Soviet Dissidents and Lithuanian Writers: Life Under Communism, Life in Exile
Soviet Dissidents and Lithuanian Writers: Life Under Communism, Life in Exile
Join the History Department for a community dialogue with Yale Professor Tomas Venclova entitled: "Soviet Dissidents and Lithuanian Writers: Life Under Communism, Life in Exile". Professor Tomas Venclova is an emeritus professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at Yale University. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, essays, and literary biography. Born in 1937 in Lithuania, Venclova began self-publishing his regime-critical poetry in the underground Samizdat tradition after the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. In 1976, Professor Venclova was one of the five founding members of the dissident Lithuanian Helsinki Group. Fearing reprisal, Czesław Miłosz invited Professor Venclova to lecture at UC-Berkeley. Professor Venclova was unable to return to his native Lithuania until 1991. The basis for this event will be his recent book Magnetic North: Conversations. The book interweaves Professor Venclova's numerous personal experiences (including his relations with Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, Boris Pasternik, and Czesław Miłosz) with the choices and dilemmas facing artistic dissidence against oppressive rule.
For more information, view the Facebook event page here.