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The UK-based publishing house ‘Dedalus’ has released a comprehensive anthology of Lithuanian prose, a book that took several years to complete. In his interview with the Kultūros barai monthly, Director Eric Lane of ‘Dedalus’ calls Lithuania ‘a country with strong agrarian roots,’ which literature is ‘full of myths and prejudices’ and yet attentive to contemporary social and religious issues. Yet he insists that, despite sharing a common history with the other Baltic States and especially Poland, Lithuanian literature has managed to preserve its authentic literary style and a peculiar way of expression.  Viktorija Ivanova of the Kultūros barai monthly speaks to Mr. Lane on the newly released The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature, which includes the works of as many as 19 Lithuanian writers.

- First of all tell us when and how did you first encounter with the Lithuanian literature?

- Frankly speaking, I do not remember. Originally ‘Dedalus’ started as a publishing house focusing exclusively on European fiction. But once we got down to the literature of smaller nations we realized that fiction as a genre has its own limitations. So we decided to expand our scope and cover a wider literary landscape.

Lithuania was the second Baltic nation, after Estonia, which we have chosen to include in our series. And cooperation with your country turned out to be so smooth and simple! Thanks to our partner in Lithuania, the International Cultural Program Centre, all our requests were processed very quickly. This cooperation experience was like a gust of fresh air for all of us.

-During the release [of the anthology] its editor Almantas Samalavičius said that the aim of this book was to showcase Lithuania from a unique perspective. What impression about Lithuania have you gathered from the works presented in this collection?

-I see Lithuania primarily as a country of strong agrarian roots and its literature as a certain mystery full of myths and prejudices, which nevertheless dwells heavily on social and religious differences. Let’s take the story of a Jew, who is a herring seller, and a [Lithuanian Catholic] maid, who robs him and therefore is not allowed into heaven after she dies (reference to the tale “Herring” by Vincas Krėvė – V.I.) Yes, this piece is very much “down to earth” and has a simple moral, and yet it perfectly reveals the profound depth of the countryside humor present in many Lithuanian works.

The closer we get to the present day in our anthology, the more often rural life is replaced by urban realities. Also, the ‘shadow of Russia’ starts looming increasingly larger, as the sufferings inflicted by the Soviet Union and World War II progressively come to the fore. Some stories relating to that historical period are indeed heartbreaking. My eldest son believes they unveil the character of a heroic nation. And even though it is rather unusual to classify nations as ‘heroic’or ‘tragic,’ but in this case I tend to agree with him that that the Polish people are more of a ‘tragic’ people, while Lithuania is a ‘heroic’ nation.

There is a certain gap between what Lithuania was in the past and what it has become today: a resurrected [Phoenix], certainly a more self-confident country with a great optimistic drive, but at the same time with the ‘shadow of Russia’ still hovering over it. It seems the older generation does not believe that situation has really changed. But for the younger one, the generation of the twenty-years-old, this shadow of Russia seems to be less threatening, because these people have not lived in the Soviet Union and remember it only from the history textbooks.

- During the [book] release ceremony you have mentioned that Lithuanian literature displays unique characters and has a distinctive way of expression. Could you elaborate on this?

-At the initial stage of our work, we thought Lithuanian literature would hardly be different from what we had already found in the Estonian texts. However, in the end we were facing a totally different form and style [of expression]. Lithuania differs substantially from both Latvia and Estonia on the one hand and Poland on the other. In our anthology of Polish literature, we have traced the presence of the devil as a protagonist in almost every text we had to deal with. Sometimes this devil represents the epitome of the ultimate evil; in other cases it only plays the role of a funny little imp. However, in Lithuanian literature this character is almost non-existent. The emphasis on the Catholic faith is also less significant. In fact, this distinct style [of Lithuanian literature] has surprised me a lot: your country shares so much of its history with the other Baltic States and particularly with Poland, with which Lithuania has been in a union for more than 400 years; yet, the manner of expression and the prevailing worldview has remained authentic and unique.

In my opinion, the theme of suffering is overwhelmingly present in Lithuanian literature; at least it features strongly in our collection of works. I’m curious if suffering would still resonate so loudly in the texts after a decade or so, even if those texts were selected from the same historical period? This anthology also unveils an important breakthrough in the language style employed by the authors before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union: while the Soviet literature wasf ull of codes and hidden meanings in ‘between the lines’, such way of writing was no longer important after Lithuania had regained its independence. In fact, the writers of the post-soviet period had to rediscover both their identity and their new mode of expression. It must have been a real shock to them.

- Why is it so important for the literature of small nations to be translated into foreign languages? Would it vanish in the sea of English-language texts if not translated? 

- I think translations are of paramount importance, because English today is the world’s most established lingua franca. I also realize that massive spread of a foreign language like English in a non-English speaking society might be dangerous, because it may threaten the identity of that nation. Without their native tongue small nations would most likely disappear. That is why it is so essential to promote small languages, and the writers’ role here is critical. On the other hand, by translating literary works from our native tongue into English we help the outside world to better understand us; we show the others what is important to us.

Full unabridged and unadapted text available here (in Lithuanian)

Source: delfi.lt