The History and Culture of Diaspora

Reflections on the Past in the Novels of Dalia Staponkutė, Akvilina Cicėnaitė, and Vaiva Rykštaitė

Abstract

In contemporary (e)migrant prose, individual experiences are depicted against the backdrop of global challenges, and autobiographical elements are being replaced by reflections on the intersec tions of different historical and cultural realities. There is an increase in novels that rethink the soviet and post-soviet past. This article examines the (e)migrant experiences depicted in Dalia Staponkutė’s parallel-narrative novel Vivat regina! and analyzes the individual and collective experiences reflected through past reflections in Vaiva Rykštaitė’s novel Lizos butas and Akvilina Cicėnaitė’s novel Tylos istorija. The article reveals that the form of the parallel-historical novel provides an opportunity to highlight three distinct (e)migrant experiences, highlighting transnational action and the varying speeds of emigration becoming. In the reflections on the soviet, post-soviet, and tragic historical past, the intersection of (post)memory and forgetting is emphasized, along with traumatic experiences.