Ričardas GAVELIS, VILNIUS POKER. Delving the Nightmare of Ricardas Gavelis' "Vilniaus Pokeris" - E. Novickas. DELVING THE NIGHTMARE OF RlČARDAS GAVELIS'S VILNIAUS POKERIS E.
NOVICKASUniversity of Illinois at Chicago On my computer I have used Algimantas Aleksandravičius's portrait of Ričardas Gavelis as a backdrop. I find the portrait fascinating. There is something in the gleam of Gavelis's eye (one eye; the other is obscured by the reflections in his glasses) that seems to speak to me. Which leads me, curiously, directly to where I wanted to go; mainly the question of whether what Gavelis has to say in his novel Vilniaus pokeris (Vilnius Poker) is worthy of serious attention. The question poses some problems. And if it is merely a question of relevance, I could very well then ask what relevance does Jane Austen, with her finely honed nuances of English manners and morals in the late eighteenth century, have for modern American society that would explain her current popularity? But there are deeper parallels. The point quite obviously applies to Gavelis himself. Evening All Afternoon: Gavelis, Ričardas Archives.
Although I was engaged and rewarded almost constantly by Ričardas Gavelis's Vilnius Poker (translated by Elizabeth Novickas), I know the book is not for everyone.
In particular Vytautas Vargalys, its delusional, pathologically misogynist labor-camp survivor protagonist whose PTSD-spurred paranoia presents him with a nameless group of nameless but italicized Them lurking around every corner, makes a challenging companion throughout the first 300 pages of the book. Book review: Ricardas Gavelis. "Vilnius Poker" - Reviewed by Julija Sukys. Book review: Ričardas Gavelis.
Vilnius Poker. Translated by Elizabeth Novickas. Rochester, NY: Open Letter Press, University of Rochester Press, 2009, 485 pages. “Sometimes life’s time rushes along too fast.” – Vytautas Vargalys. Vilnius Poker – Ričardas Gavelis – Blog Dot Rob. I received Vilnius Poker through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers programme.
It’s published by Open Letter Books, who publish only books in translation – “contemporary literary fiction from around the world that is unique, distinctive, and that will have a significant impact on world literary conversation.” The package included a catalogue and, while I don’t expect to subscribe to the twelve books a year, several other books did look worth buying. Like many others who’ve read this book I found it very hard going in the beginning. The first seventy or so pages hop around between about four different timelines with little indication of where one stops and the other begins. Some sections were set in an italic font which would seem to indicate this was supposed to be a digression from the narrative, but even within those things were fragmentary.
Fortunately, after the difficult beginning, the book did settle down a bit and a coherent story began to emerge. Context N°21. Context N°21 Shimon Ballas.
Outcast. Trans. Ammiel Alcalay and Oz Shelach. R A I N T A X I o n l i n e Spring 2009. "Life in Vilnius is a giant poker game, played by madmen." Then how can you explain humanity's structure, all the world's societies, all human communities, their aspirations and modes of existence?
How can you explain that always and everywhere, as far as you can see, one idiot rules a thousand intelligent people, and they quietly obey? Whence comes the silent gray majority in every society? Would a person who wasn't kanuked think of vegetating in a soulless condition and say that's the way everything should be? "Books protect me from aimless wandering, from hasty conclusions." I give up.
I haven't been able to connect with Vilnius Poker, by Ričardas Gavelis. Despite really wanting to. This failure, on the book's part, to click with me, is making me angry. I'm trying to understand my reaction to this book; it's like I'm determined not to like it now. "Books protect me from aimless wandering, from hasty conclusions (p145). " Vilnius Poker / Ričardas Gavelis – Rat's Reading. Vilnius Poker is probably the most difficult book I’ve read in years.
Most of the books I’ve read are plot or character driven. Some use setting very adroitly, as does Gavelis’ book. While setting, Vilnius specifically, is integral to the work, mood seems to drive the work more than anything else. The prose reads very dream-like. I don’t mean ethereal. Thelmagazine. Open Letter • Available now “’You can’t demand too much of a Lithuanian writer’s imagination,’” rants a bitter library employee in the late Riardas Gavelis’ Vilnius Poker, now in English for the first time.
How (asks this character in a major contemporary work barely read beyond its own borders) can a culture of starved minds and sausage-stuffed stomachs be anything but impotent? Vilnius Poker - Evening All Afternoon. Although I was engaged and rewarded almost constantly by Ričardas Gavelis's Vilnius Poker (translated by Elizabeth Novickas), I know the book is not for everyone.
A cup of tea & a wheat penny - a cup of tea & a wheat penny - Vilnius Poker and The Grotesque. (It's taken me a while to build up to writing about Ričardas Gavelis's Vilnius Poker, not out of any reluctance — quite the contrary: the piece of paper I have stuck in the middle of the book is filling up quickly with thoughts — but rather because I wanted to get this right. I'm only halfway through, but these initial impressions of the book have been jabbing me in the side and I just had to get them down before they grew so impatient they left me forever.) Several years back, I took a train out to New Brunswick to see an exhibit at Rutgers University of post-war Soviet art from the Baltic states.
I wandered the gallery, hearing murmurs of my favorite tongues, the round vowel-laden Estonian, the consonant-burdened Lithuanian, and its truncated sister, Latvian. The art on the walls spoke in various voices too — realist directness, abstract grunts. I find it difficult to write or talk about art. The little monster in a frame in the corner. Vilnius Poker by Ricardas Gavelis. Vilnius Poker: Ideas for Eastern Europe. Since the anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall last year there has been a renewed interest across Europe about the intellectual ferment of those years, with the publication of a host of previously untranslated writers. One such author is the Lithuanian Ricardas Gavelis. Vilnius Poker by Ričardas Gavelis - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists. Vilnius Poker by Ričardas Gavelis. ShareThis. "Vilnius Poker" by Ricardas Gavelis [BTBA 2010 Fi.
Over the next seven days, we’ll be highlighting a book a day from the Best Translated Book Award fiction longlist. Click here for all past write-ups. Vilnius Poker by Ricardas Gavelis. Translated from the Lithuanian by Elizabeth Novickas. (Lithuania, Open Letter) Vilnius Poker may well be one of the darkest and most dense books on the list. The novel itself is set during Soviet times and centers around Vytautas Vargalys, a survivor of the labor camps who’s obsessed with Them, a shadowy group that’s taking over, crushing the souls of people, and turning the world to shit. This isn’t an easy book to describe, but I think translator Elizabeth Novickas does a great job in the essay that appeared in CALQUE: When asked to come up with a summary of what the book is about, or a single section that could characterize it, I find myself groping at so many things that I’m completely at a loss.
Half the world knows what a homo sovieticus is (excepting homo sovieticus himself). Vilnius Poker by Ričardas Gavelis, translated by Elizabeth Novic. Andrew Wessels fiction. Vilnius Poker by Ricardas Gavelis : www.literaryagenda.com.