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The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature
The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature attempts to reflect the transition of Lithuanian literature since the beginning of the twentieth century, when Lithuania was still an agrarian and colonized country on the margins of Europe, to its present modern and post-modernist phase. Lithuanian literature was suppressed in the nineteenth century by the Russians but by the eve of WW II was flourishing again. A new Russian occupation reversed this and led to a Soviet-style socialist realism in fiction. The last decades of the twentieth century saw the rise of a new generation of writers who dealt with Lithuania's history and the contemporary world.
The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature features the classic authors and the authors who have only recently come to prominence like Herkus Kuncius or Giedra Radvilaviciute.
The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature features the classic authors and the authors who have only recently come to prominence like Herkus Kuncius or Giedra Radvilaviciute.
- GenresFiction
249 pages, Paperback
First published March 31, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 30, 2022
If there is such a thing as food envy, there must therefore be a thing called book envy. And I have it. I had several really good options for Lithuania in my around the world reading challenge but I had to go and pick a cheaper one. Sigh.
So this one was an anthology of Lithuanian literature spanning over a hundred years. The first four stories were so good. They were interesting, quirky and had a folktale feel about them. And then the war happened and then the Soviet occupation and the labour camps. I think times were pretty censored during this time and it was hard to speak out about what was really happening. And by the time they could write freely and reflect on the past, it all became very bleak. There were stories of loss and the mistreatment of the living a dead and having nothing to live for.
The content and messages were important and need to be translated and shared, as with this book. The writing was mostly pretty good too. The downside for me was that I have been avoiding the sad stories from the past. I have read quite a few during this challenge and it’s a struggle to read through such sadness.
2.5 rounded down.
So this one was an anthology of Lithuanian literature spanning over a hundred years. The first four stories were so good. They were interesting, quirky and had a folktale feel about them. And then the war happened and then the Soviet occupation and the labour camps. I think times were pretty censored during this time and it was hard to speak out about what was really happening. And by the time they could write freely and reflect on the past, it all became very bleak. There were stories of loss and the mistreatment of the living a dead and having nothing to live for.
The content and messages were important and need to be translated and shared, as with this book. The writing was mostly pretty good too. The downside for me was that I have been avoiding the sad stories from the past. I have read quite a few during this challenge and it’s a struggle to read through such sadness.
2.5 rounded down.
June 19, 2014
If you have no other experience with Lithuanian literature, this slender anthology of 19 writers is an excellent place to start. The stories, ordered chronologically, take the reader through different periods of Lithuania's recent history. In these pages we meet sarcastic gulag inmates; cheerful old flirts; alcoholics; pet lovers; free-spirited teenagers who encounter unusual flowers; and other strange, serious, or satirical characters.
The selection of work is well-balanced, with an array of protagonists with such varying voices that you want to know what the main character of the next story has to say and what the author's literary approach will be. The collection begins with thievery in the countryside with a psychological twist and ends with a story with such colorful characters that they seem to jump off the page and shake you by the shoulders.
The works included have been carefully chosen and the anthology overall fills a gap in world literature in translation. It is, at this time, notoriously difficult to find major works from "minor" languages such as Lithuanian translated. For the most part, if you don't speak Lithuanian, you have a narrow selection of translated works from which to choose. So, though this anthology could conceivably act as a jumping-off point for those who want to learn more about the literary tradition of Lithuania, without a body of ready literature translated into English or other languages, the reader must either be satisfied with what is presented here, search high and low for rare translated works, or learn Lithuanian.
The selection of work is well-balanced, with an array of protagonists with such varying voices that you want to know what the main character of the next story has to say and what the author's literary approach will be. The collection begins with thievery in the countryside with a psychological twist and ends with a story with such colorful characters that they seem to jump off the page and shake you by the shoulders.
The works included have been carefully chosen and the anthology overall fills a gap in world literature in translation. It is, at this time, notoriously difficult to find major works from "minor" languages such as Lithuanian translated. For the most part, if you don't speak Lithuanian, you have a narrow selection of translated works from which to choose. So, though this anthology could conceivably act as a jumping-off point for those who want to learn more about the literary tradition of Lithuania, without a body of ready literature translated into English or other languages, the reader must either be satisfied with what is presented here, search high and low for rare translated works, or learn Lithuanian.
June 27, 2020
Tales of love and loss, these writings parallel some of the points and times in history that Jared Diamond discusses in his book "Upheaval" the sand-paper like relationship that both the Baltic states as well as Finland had with the Soviet Juggernaut.
The Soviet-style Siberian concentration camps were similiar to their Nazi counterparts by way of hell on earth living conditions and treatment. Fascinating, disturbing and educational.
The Soviet-style Siberian concentration camps were similiar to their Nazi counterparts by way of hell on earth living conditions and treatment. Fascinating, disturbing and educational.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews