Marcelijus Teodoras Martinaitis (1 April 1936 – 5 April 2013) was a Lithuanian poet, essayist, translator.

Biography

Marcelijus Martinaitis born in a peasants family in Paserbentys village (now liquidated) in Raseiniai District Municipality. His brother Algirdas Martinaitis is a composer. Marcelijus Martinaitis graduated septennial school in Gerviniai. Later, he studied in Kaunas Polytechnical School. After the graduation in 1956, he worked as a communications worker, later as an editor in the newspaper ''Stalinietis'' of Raseiniai District. Martinaitis graduated from the History and Philology department of Vilnius University in 1964. Afterwards, he worked mostly at various magazines (''Jaunimo gretos'', ''Komjaunimo tiesa'', etc.). In 1980, he began teaching

Lithuanian literature Lithuanian literature ( lt, lietuvių literatūra) concerns the art of written works created by Lithuanians throughout their history. History Latin language A wealth of Lithuanian literature was written in Latin, the main scholarly language in ...

at Vilnius University. Martinaitis was an active member of the pro-independence '' Sąjūdis''. He was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR in 1989. Later, he was a committee member of the

Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts The Lithuanian National Prize ( lt, Nacionalinė kultūros ir meno premija), established in 1989, is an award granted for achievements in culture and the arts. It has been awarded annually in six categories since 2006 (between 1989 and 2006 there w ...

Works

Martinaitis began publishing his poetry in 1955, and his first poetry book ''Balandžio sniegas'' ('April Snow') was published in 1962. Early works were mostly written in social realism style but with the publication of ''Saulės grąža'' ('Return of the Sun') in 1969 Martinaitis began to develop his own style. It was a combination of the modern and archaic poetry styles, attention was paid to the perishing agricultural traditions, archaic worldview. One of the most famous his works was a ballad selection ''Kukučio baladės'' ('Hoopoe ballads') where Martinaitis employs Kukutis character - a clown,

trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...

who using his grotesque, ironical way of speaking reveals forbidden trues. For his work ''Toli nuo rugių'' ('Far from Rye', 1982) Martinaitis was awarded to the Lithuanian SSR State Prize. Later, after the Lithuanian independence, he wrote chiefly essays, memoirs, published his diaries (''Prilenktas prie savo gyvenimo'', 'Bended to the Own Life', 1998; ''Mes gyvenome'', 'We Have Lived', 2009). He also wrote several puppet-plays (''Pelenų antelė'' in 1971, ''Avinėlio teismas'' in 1976, ''Žemės duktė'' in 1981), edited and published an anthology of

Paulius Širvys Paulius Širvys (6 September 1920 – 27 March 1979) was a Lithuanian poet. Biography Paulius Širvys was born in Padustėlis village (now in Zarasai District Municipality), but soon moved to Degučiai village. After his parents and brother died, ...

(''Ir nusinešė saulę miškai'', 1984), an album dedicated to folk wood-carver Ipolitas Užkurnys. Martinaitis translated poetry of

Marina Tsvetayeva Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (russian: Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈtaɪvə; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russia ...

, Mārtins Čaklais,

Simon Chikovani Simon Ivanes dze Chikovani ( ka, სიმონ ჩიქოვანი; 27 December 1902 – 24 April 1966) was a prominent Georgian poet. He set out to be the leader of the Georgian Futurist movement and ended up as a Soviet establishment figur ...

Juan Ramón Jiménez Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (; 23 December 1881 – 29 May 1958) was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which in the Spanish language constitutes an example of high ...

, José Martí,

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

Paul-Eerik Rummo Paul-Eerik Rummo (born January 19, 1942) is an Estonian poet, playwright, translator and politician who was the former Estonian Minister of Culture and Education, as well as the former Estonian Minister of Population Affairs. Rummo was born in T ...

, Tomas Tranströmer, among the others. Together with film director

Gytis Lukšas Gytis is a Lithuanian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Gytis Ivanauskas (born 1980), Lithuanian actor, dancer and choreographer *Gytis Masiulis (born 1998), Lithuanian basketball player * Gytis Padimanskas (born 1972), L ...

, he wrote the script for film '' Yesterday and Forever''.

Awards

* Poetry Spring in 1975 * Lithuanian SSR State Prize in 1984 * Literature Prize of Paulius Širvys in 1995 * Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (4th degree) in 1995 *

in 1998 * Independence Medal in 2000 * Institute of the Lithuanian Literature and the Folklore Prize in 2009 * Literature Prize of Žemaitė in 2010 * Literature Prize of Juozas Paukštelis in 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinaitis, Marcelijus 1936 births 2013 deaths Lithuanian male poets Lithuanian essayists Lithuanian translators Vilnius University alumni Recipients of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas