Pilietinės visuomenės kontūrai Metmenyse 1986-1996 m

Abstract

Metmenys was a journal of culture and the arts in which many noteworthy emigre Lithuanians published their texts. In this article we will examine only those eleven essays that its editor-in-chief Vytautas Kavolis was able to publish during the last ten years of his life (1986–1996). Though living in the diaspora Kavolis ceaselessly investigated various cross sections of Lithuanian culture with respect to its modernization, cultural transformations, religious and moral norms, and social attitudes. The main purpose of this essay is to clarify whether and how Kavolis reacted to processes in his homeland; which details of the general context appeared the most important to him; and how changing political and social circumstances affected the range of his themes. Interested in a wide range of topics, Kavolis investigated everything from cultural and civilizational breaks and transformations to the challenges of globalization and liberal values. Virtually all of his Lithuanian-language writings have been published in Metmenys, and all relate in one way or another to Lithuania. Using argumentative provocations and theoretical references Kavolis drew the outlines of Lithuanian civil society and tried to set the reborn country on a proper, promising, and culturally perspicacious path of development. He often pointed out phenomena to be researched and problems to be solved; he appreciated and reacted to the concerns of intellectuals living in Lithuania and attempted to deconstruct the stereotypes arising therefrom. In delineating the perspectives of Lithuanian civil society, Kavolis championed liberal values. The quest for an independent society that keeps its distance from bureaucracy was for Kavolis an important factor in post-totalitarian states in which a nomenklatura administrative style was still alive and could again mutate into controlling structures. Hence a liberal attitude could and should become a self-regulatory