Mamertas Indriliūnas (28 January 1920 – 21 February 1945) was a Lithuanian writer,

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

, translator, and anti-Soviet partisan. He attended the

Biržai Biržai (, also known by several alternative names) is a city in northern Lithuania. Famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle manor, the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries. Name The exact origin of th ...

gymnasium and established himself as a worthy literary critic. In

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) (, VDU) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known as the University of Lithuania, but ...

he studied Lithuanian language and literature and joined

Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas Vincas Mykolaitis, known by his pen name Putinas (literally ''Viburnum''); 6 January 1893 – 7 June 1967), was a Lithuanian writer, poet and translator, accorded the honour of being a People's Writer of the Lithuanian SSR in 1963. He was also a ...

Šatrija art circle The Šatrija art circle was a Lithuanian art society focused primarily on Lithuanian literature, literature. It was established in 1926 by various students belonging to the Ateitis movement (''ateitininkai''). Its component members included some ...

, as well as the theatre seminar headed by

Balys Sruoga Balys Sruoga (2 February 1896 – 16 October 1947) was a Lithuanian poet, playwright, critic, and literary theorist. He contributed to cultural journals from his early youth. His works were published by the liberal wing of the Lithuanian cultura ...

, developing a strong friendship with

Bronius Krivickas Bronius Krivickas (17 November 1919 – 21 September 1952) was a Lithuanian writer, poet, literary critic, and anti-Soviet partisan. His work is mainly characterized by satire and literary criticism against the occupying Soviet state. Among the ...

. After completing his education in

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

, Indriliūnas joined the

Lithuanian partisans Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in E ...

after the Soviet re-occupation of Lithuania in 1944.

Biography

Early life

Mamertas Indriliūnas was born on 28 January 1920 in the village of Gataučiai of the Biržai district to farmers Gasparas Indriliūnas and Uršulė Paliulytė in a family of six children. Gasparas Indriliūnas worked in the United States for four years loading wagons for money. In 1914 he was mobilized for

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, but surrendered to the Germans in Macedonia on the first day of fighting. In 1918 he returned to Lithuania. A local pastor encouraged Mamertas Indriliūnas' parents to let him attend school. Indriliūnas finished the primary school, after which he self-educated at home and then joined the

gymnasium. Here he established himself as a competent literary critic and reviewer, although Indriliūnas was most interested in poetry. He completed education in the gymnasium in 1938.

Studies in university

He entered the Theology-philosophy faculty of

in 1938 and chose

Lithuanian language Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of t ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

as his main branches of study, with

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

being side-studies. He joined the ''Šatrija'' art circle, a group of writers with Christian-leaning views, overseen by the writer

, and also joined the theatre seminar headed by the writer

. During his time at university, Indriliūnas met many writers, one of which was

, with whom he developed a friendship. From 1941 to 1943 Indriliūnas continued his studies at

at the faculty of humanitarian sciences and later completed his exams. In newspapers like ''Ateitis'' and ''Naujoji Romuva'' Indriliūnas wrote about the works of poet

Jonas Aistis Jonas Aleksandravičius (7 July 1904 – 13 June 1973), better known as Jonas Aistis or Jonas Kuosa-Aleksandravičius, was a Lithuanian writer, poet, and essayist. Aistis was one of the most prominent neoromantic poets of Lithuania. Biography E ...

and also the

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

tendencies of

. In his 1944 diploma work entitled ''V. Mykolaičio-Putino lyrikos kelias'' (The Lyric Path of V. Mykolaitis-Putinas), Indriliūnas characterized a poet's struggle for personality and creative freedom as a rebellion of the soul against an oppressive being. His plans to get a higher education diploma were interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Indriliūnas would hear of persecutions in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and would quickly inform his family.

Resistance and death

In 1944, during the Soviet re-occupation of Lithuania, fearing mobilization and persecution, right before Christmas, Indriliūnas joined the partisan resistance movement as a member of the ''Šatas'' partisan squad. In the two last months of his life, Indriliūnas was reading

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

'' in Italian. Indriliūnas and his brother Jonas died on 21 February 1945 in the forest of after a battle with the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

. He and his colleagues were buried on the shore of the Tatula river, at which a monument dedicated to the partisans stands.

Literary work

Indriliūnas was an active literature critic, writer, and translator. Most of his works were written between 1938 and 1939. Indriliūnas wrote works both on literature, such as ''Literatūrinis gyvenimas Vilniaus universitete'' (Literature Life in Vilnius University), and on art, such as ''Žmogaus išsilaisvinimas mene'' (A Humans Emancipation in Art) and ''

M. K. Čiurlionis M, or m, is the thirteenth letter of the English alphabet. M may also refer to: Companies and products * M (fragrance), a 2008 fragrance by Mariah Carey * M-series rangefinder, a series of List of Leica Camera models#M-series rangefinder, Leic ...

''. Indriliūnas reportedly knew six languages. Indriliūnas also translated the works of

Francis Jammes Francis Jammes (; 2 December 1868, in Tournay, Hautes-Pyrénées, Tournay – 1 November 1938, in Hasparren) was a French and European poet. He spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Northern Basque Country, Basque Country ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

and

Oscar Milosz Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz (; ) (28 May 1877 or 15 May 1877 – 2 March 1939) was a French language poet, playwright, novelist, essayist and representative of Lithuania at the League of Nations.Czesław Miłosz, Cynthia L. Haven. Czesła ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indriliunas, Mamertas 1920 births 1945 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian male writers Lithuanian partisans killed in action Vilnius University alumni People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Lithuania