Vaidas Šeferis

Institute of the Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Masaryk University, Brno

The Marginal Donelaitis: Personality Traits of Kristijonas Donelaitis in the Light of his Auto-Commentaries

In my presentation, I would like to introduce some of the features of Kristijonas Donelaitis’ self-reflection, as evidenced by his (auto-)comments preserved in his official writings. In 2023, a copy of the baptismal register of Tolminkiemis for the years 1725–1754 was found.  This source has considerably expanded the archive of Kristijonas Donelaitis’ business writings. Donelaitis wrote many comments about himself and the people around him in the margins of this book: together with similar entries in his other texts, e.g., the acts of the land-separation case, or the so-called “Messages to my heir”, these comments allow us to formulate a number of intriguing insights into the personality of Kristijonas Donelaitis.