Žemaitė - a pen name

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 of Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė; in Bukantė near Plungė

Plunge

Plungė is a city in Lithuania with 23,246 inhabitants. It has a crab stick factory which exports to many countries in Europe.Before World War II, Plunge had a large Jewish population.- History :...

 — 7 December 1921 in Marijampolė

Marijampole

Marijampolė is an industrial city and the capital of the Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The population of Marijampolė is 48,700...

) was a Lithuanian writer

Lithuanian literature

Lithuanian literature concerns the art of written works compiled by Lithuanians throughout their history.-Latin language:A wealth of Lithuanian literature was written in Latin, the main scholarly language in the Middle Ages.-Lithuanian language:...

. Born to impoverished gentry, she became one of the major participants in the Lithuanian National Revival

Lithuanian National Revival

Lithuanian National Revival, alternatively Lithuanian National Awakening , was a period of the history of Lithuania in the 19th century at the time when a major part of Lithuanian inhabited areas belonged to the Russian Empire...

. She wrote about peasant life in the style best described as realism

Literary realism

Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...

.

Life

Žemaitė was born in the distant manor house in the Kovno Governorate

Kovno Governorate

The Kovno Governorate or Government of Kovno was a governorate of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kovno . It was formed on 18 December 1842 by tsar Nicholas I from the western part of the Vilna Governorate, and the order was carried out on 1 July 1843. It used to be a part of Northwestern Krai...

 of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. As a child, she was forbidden by her parents to play with the children of serfs

Serfdom

Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...

 or learn the Lithuanian language

Lithuanian language

Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...

. Like many of the Lithuanian gentry, her parents had become Polonized, and were of the belief that speaking Lithuanian was a step backward socially. Nevertheless, she did learn the language and gained a deep affection for the common people. She understood the burden of serfdom, and the resulting misery that came from poverty. This perspective would later form the basis for much of her creative work. Žemaitė did not receive a formal education and was largely self-taught from the many books she read.

She strongly supported the uprising of 1863

January Uprising

The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...

, and few years later married an active participant of the uprising, Laurynas Žymantas. They met on the Džiuginėnai estate, where they were both employed. For the next twenty years, Žemaitė worked on their farm, raised their children, and battled poverty. In 1883, the family moved to a village near Užventis

Užventis

Užventis is a city in the Kelmė district municipality, Lithuania. It is located north-west of Kelmė. River Venta flows through the city....

. She came in contact with Povilas Višinskis

Povilas Višinskis

Povilas Višinskis was a Lithuanian writer, journalist, theatre director, and politician. His pen names include A. – s, Blinda, P – V, P. A., Apaštalas, P. Šiaulietis. He was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Democratic Party...

 who gave her various Lithuanian periodicals (Aušra

Aušra

Aušra or Auszra was the first national Lithuanian newspaper. The first issue was published in 1883, in Ragnit, East Prussia, Germany East Prussia's ethnolinguistic part - Lithuania Minor. Later it was published monthly in Tilsit...

, Varpas

Varpas

Varpas was a monthly Lithuanian-language newspaper published during the Lithuanian press ban from January 1889 to December 1905...

, Apžvalga), and encouraged her to write and participate in the national awakening of Lithuania. Her first work, Autumn Evening (Lithuanian: Rudens vakaras), was published in a calendar in 1895. Višinskis and Jonas Jablonskis

Jonas Jablonskis

Jonas Jablonskis was a distinguished Lithuanian linguist and one of the founders of the standard Lithuanian language...

 helped her and edited her works and gave her advice, and thus a talent was awakened.

In 1912, she moved to Vilnius where she worked as administrator and on the editorial staff of several publications. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, she first emigrated to Russia and subsequently to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where her son Antanas had been living for several years. There she gave lectures to various Lithuanian-American

Lithuanian-American

Lithuanian Americans are citizens of the United States who are of Lithuanian ancestry. According to the United States Census, there are 712,165 Americans of full or partial Lithuanian descent....

 organizations, collected funds for the victims of the war, and wrote articles for the local press. In 1921, she returned to Lithuania, and died the same year.

Works

Žemaitė wrote about peasants in a vernacular that closely resembled the language spoken by them — lively and rich in vocabulary

Vocabulary

A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...

. Her works are usually dark as she depicts poverty, materialism, and arguments within a family. The author paints natural images of everyday life with petty conflicts, lively conversations, impoverished surroundings, and beautiful nature. She does not offer any explanations, theories, or suggestions. Even though born to a gentry family, she did not describe gentry life as it was foreign and unfriendly to her. She wrote the best works in 1896-1898. Among some 150 works, best known are:

• Marti (Daughter-in-Law)
• Topilys
• Petras Kurmelis
• Sutkai
• Gera galva (Good Head)

Legacy

• She is the only woman featured on litas banknotes (the 1 litas banknote was replaced with coins in 1998).