Justinas Marcinkevičius
Justinas Marcinkevičius (10 March 1930 – 16 February 2011) was a prominent Lithuanian poet and playwright.
Life and career
Marcinkevičius was born in 1930 in Važatkiemis, Prienai District. In 1954, he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Vilnius University with a degree in Lithuanian language and literature. He joined the Communist Party of Lithuania in 1957. He worked for a number of years as vice-chairman of the board of the Union of Lithuanian Writers. Marcinkevičius is regarded as one of the most prominent members of Sąjūdis. He died in Vilnius.
Literary style and themes
Having grown up during the post-war period, Marcinkevičius evokes in his poetry a romanticized version of childhood spent in the Lithuanian countryside, of first love, of man's relationship with nature. In his poetry specific and solid peasant thinking is combined with a mind seeking to draw broad general conclusions, and the tradition of Lithuanian poetry singing the Earth's praises with contemporary modes of poetic thought. As a poet, he has sought to grasp the essence of national experience and give it fresh artistic expression. In his lyrical verse Marcinkevičius strives to comprehend the real meaning of what is going on inside man and society and moves the reader with his ardent lyrical confessions.
For most his life Justinas Marcinkevičius lived and wrote during the complex times of Soviet totalitarianism. He defended the cultural self-awareness of his nation. The poet brought back humanistic idea in describing a man, continued on the romantic and lyric poetry tradition, valued the aesthetic side of literature, as opposed to the heroic and propagandistic style of socialist realism. Marcinkevičius wrote poems in a romantic and modern style.
Awards and acknowledgements
- Lithuanian National Prize
- Herder Prize 1998
- Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature, the Arts and Science (2001)
- National Advancement Prize in Culture (18 May 2008)
Works of note
After the emergence of Marcinkevičius' first book I Plead for a Word in 1955, he has published fourteen collections of poetry, three historical plays, two collections of essays, a novella and various translations into Lithuanian.
Poetry and compilations
- Liepsnojantis krūmas (The Burning Bush; 1968)
- Gyvenimo švelnus prisiglaudimas (The Gentle Cuddle of Life; 1978)
- Rhymed trilogy of historical dramas:
- Mindaugas (1968, English translation of Part 2 in 1971)
- Mažvydas (1977)
- Katedra (The Cathedral; 1971)
Novels
- Dienoraštis be datų (A Diary Without Dates; 1981)
- Tekančios upės vienybė (Unity of a Flowing River; 1994)
He has also translated into Lithuanian works of Adam Mickiewicz, Alexandr Pushkin, Sergei Yesenin, Mikhail Lermontov, and the Finnish Kalevala legend.
References
- (in Lithuanian) Year of Lithuanian book. Justinas Marcinkevičius Biography. Retrieved on 2007-09-24
- "HONOR AND SUFFERING,The Second Part of the Drama-Poem MINDAUGAS," Lituanus 17,4 (1971) [1]. Retrieved on 2013-03-15
- "Mindaugas," translated by Ona Čerškutė-Spidell, introduced by Rimvydas Šilbajoris, in Alfreds Straumanis, ed., Fire and Night: Five Baltic Plays (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1986), pages 145-208.
