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Acquaintances from Moscow

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Natalya Trauberg
Tomas Venclova Poet
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My friend Volodia [sic] Muravyov, the stepson of the philosopher [Grigory] Pomerants – a young Russian student who later went on to graduate from university, worked for many years in a library – he wasn’t the relative of those Muravyovs but he was, without a doubt, one of those Muravyovs who were hung. He was very strictly opposed to the system prevailing at the time and I received a great deal from him. We discussed a lot, we spoke a lot. He is no longer alive, he was about my age.

There was at the time, a young woman married to a Lithuanian with two children, who are Lithuanian, who speak Lithuanian well, who live mainly in Vilnius. But she herself lived in Moscow – Natasha or Natalya Trauberg. She was a strict Catholic – baptised into the Catholic Church – who went to Catholic church, who knew a lot about religion, about the philosophy of religion. I used to speak to her a lot, have discussions with her about that as well. She was well acquainted with and read the books of religious thinkers including [Jacques] Maritain, for example, the French philosopher, and many others, like the English writer [GK] Chesterton who also propagated Catholicism all his life, a witty and interesting writer. She died not all that long ago in Moscow at the age of 80. She died of cancer. Well, her death was mentioned in the Russian press because she was a well-known religious thinker and at the end of her life she became a Catholic nun having taken the vows of a nun. She had been married before that and had had children, but at the end of her life she took the vows of a nun.

Mano bičiulis Volodia Muravjovas filosofo Pomeranco posūnis, jaunas rusas studentas, paskui jau ir baigęs universitetą, dirbo bibliotekoje ilgus metus, jis nebuvo tų Muravjovų giminaitis, bet jis be abejo buvo iš tų Muravjovų, kuriuos karia. Jis buvo labai griežtai nusiteikęs prieš tuometinę sistemą ir man labai daug davė. Mes su juo daug apie tai diskutavom, daug kalbėjom. Dabar jo jau nebėra gyvo, jis buvo maždaug mano metų. Buvo jauna, dar tais laikais, moteris, ištekėjusi už lietuvio, turėjusi du vaikus, kurie yra lietuviai, kalba gerai lietuviškai, gyvena daugiausia Vilniuje. O ji pati gyveno Maskvoje – Nataša, arba Natalija Trauberg. Ji buvo karšta katalikė – krikštyta katalikų bažnyčioje, lankanti katalikų bažnyčią, labai daug nusimananti apie religiją, apie religijos filosofiją. Daug mes su ja apie tai irgi kalbėjom, diskutavom. Jinai puikiai pažinojo, skaitė knygas tokių religinių mąstytojų kaip Maritenas, pavyzdžiui, prancūzų filosofas, ir daugelio kitų, anglų rašytojas Čestertonas taip pat propagavęs katalikybę visą savo gyvenimą, labai sąmojingas ir įdomus. Na, ir jinai taip pat buvo labai artima mano draugė ir pažįstama. Ne taip seniai ji mirė Maskvoje, jau aštuoms metų amžiaus. Mirė vėžiu. Na, jos mirtį paminėjo Rusijos spauda, kadangi ji buvo žinoma religinė mąstytoja ir gyvenimo gale net jau ir katalikų vienuolė, jinai priėmė vienuolės įžadus. Prieš tai buvo vedusi ir turėjo vaikų, bet gyvenimo gale priėmė vienuolės įžadus.

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: Vilnius, Vladimir Muravyov, Volodia Muravyov, Grigory Pomerants, Natalya Trauberg, Jacques Maritain, GK Chesterton

Duration: 2 minutes, 9 seconds

Date story recorded: May/June 2011

Date story went live: 20 March 2012