Vilnius Poker - Softcover

Ričardas Gavelis

4.29 out of 5 stars

2,249 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0996630422 ISBN 13: 9780996630429

Publisher: Pica Pica Press, 2016

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A dark, enigmatic, and visceral examination of the psychology of repression, Vilnius Poker dives into the minds of four narrators whose contradictory memories challenge the very idea of truth. In this masterpiece written "for the drawer," Vilnius itself becomes a presence possessing a will, a consciousness and, worse, an intent. First published in 1989 when Lithuania was on the verge of breaking away from the Soviet Union, this book raised a firestorm for its brutality, frank sex, and its destruction of the myths of Lithuanian history.

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About the Author

Ricardas Gavelis was born in 1950 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He finished his studies in theoretic physics at the University of Vilnius in 1973, the same year his first published stories appeared in the journal Nemunas. He worked at the Institute of Physics and Mathematics for several years before publishing his first book, a collection of short stories, in 1976. He has written seven novels and five short story collections; in addition, he worked at various cultural journals from 1978 to 1982, and as a columnist for a daily newspaper and a newsmagazine from 1992-2002, writing on politics and economics. His work has been translated into French, Polish, German, Latvian, Swedish, English and Finnish. Vilnius Poker, considered by some to be his masterpiece, was a best seller in Lithuania and has gone through six editions. He died suddenly in 2002.

Elizabeth Novickas is a translator and critic, a graduate of the University of Illinois, with a B.A. in Rhetoric from the Urbana campus and a M.A. in Lithuanian Language and Literature from the Chicago campus. She has worked previously as a bookbinder and fine printer in Urbana, Illinois; as a newspaper designer and cartographer in Springfield, Illinois; and as editorial system administrator at the Chicago Sun-Times. Besides translating Lithuanian into English, she has worked as editor of the journal Lituanus. Elizabeth was the recipient of a 2011 translation fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for the translation of Frank Kruk (Pica Pica Press, 2016). In the same year, she won the St. Jerome Prize from the Association of Lithuanian Literary Translators.

Stasys Eidrigevicius, a prolific prize-winning photographer and artist in numerous mediums, was born in 1949 in Lithuania and moved to Poland in 1980. He has exhibited all over the world, including Japan, France, Italy and the United States. His awards include the Grand Prix Savignac '93 at the International Salon of Poster in Paris and a Gold medal from the Society of Illustrators in New York.

Review

"Gavelis's first novel to be translated into English is philosophical, symbolic, and full of imagery that is both disturbing and beautiful. ... Keep reading and you will be rewarded with a provocative and chilling narrative, one that suggests Joyce, Kafka, and Camus." -Library Journal. "Narratives and divergent timelines collide in apparent chaos, without losing the thread of the story for a second. We finally understand: this is a fractal epic, very cleverly put together, where the smallest anecdotal detail refers to the macrocosm of history as a whole. ... Terrifying and awesome." -Mehdi Belhaj Kacem, Philosophie Magazine. "At times shocking, at times depressing, Gavelis's Vilnius bursts with intensity and purpose, demanding that attention be paid to it. This novel is not for the faint of heart; it is a forceful statement that is on its way towards becoming a touchstone of 20th-century literature." -Andrew Wessels, bookslut.com. "Gavelis's urban grunge and his portrayal of the bleakness and absurdity of Soviet life provide the perfect backdrop for what, at times, is a curiously hilarious novel. ... Uncertainty reigns in Gavelis's Vilnius, and the novel challenges its reader with the simple question: who's crazy now?" -Julija Sukys, Lituanus.

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