“Writing is more interesting and meaningful for little ones, you can expect miracles from them, you can believe that a big tree of goodness will grow from a small grain later,” said the writer.
And the frame of our conversation expands to the whole world…
– Your creative path is very long. Tell us regarding when and what memorable failures you had to experience, which later turned into success?
– The biggest failure happened when I least expected it. I published a book of poems “Nesstok, valandėle”, it was favorably received, and the then chairman of the Writers’ Union, E. Mieželaitis, invited me for a conversation, encouraged me to improve, and over a cup of coffee, poetry consultant E. Matuzevičius strengthened my faith in my vocation, deepened my knowledge of poetry. And here are invitations to meetings with readers all over Lithuania. Enticing perspectives were opening up, I was creating new poems, but for some reason, more and more slowly, less often…
I tried not to give up, I wrote, but more and more I swiped until… stop! And one day in complete desperation, I grabbed a thick notebook with black covers with squished, unpolished stanzas and threw it in the trash. Amen!
To this day, I don’t know how the first humoresque was born out of that panic, disappointment and grief. By the way, following half a year of silence…
– And how were your humoresques received? Did you immediately get high ratings once more? After all, not every writer has such a quality – to laugh sharply, but at the same time not offensively?
– No, this time no one congratulated me on this turn, patronized me, or wished me success. It was quite the opposite: other humorists looked at me as a competitor, and the translations of my works into other languages made them jealous, especially because I stayed away from them, refused to drink with them; once in “Shluota” (EG – a magazine of satire and humor at the time) locked the room, threatened not to let out until I went “white” with them. became an invalid. I visited her in the hospital, we corresponded.
– I wonder – when did you feel that you were gifted with a subtle sense of humor? Have you struggled to find a new genre on your creative path, tired of poetry?
– No, humor was not new to me following escaping from poetry. I ran a course wall paper at university, and much of it was for laughs and mockery.
Sometimes, through the keyhole of the auditorium, I would watch people sailing by the wall in the corridor, reading, and most importantly, laughing, discussing…
After all, my favorite book as a child was “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, even when I was sleeping I kept it under my pillow, all ripped out. For a while, A. Griciaus’ “Laiko švisa” (EG – humoristic book of a journalist, public figure) pleased me, but as I read more books, the demand for books grew – both for humor creators and for myself. I climbed the invisible stairs – of course, stumbling, and the highest step of achievement led to the then humor capital Gabrovo (Bulgaria), where the world humor and satire magazine “A’ Propos” was published and its first issue began with my satires. I didn’t even count the books and publications in other languages… But the most important thing is that then, at the very apogee, I felt the edge of the approaching pit…
Yes, I received many invitations to meet with readers, but I avoided such meetings more and more until finally I gave up altogether: I had neither the desire nor the calling to make the audience laugh “live”, and once I even cried…
The familiar feeling of exhaustion crept back once more, I created more and more by forcing myself, procrastinating, without a fire, I mightn’t get rid of the depressed mood…
Literally, I fell into a hole and… and at the bottom of it I found a blade of grass.
The little grandson has grown up so much that it is time for him to follow the fairy tales. Since from my childhood – nevertheless – I had brought one very cruel fairy tale regarding a witch who wanted to eat the orphan Vosyliuka, but ate her own daughter, so I had to create fairy tales myself – and the green leaf had more and more fun leafing, growing, spreading into flowers until “Tandadrika” shone. … (EG – short story “Journey to Tandadrika”).
– “Journey to Tandadrika” – your longest work for children – is in second place in the list of the most popular books in the library this year. This book was published in 1983. In children’s literature, there are many examples when works become “outdated” and are no longer interesting for modern children, even when published on new paper and with more colorful illustrations. Where lies the phenomenon of this piece? How did you manage to “grab” all the timeless truths and values?
– I was not a very popular child in my family, my older sister and brother were more happy regarding it. I was always curled up in a corner, engrossed in books, in addition to being sent away from home during the summer. We lived close to Halle, and my mother would sometimes get to know a village woman or a villager, and she would offer me some clothes or a dish to take me for a month or two.
And when I walk or drive a truck to some village in Vilnius, I feel sleepy and completely lonely: I don’t know Polish, and I don’t have peers around me.
It was the worst year of my life.
I felt more and more rejected. My sister didn’t talk to me at all, sometimes I would ask pitifully: “Romante, why don’t you talk to me?” – “Back off!” – she snapped. My father took care that we grew up as Lithuanian patriots, but he was extremely strict and insensitive, and he ended up in exile. I had to live half-starved, my mother traded the best clothes for fuel and food, she dressed my sister better, and I went to school in my father’s shoes and ragged trainers. After finishing high school, I was ordered to look for a job, but this time I disobeyed and entered the university, I even passed a couple of exams for my sister in order to be admitted to the Institute of Physical Culture…
And let a lot changed later, I was surrounded by colleagues, new acquaintances, but the feeling of separation and inner loneliness remained.
