Beyond the enigma of power: notes on the last novel by Ričardas Gavelis

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Literatūra; Rašytojai; Ričardas Gavelis; Grožinė literatūra; "Sun-Tzu gyvenimas šventame Vilniaus mieste"; Romanai; Vertimai; Anglų kalba; Knygos; Teksto analizė; Lithuanian literature; Writers; Ričardas Gavelis; Fiction; "Sun-Tzu's life in the holy city of Vilnius"; Novels; Translations; English; Books; Text analysis.

ENThe novel "Sun Tzu's Life in the Holy City" of Vilnius is the last novel penned by Ričardas Gavelis (1950-2002), a first and foremost truly postcolonial Lithuanian prose writer. The novel was written shortly before his untimely death. Largely an underrated prose writer during his lifetime because of his non-conformist attitudes toward culture, society and politics both in the Soviet and post-Soviet era, he is now widely translated into foreign languages and republished for new generations of readers in Lithuania. The author of the article argues that in his last novel Ričardas Gavelis remains true to his life-long interest in reflecting on the origins and forms of power, and in particular how people willingly submit themselves to those holding political power in both totalitarian and post-totalitarian regimes. It is suggested that Lithuanian literary critics ignored and neglected this important novel that contains subtle and at the same time a provocative interpretation of the post-Communist society that continues to undergo controversial social change while its internal structures continue to capture human minds even after a seemingly epochal and spectacular shift of the political regime. The author concludes that the last novel by Gavelis is a mature and original literary work that deserves much more attention than Lithuanian literary critics have given it so far. [From the publication]