Jonas Avyzius
Jonas Avyzius was a prominent Lithuanian writer born on May 16, 1922, in Medginai, a rural area that significantly influenced his literary work. After graduating from high school, he worked on his family’s farm and joined the Soviet army in 1944. Following World War II, Avyzius began his literary career as a correspondent for the Lithuanian newspaper Tiesa and published his first short story collections in the late 1940s. He gained critical acclaim with a series of novels that explored the complexities of agrarian life, notably "I stiklo kalna," "Kaimas kryzkeleje," and "Sodybu tustejimo metas," the latter being translated into English as "The Lost Home." His storytelling often reflects the struggles of peasants amid the challenges of modernity, drawing comparisons to Soviet novelist Mikhail Sholokhov. Avyzius received several accolades, including the state prize of Soviet Lithuania and the Lenin Prize, recognizing his contributions to literature. Despite a decline in popularity after Lithuania's independence in the 1990s, he is regarded as one of the founding figures of modern Lithuanian literature, with his legacy commemorated through institutions like the Jonas Avyzius Public Library, established in his honor. Avyzius passed away in 1999.
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Jonas Avyzius
Writer
- Born: May 16, 1922
- Birthplace: Medginai, Lithuania
- Died: July 7, 1999
Biography
Jonas Avyzius was born on May 16, 1922, in Medginai, Lithuania, in the region of Joniskis, a rural area which would become the setting for much of his later fiction. After high school Avyzius worked on his parents’ farm before joining the Soviet army in 1944. Following World War II, Avyzius worked as a correspondent for the Lithuanian newspaper Tiesa and published his first collections of short stories, Pirmosios vagos in 1948 and Garbe a year later.
These were followed by several more collections of short fiction, but Avyzius found his critical fame and popularity in a later series of novels beginning with I stiklo kalna, followed by Kaimas kryzkeleje, and Sodybu tustejimo metas; the latter is the only one of Avyzius’s works to be translated into English, appearing as The Lost Home in 1974. Avyzius’s fiction is marked by complexity, drama, and a remarkable range of characters and often depicts the struggles of peasants against the harsh realities of modern life. Avyzius is often compared to the Soviet novelist Mikhail Sholokhov, best known for the four-volume novel Tikhii Don (1928-1940), translated in two volumes as And Quiet Flows the Don (1934) and The Don Flows Home to the Sea (1940). Like Sholokhov, Avyzius deals with the conflict between socialism and individual rights in a panoramic portrait of agrarian life.
Avyzius, who always claimed his theme was the daily life of the Lithuanian people, received the state prize of Soviet Lithuania in 1965 for his novel Kaimas kryzkeleje and the same prize for the novel Sodybu tustejimo metas in 1971, and in 1976 he was awarded the prestigious Lenin Prize. After Lithuania left the Soviet bloc and became an independent country in the 1990’s, Avyzius’s reputation and popularity suffered, as critics and readers tried to forge a new Lithuanian literature free of Soviet influence. His achievements, however, had already been established, and today he is considered one of the fathers of modern Lithuanian literature. In 2004, for example, the Public Library of the Joniskis District Municipality, where Avyzius grew up, was renamed the Jonas Avyzius Public Library in honor of that region’s most famous writer. Avyzius died in 1999