Character

Kristina Sabaliauskaite (Sabaliauskaitė)

Vilnius, Lithuania 01-01-1974

Period of activity: From 2008 until Still active

Geographical classification: Europe > Lithuania

Socio-cultural movements

Late modern period / Contemporary period

Groups by dedication

Humanistics > Historians

Writers

Context of feminine creation

Art historian and writer Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is a keen explorer of people’s lives who has long felt love for the Baroque era. These factors and the spicy details of the 17th-18th century Lithuania uncovered during her MA and PhD studies have given her an impetus to create something she could not find on the Lithuanian market, a historical novel. Her series of novels entitled Silva Rerum (2008), Silva Rerum II (2011), Silva Rerum III (2014) and Silva Rerum IV (2016) were critically acclaimed by historians of culture and have won over readers by their authentic, multilayered and magically intoxicating depiction of the atmosphere of the 17th-18th century Lithuania.

The Silva Rerum story is a unique representative of a peculiar genre in Lithuania, historical fiction. Such fiction presents a story set in the past, often during a significant time which becomes an important part of the setting and often of the story itself. As this is fiction, artistic license is permitted in regard to presentation and subject matter, so long as it does not deviate in significant ways from established facts or the laws of physics.

The Silva Rerum series by Sabaliauskaitė have been decorated with numerous awards. The first two parts of the cycle became books of the year in Lithuania, and in 2014 the novels were listed among the 100 “Most Favourite Latvian Books of All Times” in Latvia. The novels have been reprinted more than 15 times in Lithuania and Sabaliauskaitė’s other book, a collection of short stories Danielius Dalba & Other Stories, has become another national bestseller. In 2011, Sabaliauskaitė was also awarded the St. Christopher Prize for reflections of Vilnius in literature. Since then, the Vilnius TIC has been organising excursion walks along the paths described in Silva Rerum. The route of the excursion was put together by the author herself, she even led the first excursion.

This is what Sabaliauskaitė says about her creations: “I like to joke that I'm like a man because they always love the last baby with the last woman the most. I also love the last parts of Silva Rerum the most because never have I researched so much and with such a zest as for this book [...] For many people, Rococo is primarily associated with white wigs, roses and pink powdered cheeks. But this period had a dark side, a lining to it. At that time, there were many “firsts”: fascination with exoticism, esotericism, escapism, attempts to escape into virtual reality and life in utopias, an indiscriminate pursuit of pleasure. That era was marked by theatre, masquerade and deceptive symbolism”.

Of note, Silva Rerum III and Silva Rerum IV transport the reader to the middle and end of the 18th century, the decadent Rococo (Late Baroque) period often referred to as the “twilight before the Enlightenment.”

Review

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is a representative of Lithuanian or Lithuania-related historical fiction along with Sofija Tyzenhauzaitė de Šuazel-Gufjė, Vincas Pietaris, Ursula Wong, Grigory Kanovich, Kazys Boruta, Sigitas Parulskis, Antanas Šileika, Icchokas Meras, Rūta Šepetys, etc. In 2008 she debuted with her historical novel Silva Rerum, which became a bestseller of 17 editions and was pronounced “a literary event” in Lithuania.

The first Lithuanian historical novel was Barbre Radziwiłł (1820), the story of the Lithuanian princess Barbara Radziwiłł and the Polish king Sigismund Augustus written in Polish, and the first historical novel in the Lithuanian language was a romantic-patriotic trilogy Algimantas (1904) written by Vincas Pietaris. Lithuanian independence regained in 1991 saw the rise of a national spirit-enhancing novel, and recent decades have seen an appearance of prominent historical novels, among them, Darkness and Company (Parulskis, 2014), The Underground (Šileika, 2012), Between Shades of Gray (Šepetys, 2011) and Salt to the Sea (Šepetys, 2016).

Sabaliauskaitė’s bestselling historical novels have received big international acclaim. For example, a Flemish arts magazine compares her bestseller Peter’s Empress to the work of Marguerite Yourcenar. In this and other books, Sabaliauskaitė relies on verified facts and sources, and portrays the history of Lithuania and Russia as if she had seen every battle, conflict over power and births and funerals with her own eyes.

Justifications

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is a renowned and prolific bestselling writer, one of only a handful representatives of the genre of historical fiction in Lithuania
Her books Silva Rerum and Silva Rerum II won the Book of the Year Awards in Lithuania in 2009 and 2011
Silva Rerum was shortlisted by the Institute of Lithuanian Literature among the twelve most creative books of 2008 and officially listed among the 10 most memorable Lithuanian books of the past decade in 2010
The Saint Christopher Award from the municipality of Vilnius for reflections of Vilnius in literature in 2011
The Silva Rerum trilogy was listed among the 10 most important Lithuanian books of the decade by the Lithuanian PEN club in 2015
In Latvia, the Silva Rerum novels were named among 100 “Most Favourite Books of All Time in Latvia”
The Polish edition of Silva Rerum was listed among 30 most important books of 2015
Decorated with the Medal of the Order of Merits to Lithuania in 2017
Awarded the title of Honorary Doctor from Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2020 for dissemination of art history knowledge and adding new colours to the Lithuanian historical novel

Biography

Art historian and writer Dr. Kristina Sabaliauskaitė was born in Vilnius in 1974 to an old family of Vilniusites. She grew up in a harmonious, educated family always surrounded by books, art albums and classical works. Before she could read, her grandfather told Kristina stories of the Holy Scriptures, Odysseus, read the Nibelungen Hymn, the Greek myths and retold the plots of classical novels, which added to her love of books and high-quality literature.

