Vincas Mickevičius (pl. ''Wincenty Mickiewicz'', October 19, 1882 – July 17, 1954), better known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius, was a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

. He is also known as Vincas Krėvė, the shortened name he used in the United States.

Biography

Vincas Mickevičius was born to a family of peasant farmers on October 19, 1882, in the village of Subartonys in Dzūkija ethnographic region of Lithuania. His family was called ''Krėvė'' by the local villagers, the name that he later used for his pen name. The customs and traditions of his native district were a constant source of the inspiration for his literary work. In 1898, he became a student for the Roman Catholic priesthood at the Vilnius Seminary, but in 1900 he was expelled from the seminary. In 1904, he enrolled the University of Kyiv. However, a year later, the university was temporarily closed due to the revolutionary conditions in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, and Krėvė-Mickevičius, unwilling to interrupt his studies, entered the University of Lviv, in Galicia, which was at the time part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

, and in 1908, he received his doctorate in

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

. That same year, the University of Kyiv awarded him a gold medal for his thesis on the original home of the Indo-Europeans. In 1913, the University of Kyiv awarded him the degree of Master of Comparative Linguistics for his dissertation on the origin of the names '' Buddha'' and ''Pratjekabuddha''. In 1909, Krėvė-Mickevičius became a high school teacher in the city of

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. Three years later he assisted in founding the People's University of Baku, and delivered lectures there. Lithuania achieved independence in 1918, and a year later, Krėvė-Mickevičius became Lithuanian Consul in Azerbaijan. In 1920, he returned to Lithuania, and settled in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, which at the time was the temporary capital. When the University of Lithuania was founded in 1922, Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius became professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and remained there as part of the faculty for the following two decades. His first attempts on writing came at the age fifteen, at first using Russian and Polish languages; however, after 1902, he wrote in Lithuanian. The first volume of his collected works was published in 1921, at which time he was already a well-known and respected figure, serving as editor of several academic and literary periodicals. On 24 June 1940, he was appointed as Prime Minister of Lithuania by acting President Justas Paleckis. He headed the " People's Government of Lithuania", which was formed essentially as a rubber stamp for the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

takeover of Lithuania. On July 1, 1940, he, together with some other communists, visited Vyacheslav Molotov (Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR) and asked for full annexation of Lithuania into the USSR (this visit was later used as the pretext for that de jure annexation, although occupation and the de facto annexation happened before that). On returning, he offered his resignation, which was not accepted at the time. After the start of the Nazi occupation of Lithuania in 1941, and the closing of higher educational institutions in 1943, Krėvė-Mickevičius went into hiding. Soviet forces reoccupied Lithuania in 1944, at which point he fled the country and settled in a displaced persons camp at Glasenbach, near

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, Austria. There, he taught at the local camp's high school. In 1947, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

extended an invitation to join its faculty. There, he served as an assistant professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures until 1953, when he retired. On July 17, 1954, Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius died in Broomall, Pennsylvania, United States. He was considered as a candidate for the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

in Literature.

Literature

The literary production of Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius is wide and varied. It included historical dramas, collections of folklore, short stories and sketches of village life, novels on contemporary problems, and tales based on oriental themes. At his death he was engaged on a major work entitled ''Sons of Heaven and Earth'', which defies classification. It is written partly as drama and partly as a narration; its subjects are biblical with the action taking place in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

at the beginning of the Christian era. His work filled with a romantic impulse, drawing attention to rural life and oriental themes, is balanced with realistic narration and description. His writing is characterized by an unusually large vocabulary with remarkable purity. Some scholars sustain that Lithuanian language acquired a range of expression through his works only rivaled by that of

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

Works

*Šarūnas, Dainavos kunigaikštis (''Šarūnas, Duke of Dainava''), 1911 *Dainavos šalies senų žmonių padavimai (''Old people's myths from the land of Dainava''), 1912 *Žentas (''Son-in-law''), 1922 *'Šiaudinėj pastogėj (''Under the thatched roof''), 1922 * Skirgaila (''Skirgaila''), 1922 *Dainavos krašto liaudies dainos (''Folk Songs of Dainava Region''), 1924 *Likimo keliais (''Along the Paths of Destiny''), 1926-1929 *Rytų pasakos (''Tales of the Orient''), 1930 *Sparnuočiai liaudies padavimuose (''Winged creatures in the folklore myths''), 1933 *Karaliaus Mindaugo mirtis (''The death of King Mindaugas''), 1935 *Patarlės ir priežodžiai, 1934–37 *Raganius (''He-witch''), 1939 *Miglose (''In the mists''), 1940 *Dangaus ir žemės sūnūs (''Sons of Heaven and Earth''), 1949

Legacy

In 1997, a museum to Krėvė-Mickevičius was opened in his last residence before emigration 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 ...

, Lithuania. A road in the Dainava district of

, Lithuania () is also named after him.

References

External links

About Krėvė-Mickevičius in Classical Lithuanian Literature anthology
Includes a collection of texts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kreve-Mickevicius, Vincas 1882 births 1954 deaths People from Varėna District Municipality People from Troksky Uyezd Ambassadors of Lithuania to Azerbaijan Lithuanian communists Prime ministers of Lithuania First convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Lithuanian dramatists and playwrights Lithuanian male writers Lithuanian novelists Lithuanian short story writers Lithuanian-language writers Lithuanian writers in Polish 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Lithuanian novelists 20th-century short story writers University of Lviv alumni Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty