LITHUANIAN STUDIES OF ALEKSANDER BRÜCKNER (CULTURAL ASPECT)

Abstract

The purpose of the publication is a cultural analysis of the Lithuanian studies of the outstanding Polish-German cultural historian Aleksander Brückner (1856–1939). The methodology of the work is based on the analytical and synthetic processing of reviews, articles and monographic works of A. Brückner devoted to the issues of the history and culture of the Baltic peoples and the processes of their national and cultural revival. The scientific novelty of the publication lies in the formulation of an issue that has not yet been the subject of a special comprehensive study in both domestic and foreign cultural science. Conclusions. The study has shown that Lithuanian issues were the main area of focus of Aleksander Brückner’s research from the very beginning of his scientific career. Gradually, the scholar shifted his focus from exclusively linguistic aspects to studying the cultural history of Lithuania, understanding the concept of «Lithuania» as an ethno-cultural community of all the Baltic peoples, including the disappeared Prussians. Of particular interest are the scientific studies of the issues of Lithuanian mythology, in which Brückner tried to clear the contemporary science of the layers of historical myths about the pantheon of gods of the Baltic peoples and misconceptions that had formed during the 16th–18th centuries. It has been established that the scholar’s views were greatly influenced by the processes of national and cultural awakening at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Brückner was deeply concerned by the megalomania of Lithuanians and their desire to break the historical ties between Polish and Lithuanian cultures. The study emphasizes that Aleksander Brückner perceived the culture of medieval Lithuanians through the prism of the barbarism-civilization dichotomy, emphasizing the special civilizing mission played by Poles and Germans in the history of the Baltic peoples. At the same time, the scholar believed that if it were not for Germanic influences, the Balts would have quickly found themselves in the orbit of the cultural expansion of Rus and would have been assimilated.