Tomas Venclova


Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian poet, prose writer, scholar, philologist and translator of literature. He is one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group. In 1977, following his dissident activities, he was forced to emigrate and was deprived of his Soviet citizenship. Since 1980, he has taught Russian and Polish literature at Yale University. Considered a major figure in world literature, he has received many awards, including the Prize of Two Nations, and, among other honors.

Life

Tomas Venclova was born in Klaipėda in 1937. His father, Antanas, was a poet and Soviet politician. Tomas was educated at Vilnius University. He was one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group, and took part in Lithuanian and Russian dissident movements. He became friends with poets Anna Akhmatova and Boris Pasternak, as well as Natalya Gorbanevskaya and Joseph Brodsky. In Vilnius, he translated Baudelaire, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Osip Mandelstam, Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak, and other authors into Lithuanian. In Lithuania he was forbidden to publish his own work, except in samizdat, although one volume appeared in 1972, entitled A Sign of Speech. In 1977, following his dissident activities, he was forced to emigrate.
He was invited by Czesław Miłosz to teach at the University of California at Berkeley. He did not return to Lithuania until its independence in 1991. Between 1980 and 2012, he has taught Russian and Polish literature at Yale University.
He has published over twenty books including volumes of poetry, literary criticism, political commentary, literary biography, translation and books on Vilnius. His work has been translated into many languages including by Czesław Miłosz into Polish, and by Joseph Brodsky into Russian. He is active in the contemporary cultural life of Lithuania, and is one of its most well-respected figures.
He lived in New Haven, in the past also temporarily in Vilnius and Kraków. In 2018, after retiring from Yale University, Venclova and his wife moved to Vilnius.

