Moteriškoji patirtis : Nelės Mazalaitės novelistika

Abstract

The years of Independent Lithuania (1929-1940) had witnessed a gradual increase in the popularity of women's movement and various related organizations. This has been influenced to a great extent by the feminist movement which had started in the West some time ago. The present paper attempts to identify how femininity reveals itself in Lithuanian literature of the 30s and 40s. The features of feminist world - outlook are distinct in P.Orintaitė's, A.Gustaitytė-Šalčiuvienė's, and N.Mazalaitė's works. The protagonists of these authors are different, but they all feel loneliness. This felling comes when an individual, surrounded by others, feels alienated. Nelė Mazalaitė choses the genre of short story. Patriotism is very important for her, yet she is known as a writer who first of all presents women's problems. Her books "Pajūrio moterys" ("Women of the Seashore", 1939), "Miestas kurio nėra" ("The City That Is Not", 1939), "Karaliaus ugnys" ("Fires of the King", 1942), echoing the feminist ideas, have shown that woman is free and is able to be responsible for her choice and that there are no compulsory behaviour standarts just for women or just for men. Every thing depends on the human being, on his will and character. Depreciation of woman was rooted in the society that was using codes created by patriarchal world. If woman dares to have unique characteristics, she is condemned and ignored. The lifes of many Mazalaitė's women are only roles, they are "masks". The works of Nelė Mazalaitė demonstrate the traditional understanding of gender and family, on the other hand, her short stories can be interpreted as a negation of traditional concepts.