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Friendships and acquaintances

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Lithuanian social life in America
Tomas Venclova Poet
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[Q] Because it affects me personally, I'm very interested to know how you integrated socially in America, in American society. You were helped there, you've said, by [Czesław] Miłosz and others to find work. It would see, someone helped you professionally to take the first step. But as for your social environment did you remain an emigrant in the company of Lithuanians and Russians in that circle? Did you integrate completely into American society because it is, probably, different than French society? How did you cope with that and how did you feel about all of that?

Fine, I'll be happy to answer that question... You see, I'm inclined to isolate myself from my environment. As a writer, as a poet I like to live and be on my own. And to socialise – you see, in America it's normal to socialise, to go to evening gatherings, to picnics, I don't know, to go somewhere, so to speak, to barbeques and to drink beer there and to sing – those things don't attract me, that sort of, so to speak, social intercourse holds no attraction for me. Even though there are times when I do participate. My ties with the Lithuanian community initially were very close, mostly in Chicago, but Chicago is a different town, I had to go there, since the majority of Lithuanians live in Chicago. And several journals of which I was on the editorial board were being published there. I associated with the editorial boards of those journals quite intensively and I had a lot of friends in Chicago. New Haven, where I live, is a small town, but there is a Lithuanian community there. Sometimes it's said jokingly that the surnames of all the Lithuanians in that community begin with the letter v – Valiukas, Vaišnys, Vėbra, Venclova and several more. They're mostly intellectuals connected in one way or another with Yale. Mrs Valiukienė works in the library, Ilona Vaišnienė is one of the leaders of the Lithuanian community and her husband Rimas Vaišnys is a Yale professor. There are two Lithuanian Yale professors – Vaišnys and me. There was also, for example, Mr Vėbra, an old activist amongst the Lithuanian émigrés, he's no longer alive. His daughter was Vaiva Vėbraitė, who visited Lithuania and worked on educational reform there, she's also no longer alive. Well, there were people with whom I associated... associated a lot and I participated in that circle. I also have a lot of friends and acquaintances in Russian circles. Well, that's more in New York. In New York there is, so to speak, a Russian social life. It revolves mostly around a restaurant called the Russian Samovar, which is on 57th Street [sic], a rather expensive and prestigious restaurant where the cream of the Russian émigré community gathers. Not only Russians but Americans also go there but mostly, the cream of the intelligentsia, the intellectuals. We have, so to speak, a lot in common with that restaurant.

[Q] Kadangi mane tai asmeniškai liečia, man labai įdomu, kaip jūs integravotės į Amerikos socialinį sluoksnį, Amerikos visuomenės sluoksnį. Jums ten padėjo, sakėt, Milošas ir kitas ten susirasti darbo, matyt, profesiškai kažkas padėjo vis tiek žengti žingsnį pirmąjį. Bet socialinė aplinka, ar jūs likot tuo emigrantu, aplinkoj lietuvių, rusų, tam rately? Ar jūs visiškai integravotės į Amerikos visuomenę, kadangi ji, turbūt, skirtinga negu Prancūzijos visuomenė. Kaip jums visa tai pavyko, ir kaip jūs visa tai jaučiat?

Gerai, atsakysiu į tą klausimą mielai. Mielai atsakysiu į tą klausimą. Matot, aš esu gana žmogus linkęs izoliuotis nuo aplinkos. Kaip rašytojas, kaip poetas aš mėgstu gyventi ir būti vienas. Ir bendrauti, vat, Amerikoje priimta bendrauti, vaikščioti į bendrus vakarus, į piknikus, nežinau, važinėti kažkur, taip sakant, daryti, vadinasi, kepti mėsą ir, tenai, gerti alų ir dainuoti. Manęs tie dalykai netraukia, tokia, taip sakant, tokio tipo socialinis bendravimas manęs netraukia. Nors pasitaiko, kad ir jame padalyvauju. Su lietuvių bendruomene mano ryšiai iš pradžių buvo labai glaudūs, daugiausia Čikagoje, bet irgi Čikaga kitas miestas, man tekdavo nuvažiuoti, bet ten dauguma lietuvių gyvena Čikagoje. Ir tenai ėjo keli žurnalai, kuriuose aš buvau redkolegijos narys, su tų žurnalų redkolegijomis gana intensyviai bendravau, ir Čikagoje turėjau daug bičiulių.

Njuheivene, kuriame gyvenau, tai yra nedidelis miestelis, bet jame yra lietuvių bendruomenė. Net kartais juokauja, kad beveik visi toje bendruomenėje lietuviai, pavardės prasideda raide V – Valiukas, Vaišnys, Vėbra, Venclova ir dar ten keletas. Tai vis daugiau inteligentai, žmonės susiję su Jeilu vienaip ar kitaip. Ponia Valiukienė dirba bibliotekoje, Ilona Vaišnienė yra lietuvių bendruomenės viena iš vadovių, o jos vyras Rimas Vaišnys yra Jeilo profesorius. Yra du lietuviai Jeilio profesoriai – Vaišnys ir aš. Taip pat, sakysime, ponas Vėbra, senas lietuvių emigracijos veikėjas, jau nebėra gyvo, jo dukra dukra buvo Vaiva Vėbraitė, kuri lankėsi Lietuvoje ir tvarkė tenai švietimo reformą, dabar ir jos nebėra gyvos. Na, buvo žmonės, su kuriais aš bendravau, nemažai bendravau ir tame ratelyje sukausi. Taip pat turiu daug draugų ir pažįstamų rusų rateliuose. Na, čia daugiau Niujorke. Niujorke yra, taip sakant, rusų socialinis gyvenimas, sukasi daugiausia apie restoraną vadinamą restoraną rusų Samavoras, kuris yra penkiasdešimt septintojoje gatvėje, gana brangus ir prestižinis restoranas, kur renkasi rusų visuomenės emigracinė grietinėlė. Ne tik rusų, ten ir amerikiečiai užeina ir irgi daugiau iš tokios inteligentiškos, intelektualios grietinėlės. Su tuo restoranu, taip sakant, turime daug bendro.

Born in 1937, Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian scholar, poet, author and translator of literature. He was educated at Vilnius University and later at Tartu University. As an active participant in the dissident movement he was deprived of Soviet citizenship in 1977 and had to emigrate. Between 1977 and 1980 he lectured at University of California, Berkeley, where he became friends with the Polish poet Czesław Miłosz, who was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at the school, as well as the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. He is currently a full professor at Yale University.

Listeners: Andrzej Wolski

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.

Tags: USA, Chicago, New Haven, Yale University, New York, Russian Samovar, Czesław Miłosz, Ilona Vaišnienė, Rimas Vaišnys, Valiukienė, Juozas Vėbra, Vaiva Vėbraitė

Duration: 3 minutes, 19 seconds

Date story recorded: May/June 2011

Date story went live: 20 March 2012