Lithuanian culture and literature are not only accessible, but also appreciated in the world thanks to the translations of R. Užgiris. In English, Rimas translated the classics of Lithuanian literature, such as Maironis and Judita Vaičiūnaitė, and translated many works of contemporary Lithuanian poets, including the 2019 The libretto of the opera “Saulė ir jūra” that won the highest award at the Venice Biennale (author of the text Vaiva Grainytė). I talk with poet, translator, philosopher, Doctor of Humanities R. Užgiris about the connection with poetry, the identity of American Lithuanians, life in New York.
When asked how the journey to poetry began, Rimas says that he felt the inclination to write quite early:
“I started writing poetry at school, but I always doubted myself very much. A practical approach was instilled from childhood. The immigrant subculture constantly pushes to choose practical professions. It is important to them that you go to university, get a good job later and earn money. American Lithuanians choose professions such as doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc. So I didn’t feel I should write. Until I realized that you don’t have to restrain yourself, that you have to allow yourself to be what you want.”
The poet points out that the cultural environment played a decisive role in his path to poetry:
“Living in New York also helped me to free myself in part. There I met artists who became friends. I saw that a different relationship with profession and activity is also possible. Even if you’re not a star, you can still live the life of an artist or cultist. New York was very important to my inner transformation. And, of course, most of my friends in this city were from other countries.
The cultural life was also inspiring. At any time, I could go to a top-class museum (for example, New Yorkers can get into the Metropolitan Museum for a dollar, so on Saturday they can just look at Dutch classics), or the best opera, or listen to chamber music.”
Rimas not only writes poetry, is one of the most important translators of contemporary Lithuanian literature into English, teaches translation theory at Vilnius University, but also has completed a PhD in philosophy. I wonder how his current activities fit in with his completed studies in philosophy. Rim smiles:
“At first I wanted to please my parents. His father was a biophysicist and his mother was a mathematics teacher. I grew up among their friends, among whom were even Nobel Prize winners. On the one hand, it was a real family of scientists. But my father always poured and, as far as I know, still pours watercolors. He once said that he wanted to be an artist, but he was afraid, so he became a physicist. When the department had a difficult period with the first wife. Back then, I didn’t want to write academic works, but only poetry. Then I remembered my father’s words. And I decided not to be afraid.
Photo of pavilion organizers/Rimas Užgiris
I will go ahead, what will be will be. Since then, I stopped messing around. I know that poetry is the right choice. I’m glad I found what I needed. Undoubtedly, scientificity and analytical thinking have greatly influenced and not always to the benefit of poetry. It’s good when art captures the irrational. However, there is also a deep tradition in both art and poetry, when calculated, rational things are important. In poetry, I try to be more open to intuitive flows, but I remain a rational and calculating thinker.”
This year, I had to participate in the presentation of Maironi’s poetry collection, which Rimas translated into English, at the Vilnius Literary House. Listening to the texts read by the translator himself, I thought how skillfully the feeling, which is so abundant in Maironis’s work, rhyme and rhythm are combined. That is why I ask how much effort he, as a poet and translator, needs to put in to harmonize the thought of the text with rhythmicity, in which number and rationality occupy an important place. The rhyme confirms my suspicion that when translating rhyming poetry, you cannot do everything intuitively, and mathematics is quite important here:
“I like the sound in the poems. Sometimes translating rhyming poetry can be like trying to solve a riddle. You have to decide how to push the words to make room for the sound. When translating, you need to constantly check where the rhyme or rhythm occurs naturally, and where something needs to be changed. Sometimes the rhythm appears by itself, but sometimes you have to take care of it separately, sometimes you construct a rhyme, but the rhythm is still not the same. Then you have to go through everything again and look for what else can be changed to make it sound better. There was a lot of work with Maironi’s translations.
I translated the first versions quite quickly, this is how I always work. But then you have to put everything aside for a while and look at it with fresh eyes later. Reread and edit. Help again and return again. And then you keep hearing how it sounds and how it could sound better. You start to see how you can improve. I also worked with Maironis until the very end (printing, – author’s post).”
Laura Vansevičienė’s photo/Aušra Kaziliūnaitė
From Maironis’s translations, the language turns to identity. Although Rimas grew up in the USA, he has been living in Lithuania for many years, so I ask if he can still be called an American Lithuanian. Rimas confirms that the issue is really complicated: “I didn’t really like to identify with American Lithuanians. Almost all representatives of my generation are children of dipuks. We went to camps together, we celebrated holidays together, I didn’t attend, but the others went to Saturday school.
America, Canada and Australia had such a subculture. We were attuned to the cultures we lived in and even spoke English to each other. We could express our thoughts best in English. We were proud of the Lithuanian language, but it was not directly related to our daily life and activities that unfolded in American and Canadian culture. So our identity never seemed completely clear to me. I settled in Lithuania in 1992, my first wife is Lithuanian, by the way, so is my second. Then I realized that I already feel somehow different, not quite an American Lithuanian, because the culture of the United States is different from that of Lithuania. They speak Lithuanian differently, they think differently. And I began to feel different, as a European.
I think I always wanted to feel European. Then it is no longer clear whether to continue to call myself an American Lithuanian, because I am not quite like them, or to consider myself a Lithuanian, although I am not quite like Lithuanians. I am such an “inter”, just like the title of my book of Lithuanian poetry. I feel Lithuanian, European and inevitably American.”
Listen to the entire conversation “I’m glad I found what I need” on the Lithuanian Writers’ Union podcast “Rašytnamis”. Writer, philosopher, doctor of humanities Aušra Kaziliūnaitė talks with poet, translator, philosopher, doctor of humanities Rima Užgiris.
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2024-08-31 17:23:09
