IT’S (NOT) THE SAME FOR ME – JARAS’ DZEN! 0
(The work of this author (not the first) sent to Kamanė has not been edited as regards the style and writing/spelling manner so that it would not lose its original “uniqueness”).Skaidrius Kandratavičius
2008 08 19
In brief: Using abundant playing with words, meanings, slang and occasionally excessively sophisticated language, the author presents the book of short stories of an original activist, writer, magician of experimental poly-stylistic group “Endiche vis.sat” (alias “Echidna Aukštyn”), organiser of the vanguard fiesta in Kaunas “Sumirimas” Ramūnas Jaras.
The essays and short stories of R. Jaras have been published in Šiaurės Atėnai and Nemunas, in the virtual space. The debut selection of his short stories from the period of 1992–2006 represents careful selection of works, creative experience and excessive work sometimes, stylistic variety and thematic system. It integrates the layers of the authentic talent into one unit.
R. Jaras manifests in the selection as a phenomenon of intensive poetic nature and economical verbal expression. Having passed the esoteric and exoteric levels, dualistic Western and monistic or holistic Eastern attitudes, the author does not stay in any level, He transforms, oversteps and re-boils the energies of personal and collective conscience into a flow of original views and images.
In the collage of short stories full of grotesque, sarcasm and (self)irony, R.Jaras “shocks by the power of thought”, retightens the lose screws. The stories disclose the signs of time – the general cancer of post-industrial consumer society, totalitarianism of neoliberals “work, buy and die”, the main diseases of contemporary society.
Refusing all real and possible or implicit teachers and apprentices radically, the artist becomes the teacher and apprentice to himself, striving modestly and pretentiously to become the innovator of literature of the 21st century.