Sabaliauskaitė graduated from the 23rd secondary school in Vilnius (currently Vilnius Simonas Daukantas Gymnasium) in 1992 and from Vilnius Academy of Arts majoring in Art Studies in 1998. In 1998-2003, she studied for MA and PhD degrees at Vilnius Academy of Arts. In 2003-2004, Sabaliauskaitė completed her postgraduate studies at the Warburg Institute of the University of London and later interned at Sotheby's Auction House.

Sabaliauskaitė has been based in London since 2002, where she has been working as a foreign correspondent and columnist for Lithuania’s biggest daily newspaper Lietuvos rytas. In 2008 she debuted with her historical novel Silva Rerum, which became a bestseller of 17 editions, was pronounced a literary event in Lithuania and was officially named by critics as one of the most memorable books of the decade. Silva Rerum II, the much-awaited sequel to the novel Silva Rerum about the Great Plague of 1707-1710 published in 2011, became a #1 bestseller and won the Lithuanian Book of the Year Award in 2012. 2014-2016 saw several editions of the third and fourth parts of the sequel, Silva Rerum III and Silva Rerum IV, which continued and concluded the great Vilnius saga.

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė currently lives with her family between London and Vilnius and continues her successful career. She says that she has been lucky to enjoy great privileges and attend the most desirable cultural events in London. This has helped her to create memorable articles about celebrities like Jamie Oliver, Elle Macpherson, Manolo Blahnik and Keira Knightley. In 2010, after the birth of her daughter, Sabaliauskaitė wrote a popular blog Rafinerija on the Lietuvos rytas blog platform, where she talked about architecture, art exhibitions, premiers, travels and design. Sabaliauskaitė willingly gives interviews in which she talks about her work and her future books, but she does not give fodder to gossip and protects her private life. She avoids social networks and would never post a spontaneous selfie online, yet she uses her name in social projects as she is engaged in charity, supports libraries and has been organising short essay competitions for schoolchildren for many years.

http://www.sabaliauskaite.com/

http://www.sabaliauskaite.com/index.php?page=1

https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristina_Sabaliauskait%C4%97

https://www.15min.lt/kultura/naujiena/literatura/kristina-sabaliauskaite-apie-kuryba-balerina-soka-graksciai-ir-lengvai-taciau-mes-nematome-kad-jos-pirstai-puantuose-kruvini-286-407469?copied

https://m.kauno.diena.lt/naujienos/laisvalaikis-ir-kultura/kultura/k-sabaliauskaite-mano-tikslas-ne-pritapti-o-gyventi-bunant-savimi-939553

https://www.patogupirkti.lt/blogas/kristina-sabaliauskaite-ryskiausia-zvaigzde-siuolaikines-lietuviu-literaturos-padangeje/

https://www.rasyk.lt/rasytojai/kristina-sabaliauskaite.html

Works

Silva Rerum

Silva Rerum, 2008
Silva Rerum II, 2011
Silva Rerum III, 2014
Silva Rerum IV, 2016

Other books

Petro Imperatorė (Peter’s Empress), 2019
Petro Imperatorė II (Peter’s Empress II), 2021
Danielius Dalba & kitos istorijos, trumpų istorijų rinkinys (Danielius Dalba & Other Stories), 2012
Vilnius. Wilno. Vilna. Three Short Stories, 2015.

Bibliography

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2001). Naujos prielaidos Povilo Alšėniškio portreto identifikacijai ir atribucijai. Lietuvos Katalikų mokslo akademijos metraštis, 19, 353-396.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2005). Danielius Schültzas (1615-1683) Vakarų Europos tapybos kontekste: meninių įtakų ir motyvų migracijos problema. Kūrinys, menininkas erdvė. Straipsnių rinkinys (Ed. M. Iršėnas). Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos darbai.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2008). Silva Rerum. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2012). Danielius Dalba & kitos istorijos. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2011). Silva Rerum II. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2014). Silva Rerum III. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2015). Vilnius. Wilno. Vilna. Three Short Stories. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2015). Silva Rerum I, Silva Rerum II, and Silva Rerum III—Between Fact and Fiction Recreating the Early Modern Culture of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth in Contemporary Literature. The Polish Review, 60, 39-62.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2016). Silva Rerum IV. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2019). Petro Imperatorė. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2021). Petro Imperatorė II. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.

Sabaliauskaitė, K. (2022). Uncovering Lithuania’s hidden relics: The role of historical fiction in Lithuania. Social & cultural studies. Retrieved from: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/role-of-historical-fiction-lithuania-essay-kristina-sabaliauskaite/

Didactic approach

DIDACTIC APPROACH: Lithuanian literature, historical fiction.