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Confronted by VLIKas

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Speaking on Radio Liberty
Tomas Venclova Poet
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I spent three weeks in Paris, that was... was at the end of January and the first half of February of '77. Several of my friends from dissident circles were already living in Paris. [Natalya] Gorbanevskaja was already in Paris, and several others. I was immediately invited to speak by Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe. You see there was a radio station, it had two divisions, two sections: [Radio] Free Europe, covering Eastern European countries and Radio Liberty covering the Soviet Union. Lithuanian radio to begin with belonged to the Liberty division but then the Lithuanians tried to have it transferred to the Free Europe division, in this way emphasizing that Lithuania is an independent country, a part of Europe, only temporarily occupied. Well, when I arrived it seemed to me it was still Radio Liberty and I gave an interview, and it seemed to me I spoke in Lithuanian as well, although I do remember that I spoke in Russian. I was interviewed by a well known Russian poet at that time, a singer ‘chansonniere’ as they say, [Alexander] Galich, who’s been dead for a long time now. I knew him a little, he was already working at Radio Liberty and he spoke to me. That interview was completely harmless from a political point of view. I spoke about the translations of [Osip] Mandelstam’s poems into Lithuanian and I read one of his poems in Lithuanian. But the very fact that a Soviet citizen – and that’s what I still was, I still had that passport – was speaking on Radio Liberty was incredible, impossible, it was strictly forbidden, whereas I was acting like a completely free person. This was a matter of principle for me.

Tai kiek atsimenu pereitą sykį sustojome ties pačiu mano emigracijos pirmuoju momentu, kaip iš Vilniaus išvažiavau į Maskvą, iš Maskvos išskridau į Paryžių ir nusileidau Paryžiuje. Praleidau Paryžiuje tris savaites, tai buvo septyms [sic] septintųjų metų sausio pati pabaiga ir vasario pirmoji pusė. Paryžiuj jau gyveno keli mano bičiuliai iš disidentų sluoksnių. Gorbanevskaja jau buvo čia Paryžiuj ir kai kurie kiti. Iš karto buvau pakviestas pakalbėti per "Laisvės radiją", "Laisvosios Europos radiją", mat buvo radijo stotis, turėjo du padalinius, du skyrius: "Laisvoji Europa", tai ten buvo Rytų Europos šalys, ir "Laisvės radijas" buvo Tarybų Sąjunga. Lietuviškas radijas iš pradžių priklausė Laisvės padaliniui, bet paskui lietuviai pasistengė, kad jį perkeltų į "Laisvosios Europos" padalinį, tuo pačiu pabrėždami, kad Lietuva yra nepriklausoma šalis, yra Europos dalis, tiktai laikinai okupuota. Tada kai atvykau, rodos, dar buvo "Laisvės radijas" ir aš kalbėjau per jį, ir rodos ir lietuviškai, bet atsimenu, kad kalbėjau rusiškai. Iš manęs paėmė interviu žinomas rusų tuometinis poetas, dainininkas šansonjė, kaip sakoma, Galičius, kurio dabar jau seniai nebėra gyvo. Aš jį truputį pažinojau, jis jau tada dirbo "Laisvės radijuje" ir su manim pasikalbėjo. Tas interviu buvo visiškai nekaltas politiniu požiūriu. Aš kalbėjau apie Mandelštamo eilėraščių vertimus į lietuvių kalbą ir tiek, ir perskaičiau vieną jo eilėraštį lietuviškai. Bet pats faktas, kad tarybinis pilietis, o aš dar toks buvau, turėjau dar tą pasą, kalba per "Laisvės radiją", buvo neįtikėtinas, neįmanomas, tai buvo griežčiausiai draudžiama, o aš elgiausi kaip visiškai laisvas žmogus. Tai buvo mano principo reikalas.

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: Paris, 02-1977, Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe, Osip Mandelshtam, Natalya Gorbanevskaja, Alexander Galich

Duration: 2 minutes, 4 seconds

Date story recorded: May/June 2011

Date story went live: 20 March 2012