admin, Author at Vilnius Review

Lithuanian Literature Awards: Monotony, Monopoly, Scandals, and Vitality

Lithuanian literature awards can be characterized by seasonality. Spring and autumn are a time for poetry, while winter is the season for picking the best books of the year. Of course, seasonality is not the only aspect that allows the classification of literary awards. More importantly, prizes differ in both their function and their meaning.

Lithuanian Literature Awards: Monotony, Monopoly, Scandals, and Vitality Read More »

How Covid-19 is asking us to re-evaluate belonging

Reflections on Belonging / admin

INTRODUCTION In 2002 I wrote an article for Tiltas (the British-Lithuanian Society journal) on ‘Why being Lithuanian is so important to me.’ So while in 2020 I could flesh out the initial rough sketch outline, and fill it in with further cultural insights from eighteen years of living, I feel that in light of what’s happening in

How Covid-19 is asking us to re-evaluate belonging Read More »

The Fetishization of Historical Periods, or Undinė Radzevičiūtė’s Weimar-Era Berlin

Reviews / admin

Writing that deals with reconstructing distant time periods is especially popular in contemporary Lithuanian literature. Such literature is usually called “historical.” And it is a logical choice of words: historical periods, in particular, provide narratives and characters with unique undertones, and they motivate and add meaning to the whole plot. On the other hand, in

The Fetishization of Historical Periods, or Undinė Radzevičiūtė’s Weimar-Era Berlin Read More »

Undinė Radzevičiūtė

Fiction / admin

Beauty is Painful, Beauty is Evil 1929 I. “Would you like to see the catalog?” asked the tattoo artist, Joseph Hildebrandt. “I would,” said Walter. “Hilda, take off your clothes and come over here,” said the tattoo artist. Only a curtain separated the rooms, so there was no need to raise one’s voice. Probably, the

Undinė Radzevičiūtė Read More »

An Antidote to Stereotypes

Reviews / admin

We may regard Enrika Striogaitė as one such cultural participant that you may run into at many art places but never really get to know her. For many years now this poet, author of documentaries, and journalist has managed to appear in public with great stealth. In one of her rare interviews, she once stated

An Antidote to Stereotypes Read More »

Enrika Striogaitė

Poetry / admin

Barbora R. where to begin? well, I work, thank God, still working, these days, you know, no, it’s nothing special, and the money, well, you can live – it’s not minimum wage yes, I divorced my husband a long time ago, how many husbands now? I don’t know, I don’t count, but, to be frank,

Enrika Striogaitė Read More »

Museums of Memory

Reflections on Belonging / admin

Writing, in its noblest function, is the attempt to unerase, to unearth, to find the primitive picture again, ours, the one that frightens us. —Hélène Cixous Sometime I would like to write a book (I have written a book) but here I begin by telling a story. There is not enough time or space

Museums of Memory Read More »

From the Archives of the Misbegotten

Reflections on Belonging / admin

Genealogy My name is not my own. It was a mistranslation. It was a word torn from a forbidden holy book, its pages blurred and swollen by another century’s rain. It was a patch sewn on a uniform. It was the name of a city on a map that was never drawn. It was a

From the Archives of the Misbegotten Read More »

Laima Vincė

Poetry / admin

Preparing for The Next Life Circumambulating the stupa in Thimphu, Elderly Bhutanese women, Earnestly walk clockwise, Twirling their prayer wheels, chanting, Preparing themselves for life’s eternal journey. They all wear purple— Purple jackets, sweaters, blouses, shawls, Long purple kiras. All my life I’ve loved the color purple— I’ve worn purple coats, purple sweaters, purple dresses. I’ve

Laima Vincė Read More »