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 Algirdas (; , ; – May 1377) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. With the help of his brother Kęstutis (who defended the western border of the Duchy) he created an empire stretching from the present Baltic states to the Bla ...

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 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 ...

in 1964. Afterwards, he worked mostly at various magazines (''Jaunimo gretos'', ''Komjaunimo tiesa'', etc.). In 1980, he began teaching

Lithuanian literature Lithuanian literature () 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 the Middle Ages. The edi ...

at Vilnius University. Martinaitis was an active member of the pro-independence ''

Sąjūdis The Sąjūdis (, ), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania (), is a political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988 as the first oppositi ...

''. He was elected to the

Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR (; , ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Litovskoy SSR'') was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the Lithuanian SSR, one of the republics constituting the Soviet Union. The Supreme Soviet was established ...

in 1989. Later, he was a committee member of the

Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts The Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts (), 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 were nine categories). ...

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 Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...

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 otherw ...

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 die ...

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

Marina Tsvetayeva Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva ( rus, Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈta(j)ɪvə, links=yes; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is some of the most well-known in twentieth-century Russ ...

, Mārtins Čaklais, Simon Chikovani,

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 José Julián Martí Pérez (; 28 January 1853 – 19 May 1895) was a Cuban nationalism, nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in ...

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

Paul-Eerik Rummo Paul-Eerik Rummo (born 19 January 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 Tomas Gösta Tranströmer (; 15 April 1931 – 26 March 2015) was a Swedish poet, psychologist and translator. His poems captured the long winters in Sweden, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature. 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), Li ...

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

Awards

Poetry Spring Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

in 1975 * Lithuanian SSR State Prize in 1984 * Literature Prize of Paulius Širvys in 1995 *

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 ...

(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 male essayists Lithuanian translators Vilnius University alumni Recipients of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas