The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature

Abstract

Featuring the nation's greatest novelists and short storytellers, The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature shows how Lithuania's writers have reflected the country's development from an agrarian, Catholic society and its ability to survive the worst ideologies of the 20th century. Powerful and arresting images - ranging from the funny and bizarre to the tragic and gut-wrenching - abound in the stories: a crippled man must endure the flirtations of 'hunchback-teasing women' fetching water from a village well;an angel becomes annoyed when stolen herring is allowed into heaven;a frozen Lithuanian hand nailed to a raft floats down an icy Siberian river;a child tries in vain to wake the victims of a mass execution... Demonstrating the vitality and power of Lithuanian literature, this anthology also engenders respect for the endurance of an entire nation.