Šatrijos Ragana (Witch of Šatrija) was 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 Marija Pečkauskaitė (March 8, 1877 in Medingėnai – July 24, 1930 in Židikai

Židikai

Židikai is a town in Mažeikiai district municipality, Lithuania. It is located 21 km west of Mažeikiai.- History :...

), a Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n humanist and romantic writer and educator. Her most successful works are Sename dvare (In the Old Estate, 1922) and Irkos tragedija (Tragedy of Irka).

Biography

Born to a family of petty Lithuanian nobles, Pečkauskaitė was raised in Polish culture. However, she made friends with local Lithuanian peasants and, influenced by her tutor 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...

, joined 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...

. Because of poor health and expensive tuition, Pečkauskaitė did not graduate from a gymnasium in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 and had to complete her education privately in Labūnava estate 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....

. Višinskis translated her first works, written in Polish, into Lithuanian and published in liberal Lithuanian periodicals, such as Varpas

Varpas

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

and Ūkininkas

Ūkininkas

Ūkininkas or Ukinįkas was a monthly Lithuanian-language newspaper published during the Lithuanian press ban by the editorial staff of Varpas from 1890 to 1905...

. However, Pečkauskaitė disagreed with their secular agenda and turned to pro-Catholic Tėvynės sargas and similar newspapers. After her father's death in 1898, the family moved to Šiauliai

Šiauliai

Šiauliai , is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania.-Names:...

 as the old estate had to be sold for debts. In 1905 she received a scholarship from Žiburėlis society, established by Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė

Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė

Gabrielė Petkevičaitė was a Lithuanian writer and activist. Her pen name Bitė eventually became part of her last name.-Biography:...

, to study pedagogy at the University of Zurich

University of Zurich

The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....

 and University of Fribourg

University of Fribourg

The University of Fribourg is a university in the city of Fribourg, Switzerland.The roots of the University can be traced back to 1582, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius founded the Collège Saint-Michel in the City of Fribourg. In 1763, an Academy of law was founded by the state of Frobourg...

. While studying, she met with Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster and was greatly affected by his views on education; she later translated several of his works into Lithuanian. After returning to Lithuania in 1907, Pečkauskaitė briefly stayed in Šaukotas and Vilnius. In 1909 she was hired as a teacher at a girls' school 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...

. In 1915 she moved to Židikai

Židikai

Židikai is a town in Mažeikiai district municipality, Lithuania. It is located 21 km west of Mažeikiai.- History :...

, where she spent her remaining life working as a teacher. She was actively involved in town's cultural life, promoting teetotalism

Teetotalism

Teetotalism refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or is simply said to be teetotal...

, organizing youth chorus, and other charity work. For her achievements in pedagogy, Pečkauskaitė was awarded honorary degree of the University of Lithuania in 1928.

Works

Pečkauskaitė debuted in 1896 with short story Margi paveikslėliai (Motley Pictures). Her works reflect social changes in her times: from estates to villages, from former nobles to peasants, from Polish to Lithuanian culture. All of her characters are strong romantic individuals, living according to the Christian ideals. They usually altruistically sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the society. For example, one character Viktutė sacrifices her career in arts to work as a teacher in a small town or a village lad from Vincas Stonis (1906) who successfully takes over his father's farm and even persuades him to return from America. Pečkauskaitė was one of the first Lithuanian writers to create deep and complex characters, analyzing not only their psychology but also spiritually. Her most critically acclaimed novel, Sename dvare, is somewhat autobiographical and depicts a family of a Samogitia

Samogitia

Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...

n landlord. The estate and manor owners, unlike in writings of Žemaitė

Žemaite

Žemaitė - a pen name of Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė; in Bukantė near Plungė — 7 December 1921 in Marijampolė) was a Lithuanian writer. Born to impoverished gentry, she became one of the major participants in the Lithuanian National Revival...

 or Lazdynų Pelėda

Lazdynų Pelėda

Lazdynų Pelėda was the common pen name of two Lithuanian sisters writers:* Sofija Ivanauskaitė-Pšibiliauskienė * Marija Ivanauskaitė-Lastauskienė...

, are not the sources of social injustice, but one of the last remaining outposts of old culture, ideas, and values. Through the depiction of Mamatė (diminutive derivation from "mother") the author expresses realization that physical life is temporary and longing for permanent metaphysical existence (death). As with other works, parts inspired by her early childhood are especially bright and warm, colored by loving memories of dreams and aspirations, and lean towards impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...

. In contrast, short story Irkos tragedija depicts painful crash of a young girl's innocent world with harsh reality and family failure.

External links

• Bibliography of Šatrijos Ragana