Why a Booktrail?
1980s: A major novel from the period of Soviet domination in Lithuania
Vilnius Poker
What you need to know before your trail
A dark, enigmatic, and visceral examination of the psychology of repression, Vilnius Poker dives into the minds of four narrators whose contradictory memories challenge the very idea of truth. In this masterpiece written “for the drawer,” Vilnius itself becomes a presence possessing a will, a consciousness and, worse, an intent. First published in 1989 when Lithuania was on the verge of breaking away from the Soviet Union, this book raised a firestorm for its brutality, frank sex, and its destruction of the myths of Lithuanian history.
Locations
Reset- Lithuania - Vilnius
- A: Vilnius Cathedral
- B: Gediminas Castle Tower
- C: Mindaugo Tiltas bridge
- D: Old Town
Travel Guide
Vilnius
Vilnius Poker is the major novel from the period of Soviet domination in Lithuania
Readers should be aware that there is extreme sexual violence in this book as four narrators, describe and explain a city and a society suffering from psychological and physical oppression.
Amongst the narrators is a gulag survivor. This is a dark, cold and unforgiving city:
When you’ve been spat out, you see the damp, dusk-enveloped buildings of Vilnius lurking in the dark corners of the streets in a entirely different way (that evening I saw it that way.) It seemed they were lying in ambush. It seemed Vilnius no longer breathed at all; it crouched and settled down, grimly waiting. the drab monuments and the dirty, smoke-ridden lindens of Vilnius waited too.
This book was published just before collapse of the socialist regimes in East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Vilnius Poker
Destination : Vilnius Author/Guide: Ricardas Gavelis Departure Time: 1970s, 1980s
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