Judita Vaičiūnaitė
Born	July 12, 1937 Kaunas, Lithuania
Died	February 11, 2001(2001-02-11) (aged 63) Vilnius, Lithuania
Occupation	Poet
Alma mater	Vilnius University
Subject	Mythology, Vilnius, the lives of women
Spouse	Hermanis Marģers Majevskis

Judita Vaičiūnaitė (July 12, 1937 – February 11, 2001) was a Lithuanian writer. Best known for her poetic exploration of urban settings and mythological women, she is one of Lithuania's most famous 20th-century poets. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Early life and education

Judita Vaičiūnaitė was born in 1937 in Kaunas, Lithuania. ^{[4] [5]} Her father was a professor of psychiatry, and her mother was a nurse. She was particularly close with her sister Dalia. ^[4]

After World War II, she moved to Vilnius with her family. ^[3] There, she studied at Vilnius University, graduating in 1959. ^[6] Vaičiūnaitė would live in Vilnius for the rest of her life, making the city a central subject of her work. ^{[1] [4]}

She was married to the famous Latvian poet and translator Hermanis Margeris Majevskis [ lt]. ^[7]

Career

Vaičiūnaitė's first poetry collection, Pavasario akvarelės ("Spring Watercolors"), was published in 1960. ^[2] She went on to publish new collections frequently, producing more than 20 books of poetry. ^{[2] [6]} She also wrote fairy tales and poems for children. ^{[2] [4]}

Vaičiūnaitė worked as an editor for several literary journals in Lithuania. ^[6] She also completed translations of other poets into Lithuanian, notably the work of Anna Akhmatova. ^{[8] [9]} In 1978, she was named the laureate of the Lithuanian Poetry Spring [ lt] festival. ^[4]

In 1996, she was awarded the Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature, the Arts and Science for her collection Žemynos vainikai ("Wreaths of Zemyna"). ^[4] That year, she published the memoir Vaikystės veidrody, a series of essays about her own life. ^{[4] [10]} She was issued the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas in 1997, and the Lithuanian Writers' Union Prize in 2000. ^[6]

Writing

Vaičiūnaitė's poetry dealt with a wide range of subjects and themes, including Lithuanian and Greek mythology, modern jazz, history, and contemporary city life. ^{[1] [3] [11]} Her urban-centered poetry, frequently set in Vilnius' Old Town, is perhaps her best known. ^{[1] [2]} It came at a time when most other Lithuanian poets were from the countryside and focused on the natural world in their work. ^{[12] [13]} She also incorporated the city's multicultural history into her poems. ^{[3] [14]}

She frequently employed dramatic monologue in her work, often from the point of view of female historical and mythological figures. ^{[1] [14]} Her poetry was influenced by the neo-romantic work of Salomėja Nėris, the first prominent Lithuanian woman poet. ^[15] Alongside Marcelijus Martinaitis, Sigitas Geda, and others, she was part of a generation that quietly revolutionized Lithuanian poetry as dissatisfaction grew with Soviet rule, but the neo-romantic strains persisted. ^{[3] [4] [14] [10]}

Vaičiūnaitė was a highly independent single mother, but she was also convinced of the importance of romantic love. She wrote with a feminist realism, narrating the lives of single women in the city. ^{[4] [3] [12]}

Death and legacy

Judita Vaičiūnaitė died in Vilnius in 2001. ^{[4] [5] [16]} A 2010 posthumous collection of selections from her work, Kristalas: Poezijos Rinktinė, was published by the Lithuanian Writers' Union. ^{[6] [14]} In 2018, a collection of her work in English translation was published as Vagabond Sun: Selected Poems. ^[3]

A monument to her stands near the Church of St. Catherine in Vilnius. ^[4]

Selected works

Poetry

• Pavasario akvarelės (1960)
• Kaip žalias vynas (1962)
• Per saulėtą gaublį (1964)
• Vėtrungės (1966)
• Po šiaurės herbais (1968)
• Žiemos lietus (1987)
• Žemynos vainikai (1995)
• Seno paveikslo šviesa (1998)
• Debesų arka (2000)
• Kristalas: Poezijos Rinktinė (posthumous, 2010)

Plays

• Pavasario fleita (collection, 1980)

Memoir

• Vaikystės veidrody (1996)

References