Žemaitė was an exceptional personality – a seminal writer, a fighter for women’s rights, and a bright spark in Lithuania's national awakening. From marrying a serf to comparing imprisonment to drinking a glass of vodka – what do we know about Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė (Žemaitė)?
Viktorija Daujotytė, a researcher of literature, has previously said that Žemaitė was an extraordinary person who lived three lives.
Žemaitė, like other women of noble birth at the time, was educated at home – her father taught his daughters to read and write in Polish at home, and later Žemaitė continued her education at the manor of her father's recently deceased brother, Stanislovas.
After beginning her service at Džiuginėnai Manor, she met a former serf, Laurynas Žymantas. After they became married, the second stage of Žemaitė's life began, said Ramunė Bleizgienė, PhD in humanities and senior researcher at the Modern Literature Department at the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore.
"Žemaitė becomes a true peasant, with children born one after the other, moving from one place to another every few years, because she does not have her own farm or land. From some of the stories, which we can assume have an autobiographical basis, we can understand how difficult and poor the family life was," added Bleizgienė.
After her husband's death, Žemaitė joined the ranks of Lithuanian intellectuals, becoming increasingly involved in cultural and social activities. Most importantly, she begins to write at the age of almost 50.
"I can say, somewhat jokingly, that the story of Žemaitė's life resembles the narrative of a modern man's search for himself," said Bleizgienė.
“Modern middle-aged people often re-evaluate their lives, realise that they want to do something different, for example, go to Bali or decide to travel around the world. Žemaitė's turning point in her life at the age of 49, when she started to write, in a way embodies the radical change in life that many people are experiencing now,” added Bleizgienė.
According to her, Žemaitė rose from her farm work and peasant life "like a phoenix from ashes" and gradually joined the ranks of those who wrote in Lithuanian, later coming to Vilnius, participating in various cultural events and exhibitions, reflecting on these cultural experiences, and boldly publishing her thoughts in newspapers.
Loyalty to the scarf
Žemaitė was different in a peasant environment – as her neighbours told her, the woman's posture and actions bore the imprint of her noble background.
"She dressed differently, smoked cigarettes, and her neighbours remember her as very energetic, caring about everything, even going to parties with her baby in her arms. I imagine that her charisma was already apparent even then, when she was living a peasant's life," said Bleizgienė.
Once among the intellectuals, Žemaitė was hard to miss – she stood out by wearing the scarf.
"Žemaitė could have taken off her headscarf, but the decision to wear it became a sign of her personality, a way to stand out from her surroundings, to be different and, most importantly, to stand in solidarity with the peasantry," said Bleizgienė. "Loyalty to the headscarf was a conscious identification with the peasants as a social group."
According to her, Žemaitė was very modern at the time, raising issues that are now understood as feminist. She talked about women earning less than men, about the fact that when a girl is pregnant, the man is completely free not to take responsibility, and about the fact that it becomes a women’s problem.
"Even in the current context, in the vast majority of discussions, fertility planning continues to be a women's issue, with nothing to do with men. Žemaitė's speeches are, in fact, as contemporary as the current debate," she added.
According to Bleizgienė, the writer's focus on women was dictated by personal experience. Later, she added, Žemaitė was influenced by Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė – in her interactions, Žemaitė's feminist consciousness took on clearer forms, and more conceptual ways of naming the problems that women face emerged.
Together with Petkevičaite-Bitė, Žemaitė participated in the first women's congress in Kaunas in 1907. Later in 1908, they both went to the All-Russian Women's Congress in St Petersburg.
During the First World War, Žemaitė became involved in refugee support activities. After the organisation of the Vilnius Lithuanian Committee for the Relief of Victims of War, Žemaitė ran a shelter in Antakalnis with 60 children and 17 mothers.
At the age of 70, Žemaitė, together with Andrius Bulota and his wife Aleksandra, went to the United States to collect donations for war refugees.
"It was a long and arduous journey and they arrived in New York on March 10, 1916. It is said that Žemaitė and Bulotas travelled from one Lithuanian colony to another, with crowds of thousands flocking to listen to the overseas writer,” said Bleizgienė.
