skaitalai // everyone in vilnius can be a stranger

šią vasarą skaitau vieną smagesnių knygų apie vilnių - laimono briedžio "vilnius, city of strangers":

The name [Vilnius] also hints of the proximity of the place to the other world. The Lithuanian words for the departed (velionis), ghost (vėlė) and devil (velnias) share the same etymological root with Vilnius (...). It [the word Vilnius] denotes a bond between different, opposing realms of the universe, making Vilnius a pulsating place - more like a moment in time than a physical location - linking the living with the dead.

knyga suklijuoja koliažą iš keliautojų ir atvykėlių pasakojimų apie vilnių. kai kurie personažai nesikeičia šimtmečiais:

[1784] In one of the humble inns, he joined the party of a jolly Catholic priest drinking vodka with an ancient Jewish postmaster. The cronies amused the scientist with their raucous conversation, during which every form of authority was dethroned. The two cursed everyone: from the Holy Roman Emperor and the Polish king to the bishop of Wilna and the local abbot.

atsainumo dvasia ir puikumo trūkumas čia taip pat nuo seno:

[1784] Forster concluded that Wilna, in spite of his best intentions, was unworthy of his talent: "Here, where science is covered by the silence of the night, where scientific achievements are not rewarded, even by a simple honorary prize, where most renowned and celebrated people are only those who the most serfs or gamble the most money - here, a foreigner, because of the apathy of his compatriots, gradually starts to feel abandoned by the better part of civilised society... Local society is marked by sluggishness, constant postponements and indifference to anything virtuous; here, a traveller will encounter the tolerance and masking of elementary wrongdoings, the persistence of habitual moralising nonsense, lack of modern forms of education, and, at times, a remorsless contempt for learning; in addition, the country is gripped by a senseless patriotism, an irrational governing structure and a sickly state constitution."

atrodo, kai kuriais atvejais vietų dvasia lieka įstabiai stabili.

citatos iš: laimonas briedis - vilnius, city of strangers. vilnius: baltos lankos, 2008.