Selected honors and awards

Selected bibliography

Books written in LithuanianVisi eilėraščiai: 1956–2010. Collected Poems. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2010. 404 p.Vilnius: asmeninė istorija. Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2011. 200 p. Kitaip: poezijos vertimų rinktinė. Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 2006. 432 p. Vilniaus vardai. Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2006. 333 p.Sankirta: Eilėraščiai. Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 2005. 80 p. Ligi Lietuvos 10 000 kilometrų. Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 2003. 236 p.Vilnius: Vadovas po miestą. Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2001. 216 p.Manau, kad… Pokalbiai su Tomu Venclova. Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 2000. 320 p.Rinktinė. Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 1999. 216 p.Reginys iš alėjos: eilėraščiai. Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 1998. 64 p.Pašnekesys žiemą: eilėraščiai ir vertimai. Vilnius:, 1991. 376 p.Vilties formos: eseistika ir publicistika. Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 1991. 544 p.Tankėjanti šviesa: eilėraščiai. Chicago: Algimanto Mackaus knygų leidimo fondas, AM&M Publications, 1990. 72 p.Tekstai apie tekstus. Chicago: Algimanto Mackaus knygų leidimo fondas, 1985. 240 p.Lietuva pasaulyje: publicistika. Chicago: Akademinės skautijos leidykla, 1981. 292 p.98 eilėraščiai. Chicago: Algimanto Mackaus knygų leidimo fondas, 1977. 142 p.Kalbos ženklas: eilėraščiai. Vilnius: Vaga, 1972. 64 p.Golemas, arba dirbtinis žmogus: pokalbiai apie kibernetiką. Vilnius, 1965. 272 p.Raketos, planetos ir mes. Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1962. 168 p.Lietuvos istorija visiems, I tomas. Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2018, 336 p.Lietuvos istorija visiems, II tomas. Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2019, 380 p.*
Books written in RussianСобеседники на пиру. Литературные эссе. Москва, НЛО, 2012, 624 с.Статьи о Бродском. Москва: Baltrus, Новое издательство, 2005. 176 с.Собеседники на пиру. Статьи о русской литературе. Vilnius: Baltos lankos,1997, 256 c. Неустойчивое равновесие: восемь русских поэтических текстов. New Haven: YCIAS, 1986.
Books written in EnglishMagnetic North: Conversations with Tomas Venclova.Aleksander Wat: Life and Art of an Iconoclast. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996. 370 p.
Books in English translationVilnius. A Personal History. The Sheep Meadow Press, 2009, 276 p.The Junction: Selected Poems. Edited by Ellen Hinsey. Bloodaxe Books, 2008. Vilnius. Vilnius. R. Paknio leidykla, 2001. 216 p. Forms of Hope: Essays. The Sheep Meadow Press, 1999, 286 p.Winter Dialogue. Northwestern University Press, 1997, 148 p.
Books in German translationGespräch im Winter: Gedichte. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2007Vilnius. Eine Stadt in Europa. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2006Vilnius: Stadtfuehrer. Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2002Guenter Grass, Czesław Miłosz, Wisława Szymborska, Tomas Venclova. Die Zukunft der Erinnerung. Goettingen: Steidl, 2001Vor der Tuer das Ende der Welt: Gedichte. Hamburg: Rospo Verlag, 2000
Books in Russian translationMetelinga: Стихотворения и не только / Пер. и сост. А. Герасимовой. — М.: Пробел-2000, Umka-Press, 2017.Вильнюс: город в Европе. Пер. с лит. Марии Чепайтите. СПб. Изд-во Ивана Лимбаха, 2012 Негатив белизны. Стихи разных лет/ На русском языке с параллельным литовским текстом. М.: Новое издательство, 2008Гранёный воздух. Стихотворения. Москва: ОГИ, Дом Юргиса Балтрушайтиса, 2002 Свобода и правда. Москва: Издательская группа «Прогресс», 1999
Books in Swedish translationFormer av hopp: Essaer 1976–2001. Kristianstad: Ariel/Ellerstroms, 2001Samtal vintertid: Dikter 1956–2000. Satarod/Malmo: Ariel, 2000
Books in Polish translationCzesław Miłosz, Tomas Venclova, Powroty do Litwy. Returns to Lithuania. Warszawa: Zeszyty Literackie, 2011Z dzienników podróży. Warszawa: Zeszyty Literackie, 2010Opisać Wilno. Warszawa: Fundacja Zeszytów Literackich, 2006.Niezniszczalny rytm — eseje o literaturze. Pogranicze, 2002Wilno: Przewodnik. Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2001Rozmowa w zimie. Warszawa: Zeszyty Literackie, 2001 Eseje. Publicystyka. Pogranicze, 2001Aleksander Wat. Obrazoburca. Przeł. J. Goślicki. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1997Rozmowa w zimie. Paris-Kraków: Zeszyty Literackie-Oficyna Literacka, 1991 Sześć wierszy. Lublin: Wydawnictwo FIS, 1991Siedem wierszy. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo S, 1986Czesław Miłosz, Tomas Venclova, Dialog o Wilnie. Warszawa: Niezależna Oficyna Wydawnicza, 1981
Books in Hungarian TranslationVilnius egy város Európában. Budapest: Európa Könykviadó, 2009Litvánok és.... Budapest: Európa Könyvkiadó, 2003Mondjátok meg Fortinbrasnak. Budapest: Európa Könyvkiadó, 1992
Books in Ukrainian TranslationПередчуття і пророцтва Східної Європи. Дух і літера, 2016
Books in Finnish translationVilna: Kaupungin tarina. Tampere: Jagellonica-kulttuuriyhdistys ry, 2012
Books in Italian translationCinquantuno poesie e una lettera
Books in Chinese translationSelected Poems. Xining: Qinghai Renmin Press, 2011
Books in Portuguese translationLiteratura lituana . New York: Lithuanian National Foundation, Inc., 1979
Books in Slovenian translationČistost soli. Ljubljana: Društvo slovenskih pisateljev, 1991
Books in Albanian translationDialog ne dimer: Poezi te zgjedhura''. Tirane: Aleph, 2005