Gintaras Beresnevičius (July 8, 1961 in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Traka ...

– August 6, 2006 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

) was a

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n historian of religions specializing in

Baltic mythology Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of the Baltic people stemming from Baltic paganism and continuing after Christianization and into Baltic folklore. Baltic mythology ultimately stems from Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Baltic regio ...

. He together with

Norbertas Vėlius Norbertas Vėlius (1 January 1938 in Gulbės, near Šilalė – 23 June 1996 in Vilnius, buried in the Antakalnis Cemetery) was a Lithuanian folklorist specializing in Lithuanian mythology Lithuanian mythology ( lt, Lietuvių mitologija) is ...

is considered to be the best specialist in

Lithuanian mythology Lithuanian mythology ( lt, Lietuvių mitologija) is the mythology of Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-Europeans, ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. ...

. In 1984 he graduated from

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

, Faculty of History. Since 1986 he worked at various universities. In 1993 he received his Ph.D. He published over 100 scientific articles. Beresnevičius worked with journal "Naujasis Židinys" (English:''The New Hearth'') and weekly "Šiaurės Atėnai" (English: ''Northern Athens''). In 2001 he received an award from the President of Lithuania for his collection of essays on

history of Lithuania The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded many thousands of years ago, but the first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD. Lithuanians, one of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands an ...

called "Ant laiko ašmenų." In 2003 he published textbooks on religious studies for high schools. Besides scientific work, Beresnevičius was also a writer and a publicist. He published novels, several poems, and numerous essays (many of them under various pseudonyms such as Antanas Sereda). His short stories were influenced by

Daniil Kharms Daniil Ivanovich Kharms (russian: Дании́л Ива́нович Хармс; – 2 February 1942) was an early Soviet-era Russian avant-gardist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist. Early years Kharms was born as Daniil Yuvach ...

. In 2004 he rallied for

Kazimira Prunskienė Kazimira Danutė Prunskienė () (born 26 February 1943) is a Lithuanian politician who was the first prime minister of Lithuania after the declaration of independence of 11 March 1990, and Minister of Agriculture in the government of Gediminas Kir ...

when she ran in the Presidential elections.

Major works

*''Dausos: pomirtinio gyvenimo samprata senojoje lietuvių pasaulėžiūroje'' (Dausos: Concept of Afterlife in Ancient Lithuanian Worldview) (1990). *''Baltų religinės reformos'' (Reforms of Baltic Religions) (1995). *''Religijų istorijos metmenys'' (Outline of History of Religions) (1997). *''Religijotyros įvadas'' (Introduction to Religious Studies) (1997). *''Trumpas lietuvių ir prūsų religijos žodynas'' (Short Dictionary of Lithuanian and Prussian Religion) (2001). *''Ant laiko ašmenų (eseistika)''. Vilnius: Aidai, 2002. *''Imperijos darymas: Lietuviškos ideologijos metmenys'' (Making Empire: Outline of Lithuanian Ideology) (2003). *''Eglė žalčių karalienė ir lietuvių teogoninis mitas'' ( Eglė The Queen of Grass-Snakes and Lithuanian Theogonic Myth) (2003). *''Palemono mazgas. Palemono legendos periferinis turinys'' (Palemonas' Knot. Periferal Content of Palemonas Legend) (2003). *''Lietuvių religija ir mitologija: sisteminė studija'' (Lithuanian Religion and Mythology: Systematic Study) (2004).

References

Gintaras Beresnevičius
Lietuviškos knygos (Books from Lithuania). Accessed August 14, 2006.
Vilniuje mirė rašytojas G.Beresnevičius (Writer G. Beresnevičius died in Vilnius)
Delfi.lt, BNS, August 7, 2006. Accessed August 14, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beresnevicius, Gintaras 1961 births 2006 deaths Lithuanian short story writers Lithuanian novelists Lithuanian male poets Lithuanian mythology researchers Lithuanian essayists Vilnius University alumni Vilnius University faculty Writers from Vilnius 20th-century poets 20th-century novelists 20th-century short story writers 20th-century essayists