Návrat k normalitě pestrosti : litevská postkomunistická historiografie o formování moderního národa a státu v letech 1795-1940

The article is an overview of the Lithuanian post -Communist historiography on the formation of modern nation and state in 1795–1940. It traces the dominant themes and explains how historians responded to pressing issues of the Lithuanian society and global trends in historiography. It shows that in comparison to previous (interwar, Soviet -time) historiographic paradigms, the newest historiography marginalized the ethnolinguistic perspective and examined Lithuanian society as a social -cultural unity of all inhabitants. The development of civil society is described as the prevailing research topic. Contemporary Lithuanian historians view the nineteenth -century Russian imperial rule as the „alien power“ that suppressed local culture, civic traditions, and modernizing initiatives. As far as all the social, ethnic and confessional varieties of Lithuania are concerned, it is shown that the newest historical narrative brought them back to the very centre of the country’s history. A critical examination of conflicts, traumas, and losses in this field as the consequence of WWI and ethnolinguistic nationalism is presented.