- v
- t
- e
- 1964: Oto Bihalji-Merin
- Jan Kott
- Stanisław Lorentz
- Lucijan Marija Škerjanc
- 1965: Tudor Arghezi
- Manolis Hatzidakis
- Emanuel Hruška
- Zoltán Kodály
- László Németh
- Hugo Rokyta
- Hristo Vakarelski
- 1966: Ján Cikker
- Dezső Dercsényi
- Zlatko Gorjan
- Aleksander Kobzdej
- Anton Kriesis
- Niko Kuret
- Dimiter Statkov
- 1967: Iván Fenyő
- Vladimír Kompánek
- Witold Lutosławski
- Spyridon Marinatos
- Alexandru A. Philippide
- Mihai Pop
- Svetozar Radojčić
- 1968: Constantin Daicoviciu
- Roman Ingarden
- Miroslav Krleža
- Ludvík Kunz
- Anastasios Orlandos
- Lajos Vayer
- Pancho Vladigerov
- 1969: Jolán Balogh
- Albín Brunovský
- Bohuslav Fuchs
- Mihail Jora
- Marijan Matković
- Ksawery Piwocki
- France Stele
- 1970: Jan Białostocki
- Jan Filip
- Zoltán Franyó
- Milovan Gavazzi
- Gyula Illyés
- Yiannis Papaioannou
- Zeko Torbov
- 1971: Jiří Kolář
- Blaže Koneski
- Georgios Megas
- Kazimierz Michałowski
- Mihail Sokolovski
- Zaharia Stancu
- Bence Szabolcsi
- 1972: Dragotin Cvetko
- Atanas Dalchev
- Branko Maksimović
- Gyula Ortutay
- Jaroslav Pešina
- Henryk Stażewski
- Virgil Vătășianu
- 1973: Veselin Beshevliev
- Stylianos Harkianakis
- János Harmatta
- Zbigniew Herbert
- Eugen Jebeleanu
- Petar Lubarda
- Jan Racek
- 1974: Władysław Czerny
- Ivan Duichev
- Ivo Frangeš
- László Gerő
- Stylianos Pelekanidis
- Ján Podolák
- Zeno Vancea
- 1975: Józef Burszta
- Hristo M. Danov
- Stanislav Libenský
- Maria Ana Musicescu
- Gábor Preisich
- Pandelis Prevelakis
- Stanojlo Rajičić
- 1976: Jagoda Buić
- Marin Goleminov
- Ioannis Kakridis
- Dezső Keresztury
- Nichita Stănescu
- Rudolf Turek
- Kazimierz Wejchert
- 1977: Nikolaos Andriotis
- Riko Debenjak
- Emmanuel Kriaras
- Albert Kutal
- Máté Major
- Krzysztof Penderecki
- Anastas Petrov
- Ion Vladutiu
- 1978: Eugen Barbu
- Đurđe Bošković
- Kazimierz Dejmek
- Stoyan Dzudzev
- Béla Gunda
- Jiří Hrůza
- Yiannis Spyropoulos
- 1979: Magdalena Abakanowicz
- Ferenc Farkas
- Zdenko Kolacio
- Atanas Natev
- András Sütő
- Pavel Trost
- Apostolos E. Vacalopoulos
- 1980: Gordana Babić-Đorđević
- Iván Balassa
- Kamil Lhoták
- Manousos Manousakas
- Vera Mutafchieva
- Alexandru Rosetti
- Wiktor Zin
- 1981: Emil Condurachi
- Sándor Csoóri
- Stefka Georgieva
- Dimitrios Loukatos
- Vjenceslav Richter
- Eugen Suchoň
- Elida Maria Szarota
- 1982: Athanasios Aravantinos
- Ana Blandiana
- Vojislav J. Đurić
- Sona Kovacevicová
- Aleksandar Nichev
- Jan Józef Szczepański
- Imre Varga
- 1983: Władysław Bartoszewski
- Géza Entz
- Jozef Jankovič
- Gunther Schuller
- Zdenko Škreb
- Stefana Stoykova
- C. A. Trypanis
- 1984: Emilijan Cevc
- Konstantinos Dimaras
- Karel Horálek
- György Konrád
- Constantin Lucaci
- Krasimir Manchev
- Krzysztof Meyer
- 1985: Branko Fučić
- Růžena Grebeníčková
- Adrian Marino
- Demetrios Pallas
- Károly Perczel
- Simeon Pironkov
- Andrzej Wajda
