Tomas Venclova

Professor of Russian and Polish Literature

Tomas Venclova, Diploma, in Philology, University of Vilnius; Graduate Study in Semiotics and Russian Literature, Tartu University; Ph.D., Yale University, faculty member at Yale since 1985: Born in distant Klaipeda, Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, you are one of Europe’s greatest living poets, a brilliant literary specialist and teacher of Russian and Polish literature, a leading figure in the camp of East European dissent, a staunch defender of human rights throughout the world and, for many, the very conscience of your native Lithuania. Your publications in the fields of culture and politics long have resonated with writers, scholars, journalists, and human-rights activists on both sides of the Atlantic. A recipient of five honorary degrees and the winner of numerous international awards, you have written magisterial poetry that has been translated into more than twenty languages; and your meticulous analysis of East European poets has provided an invaluable foray into the place of the literary bard in the nation. Whether as poet, literary scholar, or essayist, you always have focused on the entangled relationship between culture and politics and the dangers of chauvinism or sectarianism of any kind. You have adopted a unique posture with respect to the question of nationalism and never lapsed into extremes or shied away from the terrible cost of any form of totalitarianism. With unparalleled moral depth you have eloquently declared that if the choice is between the nation and truth, you choose truth. Almost alone among the writers of your native land, you have movingly exposed the tragedy of Lithuania, acknowledging the responsibility of those Lithuanians who actively participated in the extermination of their Jewish countrymen.

Raised in a family of power and prestige, your courage and high moral purpose have brought you much controversy and difficulty in your native land. For your actions on behalf of freedom, you fell into disfavor and were denounced, suspended from the University, and threatened with forced confinement in a psychiatric hospital; but your voice was never stilled and your determination to tell the truth never wavered. Your eloquent voice is where the three great European cultures of Lithuania, Poland, and Russia meet. Together with the Nobel-prize winning poets Czesław Miłosz and Joseph Brodsky, you have formed a mighty literary triumvirate defending the glory of your native tradition from the perspective of a cosmopolitan exile. Your books, articles, essays, and prefaces give a resounding testimony to both the desolate landscape in the aftermath of totalitarianism and the ethical constants that allow us to persevere and to hope. As at home with the great Polish bards as with the major Russian poets, you have devoted yourself to succeeding generations of Yale’s students, who have been dazzled by your encyclopedic knowledge of both literary traditions. For you, your beloved Vilnius has become the “eternal city” that is transformed by the intersecting themes of memory, nostalgia, and identity into the great multi-cultural and multi-ethnic Lithuanian Vilnius, Polish Wilno, and Jewish Vilne.

As you retire from the faculty, your fellow colleagues—so proud of the multiplicity of your talents, your many contributions, and above all your essential humanity—proudly celebrate your gifts to your students, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, to Yale, and well beyond.

Tribute Editor: Penelope Laurans