The directory «Plots»

Zěmaite
(1845—1921)

Writer, born at the estate of Bukante near Plunge, western Lithuania. Zemaite was her pen-name. Her parents, Polonized and impoverished gentry who greatly valued their upper class status, forbade their children of the serfs and to speak Lithuanian. Disregarding her parents wishes, she made friends with the former and in her early childhood learned the Lithuanian language. She did not receive formal instruction, but acquired an education from the many books she read. Peasant life, surrounding poverty and misery were the source material for her creative work. The 1863 uprising against Russian rule in Lithuania, which she wholeheartedly supported, also deeply impressed her. A few years she married Laurynas Zymantas, an active participant in the uprising.

Settling in the village of Usnenai near Uzventis, Zemaite was furnished with the periodicals Ausra, Varpas and Apzvalga as well as with other Lithuanian printed matter by P.Visinskis. He acquainted her with the goals of the Lithuanian national movement and encouraged her to write in Lithuanian. Her first peace of work was Rudens vakaras (Autumn Evening), was printed in 1895.

Zemate's talent thus awakened, the self-taught woman of the village developed into a distinguished writer, a classic exponent of realism. In 1912 she moved to Vilnius, where she worked on the administrative and editorial staffs of periodicals (Lietuvos Zinios, Ausrine) and took part in Lithuanian cultural and public activities. When the Germans occupied Vilnius in 1915, she withdrew to the Russian capital of Petrograd, and from there in 1916 travelled to the USA. There visited Lithuanian communities, giving talks and collecting funds for victims of the war; and wrote articles foe the Lithuanian American press. In 1921 she returned to Lithuania, for a short time lived with the family in Marijampole, where she died on Dec. 8, 1921.

Zemaite had an inborn talent for story-telling. She chose her subjects most often from the life of village people. The style of her writing lively, picturesque, and rich in vocabulary. Her best stories are Marti (Daughter-in-Law); Petras Kurmelis, a personal name; Velnio vestuves, velnio laidotuves (The Devil's Wedding, the Devil's Funeral); Sutkai, a family name; Gera galva (A good Head).

Lithuania, 1933, Zěmaite

Lithuania, 1933, Zěmaite

Lithuania, 1995, Zěmaite

USSR, 1956, Zhemaite

USSR, 1974, Zěmaite monument in Vilnus

USSR, 1974.07.17, Zěmaite monument in Vilnus