V. Žilinskaitė’s short story written for seventeen years is a work worthy of the famous Hans Christian Andersen | Culture

According to the literary expert, V. Žilinskaitė came to children’s literature in the 1960s with a very bright first wave of children’s literature by Lithuanian authors, which was dominated by bright and cheerful creativity, lots of pranks and fun.

Her first children’s book appeared in 1967 and it was a small book “Winnie the Giant”.

According to K. Urba, many people then thought that V. Žilinskaitė would also write funny and humorous books, because at that time she was already known as a humorist and satirist of extraordinary talent.

“In her works of that time, V. Žilinskaitė sought to clear people’s minds from all kinds of garbage. The problem is that works of this genre get old quite quickly and lose their relevance. So even now, following reading more than one of her humorous books, many things are no longer funny, because the circumstances have completely changed”, said K. Urba, emphasizing that this in no way negates her extraordinary talent to speak topically and wittily to the audience of her time.

However, V. Žilinskaitė’s work for children was far from just comical, on the contrary – the greater part consists of serious, complex and dramatic works.

The writer herself back in 1979. formulated his mission to write for children in the following words: “To develop moral resilience”.

“V. Žilinskaitė thought that it is possible and even necessary for children to write regarding serious, painful things. She was not afraid that children would wipe away tears while reading her works. This is a toughening concept of children’s literature. She herself has stated that her highest aspiration is to convey laughter with tears,” K. Urba said.

V. Žilinskaitė has been writing for children for four decades, but during that time she has written not so much, but only twelve books.

V. Žilinskaitė has been writing for children for four decades, but during that time she has written not so much, but only twelve books.

“This testifies to the writer’s extraordinary responsibility towards her readers and towards the word in general. She wrote her most important work, the short story “Journey to Tandadrika”, for seventeen years. It is undoubtedly one of the greatest works in our children’s literature,” said K. Urba, emphasizing that this book is a work on the level of the world-famous writer Hans Christian Andersen.

In 2018, to celebrate the centenary of the restoration of Lithuania, a hundred of the best children’s literature books were collected. Even three books by V. Žilinskaitė – “Journey to Tandadrika”, “Castle of Liars” and “Robot and Bow Tie” – were included in this list.

According to K. Urba, these three books testify to the extraordinary maturity of the writer – it is no coincidence that they are transferred, staged and read to this day.

A few years ago, while communicating with the author, K. Urba compiled two selections of V. Žilinskaitė’s work. The book “Ziogas stiklinė” contained the writer’s literary tales, and the book “Seneliūkštis” contains her most important short stories, which contain neither serious nor satirical elements.