Abstract
This article deals with the phenomenon of Jurga Ivanauskaitė (1961-2007), considered to be one of the most interdisciplinary and poly-sided Lithuanian women writers and artists. As an artist, as well as a writer, she was impressed by the works of Hieronymus Bosch and Peter Bruegel, and modern surrealists works, such as those of Salvador Dali, Paul Delvaux, Giorgio de Chirico, and especially Rene Magritte. She felt a deep closeness with the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. The main thesis of this study is that, mainly, the encounter with modern Western visual art allowed the writer to break the rules of the established limits of national Lithuanian literature and escape the closeness of the Soviet block mentality and create the new paradigm of “town literature”, based on openness to the world and experimentation. Mainly, an interdisciplinary upbringing encouraged Ivanauskaite to search courageously for new modes of expression in literature and visual painting, as well as in her life style. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n1s2p285
Highlights
This article deals with the phenomenon of Jurga Ivanauskaitơ (1961-2007), considered to be one of the most interdisciplinary and poly-sided Lithuanian women writers and artists
Ivanauskaitơ: Between Surrealism and Existentialism), a textual comparison of the two creators of seemingly different parameters, those of Frida Kahlo and Jurga Ivanauskaitơ, is made, keeping in mind that all such comparisons become powerless outside the text
The inspiration for this comparison came from the writer herself, who in the final stage of her life felt an existential affinity with the Mexican painter
Summary
Jurga Ivanauskaitơ was a prose write, poet, essayist, playwright and artist. She wrote twenty books: two collections of short stories Pakalnuþiǐ metai (The Year of the Lilies of the Valley, 1985), Kaip užsiauginti baimĊ (How to Raise One’s Own Fear,1989); seven novels: Mơnulio vaikai (The Children of the Moon, 1988), Pragaro sodai (The Gardens of Hell,1992), Ragana ir lietus (The Witch and the Rain, 1993), Agnijos magija (Agnija’s Magic,1995), Sapnǐ nublokšti (Gone with the Dreams, 2000), Placebas (Placebo, 2003), Mieganþiǐ drugeliǐ tvirtovơ (The Fortress of Sleeping Butterflies, 2005); four personal essay collections Ištemtas Tibetas (Tibet in Exile, 1996), Kelionơ Ƴ Šambalą (The Journey to Shambhala, 1997), Prarasta pažadơtoji žemơ (The Lost Promised Land, 1999), Kelioniǐ alchemija (The Alchemy of Travels, 2003), two collections of poems Šokis dykumoje (The Dance in the Desert, 2004) and Odơ džiaugsmui (Ode to Joy, 2007), a collection of interviews Švelnnjs tardymai (The Gentle Interrogations, 2005), two books for the children Stebuklingojii spanguolơ (The Miraculous Cranberry,1991) ir Kaip Marsis žemơje laimơs ieškojo (How Marsas looked for the Happiness on Earth, 2004), diary Viršvalandžiai (Overtime, 2008, published post mortem), the collection of plays Nežaiskite su Mơnuliu (Don’t Play with the Moon! 2008, published post mortem) and the book of meditation Angelo rnjbas (The Angel‘s Dress, 2011, published post mortem). Ten years later when traveling in India Ivanauskaitơ returns to visual art: she draws Mandalos, a cycle of 110 mandalas She approaches this cycle by way of realizing their conceptual meaning, to Jack Kerouac’s character Japhy from the novel The Dharma Bums. Ivanauskaitơ: Between Surrealism and Existentialism), a textual comparison of the two creators of seemingly different parameters, those of Frida Kahlo and Jurga Ivanauskaitơ, is made, keeping in mind that all such comparisons become powerless outside the text The inspiration for this comparison came from the writer herself, who in the final stage of her life felt an existential affinity with the Mexican painter. It is in principle immortal all the time, as a geyser” (Baranova 2014: 193)
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