“She was a great speaker, and the press said that such crowds of people came to listen to her that some of them simply could not fit into the halls. It seems unbelievable - the writer's courage and self-confidence were astonishing," added Bleizgienė.
While in the US, Žemaitė visited about 100 Lithuanian communities and spoke on various topics, including women's rights. Later, while staying in Chicago, Žemaitė was actively involved in women's activities.
"Her feminist engagement had a biographical and personal basis, and her attention to women and their concerns appears first in her writings, and then in her journalism and speeches," said Bleizgienė.
Unsupportive husband
According to Bleizgienė, Žemaitė's work received attention from the very beginning. However, it’s unclear how her life would have panned if her husband hadn’t died early on.
“Surviving letters show that her husband was angry at her writing. At first, she wrote only in the evenings, after all the farm work, and her husband used to reproach her for burning kerosene for nothing," said Bleizgienė.
According to some of the memoirs of people around Žemaitė, her work also received ridicule.
“But in general, as there was a severe shortage of Lithuanian writers at the end of the 19th century, and as the prevailing attitude was that Lithuanian literature was still in its infancy, Žemaitė received a great deal of support,” said Bleizgienė.
Thick skin
Žemaitė's activities and relations with young intellectuals were also ridiculed by the rural milieu. The people around her laughed that the old woman was going out with "students", the so-called Litvomans.
At that time, the word "litvomanas" – which is no longer in use today – had a negative connotation, and social activities were considered an obsession, a kind of madness.
"Žemaitė was considered to be at least a freak, but I doubt that this was an obstacle to her writing," added Bleizgienė.
Žemaitė's creativity and resistance to harsh attitudes or criticism are particularly charming – if she thought of something, she did it.
Changing times
The first major change in society was the abolition of serfdom in 1861, followed shortly thereafter by the anti-Tsarist uprising of 1863–1864, and the modern Lithuanian national movement that took off in the 1980s
These events made people constantly change the way they see themselves and the world, said Bleizgienė.
For a woman of noble roots to marry a former serf, then for her to start writing and join a national movement – it was all a testimony to Žemaitė's incredible energy and power to change, according to Bleizgienė.
"We must realise that Žemaitė was an older woman, entering her fifth decade, when she became an important figure in the emerging Lithuanian cultural and social life," said the researcher. "Because she had a strong inner foundation, this woman was able to change quite easily without falling apart, without breaking down at all."
According to Bleizgienė, people are now also fascinated by Žemaitė's love story, when Žemaitė, at the age of 65, fell in love with Konstantinas Petrauskas, who was more than 30 years younger than her.
Žemaitė’s remaining love letters are a testament to the passionate experience.
But there was also another side to this story. After his relationship with Žemaitė broke down, Petrauskas began dating her granddaughter, but she found him too old.
"This fact of her life also excites people, arouses curiosity, and I think this love disproves the stereotypical idea that it is no longer possible to experience special feelings, to experience passion at a late age," said Bleizgienė.
Solitary confinement
At the age of almost 70, Žemaitė spent about two weeks in Lukiškės Prison. According to Bleizgienė, Žemaitė was working in the editorial office of Lietuvos Žinios (Lithuanian News) at the time, and it is believed that she was imprisoned for a political article.
Žemaitė described her experience in Lukiškės in a work, In Prison. According to Bleizgienė, in this short story, Žemaitė describes how she ended up in a detention centre and later in Lukiškės, where she spent about ten days in solitary confinement.
"She knew what was hers, as I understand it, she saw solitary confinement as an advantage because it was dangerous in detention – you couldn't have anything of your own, you could be robbed. [...] Žemaitė said that ten days was like drinking a glass of vodka," added Bleizgienė.
After prison, she got pneumonia. However, it had little effect on Žemaitė.
"This is where Žemaitė's vitality is special - not to dwell on certain things, on unpleasant experiences. She recovered, she moved on," smiled Bleizgienė.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
