HURDLE SPRINT OF K.NAVAKAS 0
K.Navakas. Photo of S.Siderevičiūtė
K.Navakas and D.Kajokas. Photo of S.Siderevičiūtė
In brief: “I am a sprinter: I sit down occasionally and write something,” the writer Kęstutis Navakas revealed during the meeting with readers at Kaunas County Public Library organised yesterday. The public confession of the writer was provoked by the poet, essayist Donaldas Kajokas. He tried to draw some intriguing detail about his life and creative work; still, the conversation remained on the aesthetically sterile level.
D. Kajokas introduced K. Navakas as a “man-orchestra” whose activity field was very wide: a poet, essayist, translator and literature critic. Meanwhile, K. Navakas assured that this metaphor would be suitable only in case he would have also created an opera and the main role in it. By the way, this idea is at hand's reach already. Literature admirers were already surprised by the joint project of K. Navakas and composer A. Šarapovas: the synthesis of poetry, music and dance in one work. The essayist assured that this visualisation would be published in the newly created website and downloaded free of charge. When asked about the synthesis of arts, the writer responded, “It is always pleasant to join some things.”
Even though the poet was slightly ill, he read some extracts from his works. The biggest part of the conversation was about literature, but some facts from the personal life of K.Navakas were disclosed; e.g., that he was an ardent collector of vinyls and had more than 1500 of them.
The most important genre for K.Navakas is the essay at the moment. It is close to him due to the fact that an essay may be written very quickly – in some two hours. The writer revealed that he was a creator of the moment. For him prose is more convenient as it has no strict roles, as poetry does. Still, the constant movement between prose and poetry is necessary for him as a creator.
The readers were interested how K. Navakas avoided “mechanical” work, when so many texts had already been created. The writer stated that mechanical work could not be avoided but emphasised that this was not related with quality. The most important is meaning in texts, and, according to the writer, “meaning may be found and lost everywhere”.
“Creation is a game, and a man would not survive without playing”. Still, it is a game in a serious form as subconscious images are realised in creation. K. Navakas did not disguise that writing was not only pleasure: sometimes it was hard work which required much effort. Nonetheless, the guest of the evening will not refuse his craft: he is preparing psychologically for writing a novel.