Aleksandra Fomina: it seems indecent to speak about rejoicing things 2014-03-26
The author got acquainted with the prose writer Aleksandra Fomina closer on one summer Saturday, when they hitchhiked to the writers’ acquaintances hippies in the woods. The second book of Aleksandra “We were in the Island Yesterday” was published recently then and it came natural that the travellers spoke about literature and the feeling when you become a writer officially.
What is stronger than black? 2013-12-06
The selection of poems of Valdas Gedgaudas “Stiprėjanti Juoda“ (Black Getting Stronger, Homo Liber, 2013) is reviewed in the article. The author was encouraged to find the book of V. Gedgaudas due to its juvenile and sentimental title. Is there nothing stronger than black when you are 51 years of age?
Writer Vidas Morkūnas: “I do not accept art that tries to hide decay” 2013-12-05
According to the writer and translator Vidas Morkūnas, the beauty of ugliness is close to him, but he tries to picture things that rot and decay in a beautiful manner. “I do not understand and accept art which tries to hide decay, cruelty, death so that the reader/viewer would not get scared and his/her mood would not be spoiled. In my opinion, art should make the man see everything – beautiful and ugly things, sad, tragic sides of life as they do exist, and there is beauty without ugliness,” V.Morkūnas asserts.
Portraits of artists in memoirs 2013-12-04
Memoirs are among the most popular literature genres of the last decade. Usually memoirs are written by artists, writers, public activists and politicians, famous people. Still, some memoirs appeared in Lithuanian literature the authors of which, writers and artists, concentrate not on themselves but on other personalities. The most vivid examples of such memoirs are “Egziliantės užrašai” (“Notes of Woman in Exile”) by Aušra Marija Sluckaitė-Jurašienė (2008) and “Nutolę balsai” (“Distant Voices”) of Audronė Girdzijauskaitė (2011).
Poetess Enrika Striogaitė: “I live trying to leave no trace” 2013-11-30
The author meets the poet, journalist and creator of documentaries Enrika Striogaitė all the time – in a cold cinema, behind plastic wine glasses in an exhibition, in a presentation of a book at the door, in an old manor. Being everywhere she still remains unseen.
Puzzle of daily life 2013-11-11
Aistė Kisarauskaitė is an artist, photographer who organises various exhibitions and contemporary art projects. The author has been publishing short prose works, articles and essays in weeklies Šiaurės Atėnai and Literatūra ir Menas since 2003. “39 Salto Mortale” is the first book of short prose works of A. Kisarauskaitė, and it participates in the Election of the Book of the Year 2013.
Manifestations of magic realism in novel of Elena Kurklietytė “Šešėlių Verpėja” 2013-10-28
More and more works of literature are published recently that could be attributed to magic realism. Such works involve, provoke and surprise the reader by the harmony of antitheses. Manifestations of magic realism may be traced in the works of the Lithuanian journalist and writer Elena Kurklietytė. As for the magic realism, two of her novels “Lyla” (2004) and “Šešėlių verpėja” (2009) (“Spinner of Shadows”) should be mentioned.
Vytautas Martinkus: “We have to value the author” 2013-09-30
The prose writer, academician, professor of the Lithuanian University of Education Vytautas Martinkus: "Writing requires internal concentration, searches, and all this may be performed only by a man, personality, his brain, imagination. Therefore, let’s not give creation to electronic world. (…) We should value the author. Who is alive. No matter that somebody says that he is “dead”.”
Odysseus never returned 2013-09-23
Speaking about the return, the poet denies all possible impications – it is not possible to return and to step to the same river twice. According to J. Mekas, Odysseus never returned home. On another hand, J. Mekas loves oxymorons: it is impossible to return physically but you can always return while creating - it is unavoidable. The majority of poetry and cinema works of J.Mekas are created on the basis of this assumption.
