R. Treigys: He was a unique person
“We were good friends and have known each other for a very long time. Since about 1989,” – 15min said R. Treigys.
The last time the photographer spoke with him was a week ago, because R.Rastauskas was planning to create an exhibition for his 70th anniversary. The exhibition was to be exhibited in the “Baroti” gallery in Klaipėda, in the first half of October. The writer would have turned 70 on October 13.
“He told me what he wanted to invite, what he wanted to exhibit. He asked for my advice. It is difficult for me to speak now because, probably, like all his friends, I am now in shock,” the interviewer said.
“Just three weeks ago, his mother died in Palanga. It was then that we met…” – shared R. Treigys.
When asked what R.Rastauskas meant to R.Treigi, the photographer answered: “He meant a lot to me. He was a human uniqueness, a human phenomenon. His colorful personality contained a lot: he was sensitive, creative, understanding. It’s hard for me to talk now because it’s hard to believe that this happened. Especially since the man had so many plans.”
V. Jauniškis: he wanted to live and he did so very actively
Theater critic, publicist, culture commentator Vaidas Jauniškis said that he will remember Rolandas Rastauskas as an indelible cultural phenomenon.
“If we were to talk about the writer, as already mentioned, he was a phrase, a knight of the sentence, simply a teacher of style, feeling.
And if we talk about him as a person, then he simply spread that style, lived by it. He was a kind of ambassador of a special way of life, I would say even dandy. The owner of a beautiful, sharp, satirical look, who was always able to give a timely and accurate retort”, recalled V. Jauniškis.
He said that although he had not been in close contact with R. Rastauskas recently, there were no signs that the writer was ready to “put down his pen”.
“He participated in the opening of the exhibition, communicated and was very active. He was seen by people in the city just a day ago and everything was fine. We could guess now what the real cause of death was, but I can definitely say that he wanted to live and he did so very actively,” said V. Jauniškis.
Lukas Balandios / 15min photo / Vaidas Jauniškis
A timeless personality
Professor of Vilnius University (VU). Jonas Dagys Rolandas Rastauskas was remembered as an exceptional person who was ahead of his time.
“He was an extremely free man. Even in the Soviet era, he radiated an exclusive, European attitude. Even for me as a child, because I am much younger than him, it was such a complete example of light for me. His attitude, his ability to maintain his youth, to find a connection with the younger generation of creators, it was absolutely phenomenal. All this shows his inner youth and freedom,” said J. Dagys.
Lukas Balandis/BNS photo/Jonas Dagys
He regretted that the creator left much too soon – even several readings and publication of poems were planned.
“His creative activity simply stopped. Not at the stage where people withdraw from public life on their own, ready for it. Everything is very sudden. Now, Lithuanian culture has lost an extremely prominent personality and just at the time when it was actively expressing itself. It’s a pity”, said J. Dagys.
A. Gelūnas: “May your eternal journey be bright and, of course, interesting, Friend”
The director of the National Art Museum, Arūnas Gelūnas, also expressed his condolences on the death of R. Raustauskas. “Huge loss and shock,” he wrote on his Facebook account.
“I saw Roland just six days ago at the opening of the Antanas Gudaitis exhibition – lively, insightful, energetic, empathetic and, of course, sparklingly witty. We shouted, we joked, I pulled out an old joke from the recesses of my consciousness, which was suitable for the situation we were discussing, we had a good laugh. Ever the dashing and creative RoRa, I thought,” he said.
This is how R. Rastauskas will always remain in the memory of A. Gelūnas.
“May your eternal journey be bright and, of course, interesting, Friend. And we, don’t be angry, we are going to cry a little, because there is time to cry too…” he said.
Photo by Gintarė Grigėnaitė/Arūnas Gelūnas
N. Butnoriūtė remembered his book
Literaturologist, literary critic Neringa Butnoriūtė paid attention to one important book by R. Rastauskas on her Facebook account.
She remembered one of the days of the Vilnius book fair, when his book “Crying Bronze” was discussed.
