Description
Book SynopsisThis book is essential reading on the spatial concepts that two erstwhile neighboring cultures, Lithuanian and German, once associated with one physical space - a Lithuanian region in Prussia. Covering a period of five centuries, the author explores how, when, and, most importantly, why these concepts have been developed and transformed, regulating the spatial imagination of several generations. The study focuses on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, presenting the narratives, representations, and geographic conceptions of the region that existed in these two national cultures. The volume shows how knowledge about ""their own"" space ended up serving as a tool for both Lithuanian and German political aspirations and how it challenged the spatial concepts about this area in the previous century.
Trade Review“By bringing the neglected case of Prussian Lithuania into a dialogue with research on the Russian Empire, Safronovas’ book fills an important gap in scholarship, and enables us to build up a picture of the complex articulation of ideas about ‘Lithuania’ that occurred within different states and across borders. … The book is well written, extensively researched and draws attention to a region which has often been overlooked in the wider discussion on spatial concepts of Lithuania. One of the particular strengths of the book is Safronovas’ ability to bring German, Lithuanian, Russian and Polish sources into a dialogue with one another to historicise the spatial discourse on ‘Lithuania’ within the multilingual and pre-national context of the long 19th century. The book no doubt occupies a key place in the historiography of 19th-century Lithuanian and Prussian history, but also raises many questions and topics that will resonate with scholars who are interested more broadly in the invention and construction of national spaces spanning administrative or imperial border regions.” —Catherine Gibson, European University Institute, Lithuanian Historical Studies Vol. 22
-- Catherine Gibson * Lithuanian Historical Studies *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
List of Figures
Introduction
Chapter 1. East Prussia: An Arena for Cultural Meetings and Conflicts
Chapter 2. Lithuania in Prussia: Changing Concepts in the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries
Chapter 3. Lithuania as a Peculiar Region of Germany (1850s–1910s)
Chapter 4. The Invention of Lithuania Minor (1870–1910s)
Chapter 5. Interaction of the German and Lithuanian Concepts of Prussian Lithuania in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Chapter 6. Battles over Spaces "of Their Own”: Changes after 1918
Concluding Remarks
Bibliography Index of Names Geographic Index Subject Index
