{"id":3012,"date":"2017-09-11T13:42:56","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T10:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/?p=3012"},"modified":"2017-09-18T13:58:32","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T10:58:32","slug":"80th-birthday-of-tomas-venclova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/2017\/09\/11\/80th-birthday-of-tomas-venclova\/","title":{"rendered":"80th birthday of Tomas Venclova"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"September 11, 2017 marks the 80th birthday of Tomas Venclova<\/strong>, a prominent Lithuanian poet, intellectual and Professor Emeritus at Yale University, US. While living in Soviet Lithuania, Venclova became a dissident. He left the Soviet Union in 1977.\u00a0In the United States, Venclova formed a triumvirate with two other \u00e9migr\u00e9 poets from Eastern Europe, a Russian poet Joseph Brodsky<\/strong> and a Polish-Lithuanian poet Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz<\/strong>. Having lived in the US for decades, Venclova is still very involved in the intellectual life of Lithuania and Europe. In his writings and by his personal example, the poet encourages the cultural and historical dialogue and challenges prevailing stereotypes. Venclova\u2019s poetry, which blends history and personal experiences, has been translated into over 20 languages.<\/p>\n

Venclova\u2018s poetry in the original language is available here >>\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Quotations from translations of Venclova\u2019s poetry<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above all, though it\u2019s hard, love language \u2013<\/p>\n

humbled in newspapers, obituaries saturated with lies,<\/p>\n

in the bedroom\u2019s close darkness, the informer\u2019s confession,<\/p>\n

in the cry at the bazaar, trenches, the stench of hospital wards,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

in third-rate theatres, secret police offices, on lavatory walls.<\/p>\n

In grey buildings where the stairwell\u2019s shaft is guarded<\/p>\n

by steel nets, so that it is not a man, but the century,<\/p>\n

which selects the instant of his death<\/p>\n

<\u2026><\/p>\n

It was given so that we might be different from clay,<\/p>\n

the palm, the thrush, perhaps even from angels,<\/p>\n

so that by naming, we should grasp objects clearly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From poem \u201cCommentary\u201d; translated by Ellen Hinsey<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Although I won\u2019t be able<\/p>\n

To shake you, still I will,<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll put out every taper:<\/p>\n

The tower and the bell,<\/p>\n

The stony streets, the shore<\/p>\n

Bedecked with tar, and even<\/p>\n

My soul, though I\u2019m not sure<\/p>\n

It counts among the living.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here, underneath my feet,<\/p>\n

The shaky roadway crumbles.<\/p>\n

The shooting range, unlit,<\/p>\n

Conceals a dark-voiced rumble<\/p>\n

Of waves, a vast expanse,<\/p>\n

And, from the days of Noah,<\/p>\n

Above the depths, the dance<\/p>\n

Of Aquilon and Notus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From \u201cOde to a City,\u201d translated by Ellen Hinsey. According to Tomas Venclova, the poem was written as a farewell to Vilnius in 1974, when he decided to emigrate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 11, 2017 marks the 80th birthday of Tomas Venclova, a prominent Lithuanian poet, intellectual and Professor Emeritus at Yale University, US. While living in Soviet Lithuania, Venclova became a dissident. He left the Soviet Union in 1977.\u00a0In the United States, Venclova formed a triumvirate with two other \u00e9migr\u00e9 poets from Eastern Europe, a Russian … Toliau skaityti „80th birthday of Tomas Venclova”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1555],"tags":[2367,2365,2361,2359,2369,2363],"class_list":["post-3012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-80th-birthday","tag-ellen-hinsey","tag-poet","tag-poetry","tag-short-biography","tag-tomas-venclova-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/lituanistika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}