Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė

Gabrielė Petkevičaitė (18 March 1861, in Puziniškis estate, Panevėžys district – 14 June 1943, in Panevėžys) was a Lithuanian writer and activist. Her pen name Bitė (Bee) eventually became part of her last name.

Biography

Petkevičaitė was born to a family of Lithuanian nobility. Her father was a doctor and became director of a hospital in Joniškėlis. When she was nine, Petkevičaitė's mother died of typhus and she began looking after her five brothers despite her own disability (deformed spine). Service to others continued to be a prominent part of Petkevičaitė's life and work. She received education at home from Laurynas Ivinskis and other private tutors. After graduation from a girls' school in Jelgava (1878), Petkevičaitė worked with her father in a pharmacy and privately tutored in Lithuanian, violating the Lithuanian press ban. Around 1890 she met Povilas Višinskis, who encouraged her to join public life and start a writing career. She was one of the organizers and chairwoman of the first Congress of Lithuanian Women in 1907 and co-founder of Lithuanian Women's Association in 1908. After her father's death in 1909 she lived in Vilnius and worked as editorial staff of Lietuvos žinios.

During World War I, Petkevičaitė returned to her childhood home. She completed courses for doctor's assistant and, according to her father's wishes, helped the sick. During the war she kept a diary, which was published in 1925 and 1933. In 1920 she was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania and, as the oldest member of the assembly, presided over its first session before a chairman was elected. In 1919, by invitation of Juozas Balčikonis, she began teaching at Panevėžys Gymnasium. Together with Juozas Zikaras, Petkevičaitė designed a school uniform for girls, which was soon adopted nationally and discontinued only around 1990. Her classroom notes on world literature were developed and published in 1922 and 1924 as two-volume school textbook. In 1924 Petkevičaitė resigned from her teaching position due to poor health. She then largely retired from public life, but continued to write.

Writing career

Encouraged by Povilas Višinskis, Petkevičaitė began contributing news stories to Varpas in 1890 (after reading a complaint from Vincas Kudirka that the newspaper lacked correspondents). Her first fiction was published in periodicals (1894) and later as stand-alone works (1900). Her writing centered on social inequality. She saw inequality as the causes of economic suffering and moral decline, but believed that the rise of humanism would heal the misery. Petkevičaitė often contrasted harmony found in natural world with dysfunctional social classes. Short story Dievui atkišus (Offering it to God) about a girl seduced by a landowner is one of the most powerful social commentaries. Her patriotic books, including two-part novel Ad astra (1933), depicted rise of national consciousness. Her diary, written during World War I, expressed her desire for beauty, peace, and ideal humanity. The diary is a good example of romantic attempts to escape from daily misery into the perfect word of nature and arts.

In 1899 Petkevičaitė co-directed with Višinskis the first Lithuanian-language play Amerika pirtyje (America in a Bathhouse) in Palanga. Encouraged by the success, Petkevičaitė joined forces with another female writer Žemaitė and wrote several plays under the joint pen name Dvi Moteri (Two Women), including Velnias spąstuose (The Devil in a Trap, 1902), Kaip kas išmano, taip save gano (Each on His Own, 1904), Parduotoji laimė (Sold Happiness, 1905), Dublynė (The Bog, 1912), and others.