I enjoyed The Weeping Bronze the way I enjoy reading the cultured classics of Western modernism. It follows the recorded attitude of the patricians of the 20th century, when the creator presents himself to the public through bohemian pleasure, openly elitizing the environment of artists. At least to me, neither then nor now, it doesn’t seem to be a meinstry, and the further it goes, the more distant it gets. So “Weeping Bronze” allows us to look at it through the lens of Rastauskas,” she said.
Jonas Petroni’s photo/Neringa Butnoriūtė
According to the literary expert, this attitude contributed a lot to R. Rastauskas’ texts: “First of all, he always spoke as an intellectual confident in his taste, as a subjective authority. The journeys across Europe in his texts are not self-centered, not thinking about changing or changing others, not discovering something abroad, but are hedonistically sacrificed for art and self-expression. So it’s no wonder that being abroad stimulates the imagination to turn the thick context of the event into an adventure worthy of literature.”
“You can’t take away from Rastauskas the great ability to show known things in a unique way. There’s a lot of “I” that lies in the style. As a result, the texts are mannered (admittedly, less so in recent years), but they are not satisfied with superficial imagery. His irony did not deliberately vulgarize (or, on the contrary, it defeated the vulgarity of everyday life in the language of culture). This is typical of poetry or literature in a broad sense. Therefore, it is possible to follow what Rastauskas writes about, but it will not be easy to tell what he wrote about (the plot of the essay has been shot). And there’s nothing terrible if after reading it, you remember not the recorded fact, but the original aphorism,” continued N. Butnoriūtė.
Read the entire text of N. Butnoriūtė on her Facebook account:
The leaders of the country also express their condolences
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen and Minister of Culture Simonas Kairys expressed their condolences on the death of writer Rolandas Rastauskas on Thursday.
According to the president, R. Rastauskas was one of the brightest, most easily recognizable contemporary Lithuanian writers.
“And it doesn’t matter which of his broad creative forms – plays, essays, poetry books or performative readings – reached us, the exceptional, exclusively intellectual personality of the author of these works always appeared before our eyes. Lithuanian culture has suffered a huge, hard-to-describe loss,” the country’s leader wrote in his condolences.
Gitanas Nausėda / Paulius Peleckis/BNS photo.
He expresses his condolences to the writer’s relatives, colleagues in the cultural and academic communities.
According to V. Čmilytė-Nielsen, Lithuania has lost a creator who “spoke in his own sophisticated, elegant, often ironic, therefore not always comfortable language.”
“An artist who represented the values of Western art and urban culture. This is really a huge loss for Lithuania and the cultural community”, states the condolences of the head of the Seimas.
Victoria Cmilyte-Nielsen / BNS photo.
According to the Minister of Culture, Lithuania has lost a creative and playful master of poetry, an accurate and selective essayist, an intellectual and an esthete, a dramatist and a theater artist.
“(We have lost – BNS) a wonderful translator who was one of the first to bring fresh western winds to our culture. The departure of this creator, gifted with exceptional talents, is a painful loss for our entire cultural field,” S. Kairis wrote in his condolences.
Skirmantas Lisauskas/BNS photo/Simonas Kairys
R. Rastauskas, known by the nickname RoRa, was born in 1954. October 13 in Vilnius. in 1978 graduated in English philology from Vilnius University (VU). 1978-1986 worked at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater, taught at VU, since 1986 taught at Klaipėda University. Since 2016 worked in the Lithuanian National Drama Theater, it is written in the Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia.
in 1972 made his debut in the play “Kite Race”. Published a book of poetry, poems, essays, theater stories “Bermuda Triangle” (2011), wrote a script, created a reading performance.
R. Rastauskas was awarded the I. Simonaitytė Literary Prize, the Literature Prize of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore (both in 2006), the Lithuanian National Prize (2010), the Jotvingių Prize (2015), the Knight’s Cross of the Order “For Services to Lithuania” ( 2015).
The TV movie “Vaikštūnas RoRa” (2006, director Juozas Javaitis) was created about the writer.
Eriko Ovčarenko/BNS photo/Samanta Pinaitytė – Maiskienė, Rolandas Rastauskas
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#Leaders #friends #country #mourning #Rastauskas #wanted #live #actively #Culture
2024-09-06 10:21:22