No, humor was not new to me following escaping from poetry.
This is where the roots of “Tandadrika” lie: all six travelers are rejected, thrown out, lonely – but they are so close to me, understandable. So, without hesitation, we embarked on a dangerous journey into the unknown… I write “we” – because a part of me lies in each of those six…
Your so-called phenomenon is easy to understand: tormented by loneliness as a teenager, I took even six friends on a hike and loved them more than myself: I didn’t dwell on their shortcomings as if they were my own, I didn’t argue with them as if with myself, I felt that I shouldn’t betray them and leave them to the will of fate on a dangerous journey into the unknown – on a journey that I pushed myself into…
We spent sleepless nights together looking for ways out, we advised each other… But it was so long ago that many things have been forgotten, but the feeling of community and warmth that connected us remained… I think it is felt and attracts the reader.
– I’m sure you’ve heard this question from readers many times before – what does the word ‘Tandadrika’ mean?
– I am often asked where the name “Tandadrika” comes from. God, I don’t know. Came from obscurity and firmly took the place. And don’t even try to disobey. This is how the order came that Kutas the dog must die… One mother told me that following reading the book, her daughter cried for two hours. This was the biggest reward for me – the book entered the very heart of the child, vibrated, preserved and left a mark for a long time.
– Which of your creations for children do you like the most?
From my fairy tales, “The Robot and the Bow Tie” is the closest to my heart. I hoped that the children would hear it on the radio show “Vakaro pasaka” (EG – LRT radio show). Unfortunately, the lion’s share of this show was given to foreign authors, pushing their own. It’s really disappointing, especially compared to “Midnight Lyrics” (EG – LRT radio show), where own poets dominate.
I am happy that my second-year-old great-grandson Ugnius gets to read “The Castle of Liars” according to the program, and third-year-old Džiugas – “Journey to Tandadrika”…
It’s just sad that more and more schoolchildren are attached or are attached to screens, away from books…
– So many new branches have already taken off from you, a bunch of relatives of several generations – tell us more regarding how you communicate with the youngest, with your great-grandchildren?
– For example, there is an abandoned forest near the summer house in the village, which is magical for my great-grandchildren: when they arrive, they rush to the hill standing there, in the hollow of which they find a letter from the gnomes, and when they answer, they receive a gift and are rewarded with buttons: because they constantly escape from the gnomes’ cloaks. And when one dwarf lost his shoe, he was given a shoe shining with gold… You won’t tell all the details, but the most important thing is that the corner of nature is spiritual, spiritualizing everything around…
– The spectrum of your creative genres is very wide. What do you feel best regarding writing yourself – humorous or maybe “serious” works, short stories, fairy tales or short stories?
– The spectrum is broad, but various genres did not push each other, they followed one following the other: poetry, prose satire and humor, finally fairy tales, short stories for children, just like “Tandadrika”…
Between them came journalism (“I asked you not to cry” – letters from mothers, fathers, relatives and stories regarding Lithuanian boys who died in compulsory military service, 1991), and I also prepared an anthology of Lithuanian humor and satire “Interesting mask”. I never sat on my hands. For example, during the summer in the village of Akmenis, I collected stories regarding this land and its past, that there was once a shrine of priests on the site of the church, and the legendary stone “The Cursed Girl” standing next to it attracted worshipers even from Belarus, and the land around it was bare from walking on stilts. The storytellers have already died, and their memoirs remained written down, I have printed some of them.
It was the worst year of my life.
And I felt the best when I was creating what I was dedicated to at the time: whether it was a humorous or a sad tale, or the same “Tandadrika”. Literally, to someone who quivers on the tip of a feather. Only, I remember, one piece dominated, not pushing with the other.
– Which period of your creative life would you describe as the most interesting?
– Everyone was interesting, especially taking on a new genre.
The unknown is always attractive, as is the desire to escape from a place where stagnation is already threatening. Maybe that’s why I like playing chess so much.
– It is important to ask – do writers read the works of their colleagues? What do you like to read yourself?
– I have counted the works of fiction to the point of satiety, they no longer satisfy my desire to know this world more deeply, more widely. I follow global changes on our Earth: overpopulation, accelerated melting of glaciers, growing pollution of atmospheric layers, tearing up of flora and fauna that have been established for centuries, even seeing the disastrous consequences. After all, all this will fall on our children and grandchildren, won’t they curse us, who are now sitting comfortably in front of the TV screens and curiously watching the increasing frequency of hurricanes, floods, volcanic eruptions – because we feel safe, away for now, unfortunately, for now…
What creative differences do you feel when writing for a child and an adult?
I create with my mind and heart for both.
For a child, it’s more prudent, gentler, more imaginative, and for an adult, I don’t avoid stinging – the puddle won’t take…
– Thank you very much for the interview, dear Vytauta. I am extremely happy that my dream to meet you and chat live has come true!
#quivering #tip #pen #memory #Vytauta #Žilinskaite #Culture
2024-04-06 20:15:38