- 1986: Georgi Baev
- Tekla Dömötör
- Boris Gaberščik
- Konrad Górski
- Johannes Karayannopoulos
- Jiří Kotalík
- Anatol Vieru
- 1987: Roman Brandstaetter
- Doula Mouriki
- József Ujfalussy
- Vladimir Veličković
- Velizar Velkov
- Gheorghe Vrabie
- 1988: Roman Berger
- Christos Kapralos
- Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga
- György Györffy
- Donka Petkanova
- Mieczysław Porębski
- Edvard Ravnikar
- 1989: Maria Banuș
- Ákos Birkás
- Jerzy Buszkiewicz
- Václav Frolec
- Nikolai Genchev
- Petar Miljković-Pepek
- Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis
- 1990: Liviu Calin
- Bronisław Geremek
- Aris Konstantinidis
- Dejan Medaković
- Virginia Paskaleva
- Adriena Šimotová
- András Vizkelety
- 1991: Maja Bošković-Stulli
- Gerard Labuda
- Andor Pigler
- Yorgos Sicilianos
- Emil Skála
- Marin Sorescu
- Stoimen Stoilov
- 1992: Manolis Andronikos
- Jenő Barabás
- Blaga Dimitrova
- Stefan Kaszynski
- Jiří Kořalka
- Zmaga Kumer
- Jon Nicodim
- 1993: Vasilka Gerasimova-Tomova
- Petro Kononenko
- György Kurtág
- Jerzy Tchórzewski
- Răzvan Theodorescu
- Elena Várossová
- Māra Zālīte
- Dionysis Zivas
- Viktor Žmegač
- 1994: István Borzsák
- Dževad Juzbašić
- Ștefan Niculescu
- Andrzej Szczypiorski
- Jitka and Květa Válová
- Takis Varvitsiotis
- Zigmas Zinkevičius
- 1995: Sándor Kányádi
- Mirko Kovač
- Milcho Lalkov
- Michael G. Meraklis
- Mindaugas Navakas
- Wisława Szymborska
- Jaan Undusk
- 1996: Tamás Hofer
- Karel Hubáček
- Konstantin Iliev
- Marin Mincu
- Jože Pogačnik
- Pēteris Vasks
- Marian Zgórniak
- 1997: Tasos Athanasiadis
- Bogdan Bogdanović
- Oskár Elschek
- Ferenc Glatz
- Lech Kalinowski
- Jaan Kross
- Dunja Rihtman-Auguštin
- 1998: Imre Bak
- Andrei Corbea-Hoișie
- Eliška Fučíková
- Ismail Kadare
- Justinas Marcinkevičius
- Dorota Simonides
- Elena Toncheva
- 1999: Svetlana Alexievich
- Vera Bitrakova-Grozdanova
- Mircea Dinescu
- István Fried
- Henryk Górecki
- Dževad Karahasan
- Ferdinand Milučký
- 2000: Ján Bakoš
- Ivan Čolović
- Nikola Georgiev
- Imre Kertész
- Milan Kundera
- Karolos Mitsakis
- Arvo Pärt
- 2001: Yurii Andrukhovych
- Janez Bernik
- János Böhönyey
- Maria Kłańska
- Marek Kopelent
- Andrej Mitrović
- Evanghelos Moutsopoulos
- 2002: George Demetrius Bambiniotis
- Māris Čaklais
- Péter Esterházy
- Radost Ivanova
- Nedjeljko Fabrio
- Aurel Stroe
- Lech Trzeciakowski
- 2003: Vasil Gyuzelev
- Drago Jančar
- Károly Manherz
- Stanisław Mossakowski
- Ales Rasanau
- Ludvík Václavek
- Ana Maria Zahariade
- 2004: Theodore Antoniou
- Michał Głowiński
- Dušan Kováč
- Fatos Lubonja
- Éva Pócs
- Kazimir Popkonstantinov
- Romualdas Požerskis
- 2005: Károly Klimó
- Hanna Krall
- Primož Kuret
- Jiří Kuthan
- Andrei Marga
- Eimuntas Nekrošius
- Krešimir Nemec
- 2006: Włodzimierz Borodziej
- Nicos Hadjinicolaou
- Gabriela Kiliánová
- Ene Mihkelson
- Vojteh Ravnikar