Novel
Altorių šešėly
Not translated into English
Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas · 1933
Synopsis
In the Shadow of the Altars: Liudas Vasaris, a young man who feels called to poetry, enters the seminary, becomes a priest and goes on writing. Between the priest's vocation and the poet's, the contradiction keeps growing. Love, which he finds with several women, including Liucė, sharpens this conflict and at the same time feeds his poetry, which moves from a poetry of ideas to a more troubled neo-romanticism. He will have to choose between the altar and writing.
Context
The author, then a priest and teacher, began the book in France; its three parts were published in 1933 and caused a scandal, since the novel shows a priest who doubts his vocation. Two years later, he himself gave up the priesthood. Virginija Cibarauskė and Paulius Jevsejevas regard it as one of the first and most significant love novels of Lithuanian literature; it was staged as a ballet in Klaipėda in 2023.
Who it is for
A long novel, in three parts, of inner analysis; it is necessary to know that the Church then held a large place in Lithuanian public life. No French or English translation has been found.
Prizes and reception
The best-known novel by its author; the scandal of its publication did not prevent it from being read by generations of pupils.
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