Lithuania, My Motherland

Tomas Venclova’s essay encompasses Lithuanian history from the arrival of Proto-Indo-Europeans to gaining independence in 1990. He describes not only the political history of Lithuania but also its culture, social changes, customs, relations with neighboring countries, and the waves of emigration. In a thousand pages of his book, he weaves a fascinating story, meandering between East and West, between the Baltic Sea and the Neman River.

No one else contemporary could give Europe such a history of Lithuania!

It is a summa of Venclova’s thoughts, based on his incredible erudition, knowledge, self-awareness, thorough research, numerous conversations, and countless readings. It is also based on something more, something one could describe as some historical sense, which also possessed his friend, Czesław Miłosz. Both could listen to its rhythm – sometimes kind to people, other times menacing.

Tomas Venclova expertly knows and understands his compatriot. Although he sometimes disagrees with them, he can empathize with those who happened to share history with others – Poles, Jews, Belarussians, Tatars, Russians, Germans, and other closer or further neighbors.

It is a translation of the edition prepared by Venclova himself for the Polish edition, based upon his two-tome history of Lithuania, published in Vilnius in 2019-2021.

Book release: September 9, 2024
Order processing from 30 August