Judita Vaičiūnaitė (July 12, 1937 – February 11, 2001) was a Lithuanian writer. Best known for her poetic exploration of urban settings and mythological women, she is one of Lithuania's most famous 20th-century poets.

Early life and education

Judita Vaičiūnaitė was born in 1937 in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. Her father was a professor of psychiatry, and her mother was a nurse. She was particularly close with her sister Dalia. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she moved to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

with her family. There, she studied at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

, graduating in 1959. Vaičiūnaitė would live in

for the rest of her life, making the city a central subject of her work. She was married to the famous Latvian poet and translator .

Career

Vaičiūnaitė's first poetry collection, ''Pavasario akvarelės'' ("Spring Watercolors"), was published in 1960. She went on to publish new collections frequently, producing more than 20 books of poetry. She also wrote

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

s and poems for children. Vaičiūnaitė worked as an editor for several literary journals in Lithuania. She also completed translations of other poets into Lithuanian, notably the work of

Anna Akhmatova Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; , . ( – 5 March 1966), better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova,. ...

. In 1978, she was named the laureate of the Lithuanian festival. In 1996, she was awarded the

Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature, the Arts and Science Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

for her collection ''Žemynos vainikai'' ("Wreaths of Zemyna"). That year, she published the memoir ''Vaikystės veidrody'', a series of essays about her own life. She was issued the

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this O ...

in 1997, and the Lithuanian Writers' Union Prize in 2000.

Writing

Vaičiūnaitė's poetry dealt with a wide range of subjects and themes, including Lithuanian and

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, modern

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, history, and contemporary city life. Her urban-centered poetry, frequently set in Vilnius'

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

, is perhaps her best known. It came at a time when most other Lithuanian poets were from the countryside and focused on the natural world in their work. She also incorporated the city's multicultural history into her poems. She frequently employed

dramatic monologue Dramatic monologue is a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character. M.H. Abrams notes the following three features of the ''dramatic monologue'' as it applies to poetry: Types of dramatic monologue One of the m ...

in her work, often from the point of view of female historical and mythological figures. Her poetry was influenced by the

neo-romantic The term neo-romanticism is used to cover a variety of movements in philosophy, literature, music, painting, and architecture, as well as social movements, that exist after and incorporate elements from the era of Romanticism. It has been used ...

work of

Salomėja Nėris Salomėja Bačinskaitė-Bučienė, mostly known by her pen name Nėris (; 17 November 1904 – 7 July 1945) was a Lithuanian poet. Biography Salomėja was born in , Suwałki Governorate (current district of Vilkaviškis). She graduated from t ...

, the first prominent Lithuanian woman poet. Alongside Marcelijus Martinaitis,

Sigitas Geda Sigitas Geda (full name - Sigitas Zigmas Geda; 4 February 1943 – 12 December 2008) was a Lithuanian poet, translator, playwright, essayist, critic and a member of the Lithuanian independence movement, Sąjūdis, and of the Lithuanian parliament, ...

, and others, she was part of a generation that quietly revolutionized Lithuanian poetry as dissatisfaction grew with

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

rule, but the neo-romantic strains persisted. Vaičiūnaitė was a highly independent single mother, but she was also convinced of the importance of romantic love. She wrote with a feminist realism, narrating the lives of single women in the city.

Death and legacy

Judita Vaičiūnaitė died in Vilnius in 2001. A 2010 posthumous collection of selections from her work, ''Kristalas: Poezijos Rinktinė'', was published by the Lithuanian Writers' Union. In 2018, a collection of her work in English translation was published as ''Vagabond Sun: Selected Poems''. A monument to her stands near the Church of St. Catherine in Vilnius.

Selected works

Poetry

* ''Pavasario akvarelės'' (1960) * ''Kaip žalias vynas'' (1962) * ''Per saulėtą gaublį'' (1964) * ''Vėtrungės'' (1966) * ''Po šiaurės herbais'' (1968) * ''Žiemos lietus'' (1987) * ''Žemynos vainikai'' (1995) * ''Seno paveikslo šviesa'' (1998) * ''Debesų arka'' (2000) * ''Kristalas: Poezijos Rinktinė'' (posthumous, 2010)

Plays

* ''Pavasario fleita'' (collection, 1980)

Memoir

* ''Vaikystės veidrody'' (1996)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaiciunaite, Judita 1937 births 2001 deaths People from Kaunas 20th-century Lithuanian women writers Lithuanian women poets Vilnius University alumni Lithuanian translators