Photo by Monika Požerskytė

Antanas A. Jonynas (b. 1953) is a poet and translator of Goethe’s Faust. He made his debut in 1977. Jonynas was the most significant figure in the literary scene of the late ’70s and ’80s. According to the literary critic Rimantas Kmita, Jonynas and his poetry are primarily associated with hippies, rock music, blues, the spirit of freedom, Vilnius, Western culture, wine, the language of love, an ironic smile and similar things. He is still very active in the poetry scene; no one in Lithuania could imagine a literary festival without him. 

Many have compared his work to the poetry of the Beatniks, but it is often noted that he is less socially conscious and more of an individualist, concerned with inner presences and the stirrings of a person, and relates to the lost generation in his wistfulness and longing, doubt and hesitation. In trying to describe his poetry, most critics employ musical metaphors, and often mention jazz and blues – the action of the poems is dynamic, the phrases are musical, often featuring repetition, breaking rhythms and falling intonations. The best known of these poems is Tuščių namų bliuzas (The Blues of the Empty Home). 

Jonynas’s latest collection of poems, Kambarys (The Room, 2011), is calmer and less dramatic in tone. The poems are not as melancholic; instead, a clear stillness prevails. The title of the collection suggests a certain hermetic quality, returning to innerness, the memory’s advantage over the present. The poems are beautifully accompanied by the works of Gintautas Trimakas, a famous Lithuanian photographer, which reinforce the atmosphere of a closed space. 

Selected translations

Italian: Camera poetica. Translated by Pietro U. Dini. Nova Ligure: Edizioni Joker, 2016

Russian: Сонеты и другие стихотворения / Sonetai ir kiti eilėraščiai. Translated by Anna Gerasimova, Moscow” OGI, 2014

German: Mohnasche / Aguonų Pelenai. Translated by Cornelius Hell. Oberhausen: Athena Verlag, 2002

Translations on-line: www.lyrikline.org/en/authors/antanas-jonynas