstrate both the emerging reflection on literary processes and the more critical listener, and testify to the growing autonomy of literature.
The Autobiographical Pact as an Architectural Palimpsest: Judita Vaičiūnaitė’s Mabre viešbutis
Authors: Kundrotaitė Aušra
Published: November 2022

The article reconsiders the idea of Philippe Lejeune’s autobiographical pact. In both Lithuanian and Western theoretical discourses, Lejeune’s ideas are usually combined with narrative and linguistic insights that reveal the position of a narrator. In this article, the concept of the autobiographical pact is revised using the concepts of Gérard Genette’s types of transtextuality (hypertext, hypotext, and paratext) and certain aspects of Lars Elleström’s model of intermedial relations. Genette’s and Elleström’s ideas highlight the intertextuality and intermediality of the autobiographical pact.These theoretical considerations are tested in the analysis of Judita Vaičiūnatė’s memoir prose collection, Mabre viešbutis [Mabre Residence Hotel]. The collection was published after the author’s death, so the book is noteworthy not for its content (most of the texts were already published before) as for its new form—a paratext prepared by the “author” of the book, the poet’s daughter, Ula Vaičiūnaitė. The collection, Mabre Residence Hotel, unfolds not only as a testimony to Judita Vaičiūnaitė’s memory but also as a document of Ula Vaičiūnaitė’s reading experience and effort to remember, which in turn becomes an invitation to recollect. The figure of the author’s name, which is essential for the autobiographical pact, appears as an interactive “monument” that becomes relevant during the reading process.The focus on intertextuality and intermediality of the text (reading) enables to see not only the spatial palimpsest of the autobiographical text but of the autobiographical pact itself. In the context of intertextuality and intermediality, the autobiographical pact reveals itself as a distinctive architecture of literary space.