Tomas Venclova
Encyclopedia
Tomas Venclova is a Lithuania
n scholar, poet, author and translator of literature.
Tomas Venclova is son of poet and Soviet politician Antanas Venclova
. He was educated at Vilnius University
. As an active participant in the dissident movement he was deprived of Soviet citizenship in 1977 and had to emigrate. He is one of the founders of Lithuanian Helsinki Watch
group (December 1, 1976).
Venclova studied at Tartu University and was strongly influenced by the brand of structuralism prevalent there in the 1970s and 1980s. In Venclova's case, the rigorously analytical structuralism of Yurii Lotman's early work on poetry was particularly influential. Venclova was also fond, at least in his work and teaching in the eighties, of making use of Saussure's
work on hidden anagrams (see Jean Starobinski's Words upon Words).
Initially after his emigration, between 1977 and 1980, he lectured at University of California, Berkeley
. While there he became friends with the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz, who was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the school, as well as the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky
(both Miłosz and Brodsky were laureates of the Nobel prize
for literature). Since 1980 he has been a member of the department of Slavic Languages
and Literatures at Yale University
, after receiving his PhD from the department in 1985. He is currently a full Professor. He is author of collections of poems, poetry-translations, essays, articles. His poetry collections have appeared in many languages including English, German, Italian, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, and Chinese. He is a recipient of numerous international poetry prizes including Vilenica (Slovenia, 1990) and Qinghai (China, 2011), as well as of the Lithuanian National Prize (2000).
Venclova has translated many works of well-known poets into Lithuanian, among them T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Charles Baudelaire, Saint-John Perse, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Czesław Miłosz, Zbigniew Herbert
, and Wisława Szymborska. He has also written a monograph on the Polish poet Aleksander Wat
.
Rozmowa w Zimie (1989)
Aleksander Wat: Life and Art of an Iconoclast (1996)
Winter Dialogue: Poems (1997)
Forms of Hope: Essays (1999)
The Junction: Selected Poems (2008)
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n scholar, poet, author and translator of literature.
Tomas Venclova is son of poet and Soviet politician Antanas Venclova
Antanas Venclova
Antanas Venclova was a Lithuanian and Soviet politician, poet, journalist and translator.- Early life :He studied Lithuanian, Russian and French at the Vytautas Magnus University, in Kaunas. In 1936, Venclova visited the USSR, and became fascinated with the Soviet system and its culture...
. He was educated at Vilnius University
Vilnius University
Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....
. As an active participant in the dissident movement he was deprived of Soviet citizenship in 1977 and had to emigrate. He is one of the founders of Lithuanian Helsinki Watch
Helsinki Watch
Helsinki Watch was a private American NGO devoted to monitoring Helsinki implementation throughout the Soviet bloc. It was created in 1978 to monitor compliance to the Helsinki Final Act...
group (December 1, 1976).
Venclova studied at Tartu University and was strongly influenced by the brand of structuralism prevalent there in the 1970s and 1980s. In Venclova's case, the rigorously analytical structuralism of Yurii Lotman's early work on poetry was particularly influential. Venclova was also fond, at least in his work and teaching in the eighties, of making use of Saussure's
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
work on hidden anagrams (see Jean Starobinski's Words upon Words).
Initially after his emigration, between 1977 and 1980, he lectured at University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. While there he became friends with the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz, who was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the school, as well as the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
(both Miłosz and Brodsky were laureates of the Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for literature). Since 1980 he has been a member of the department of Slavic Languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
and Literatures at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, after receiving his PhD from the department in 1985. He is currently a full Professor. He is author of collections of poems, poetry-translations, essays, articles. His poetry collections have appeared in many languages including English, German, Italian, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, and Chinese. He is a recipient of numerous international poetry prizes including Vilenica (Slovenia, 1990) and Qinghai (China, 2011), as well as of the Lithuanian National Prize (2000).
Venclova has translated many works of well-known poets into Lithuanian, among them T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Charles Baudelaire, Saint-John Perse, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Czesław Miłosz, Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert was an influential Polish poet, essayist, drama writer, author of plays, and moralist. A member of the Polish resistance movement – Home Army during World War II, he is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers...
, and Wisława Szymborska. He has also written a monograph on the Polish poet Aleksander Wat
Aleksander Wat
Aleksander Wat, was a Polish poet, writer and art theoretician, one of the precursors of Polish futurism movement in early 1920s....
.
Books and other publications
Neustoychivoe Ravnovesia - Unstable Equilibrium: 8 Russian Poetic Texts (1986)Rozmowa w Zimie (1989)
Aleksander Wat: Life and Art of an Iconoclast (1996)
Winter Dialogue: Poems (1997)
Forms of Hope: Essays (1999)
The Junction: Selected Poems (2008)