The Poem Which Lacks the Context. “Vilnius 1943” by Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas
The paper focuses on Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas’ poem “Vilnius 1943”, written in 1966 when the poet lived in the USA. However, the poem depicts the period of his life in Lithuania when he spent a lot of time in Vilnius. Therefore the paper raises the question of how the authentic living experience influ...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Vilnius University Press
2021-11-01
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Series: | Semiotika (Vilniaus universitetas) |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/Semiotika/article/view/25033 |
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author | Saulius Žukas |
author_facet | Saulius Žukas |
author_sort | Saulius Žukas |
collection | DOAJ |
description | The paper focuses on Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas’ poem “Vilnius 1943”, written in 1966 when the poet lived in the USA. However, the poem depicts the period of his life in Lithuania when he spent a lot of time in Vilnius. Therefore the paper raises the question of how the authentic living experience influenced the imagery of the poem. It proposes the semiotic reading of the poem that helps to consider the coherence of the imagery and its functions. The semiotic study of the imagery is supplemented with contextual analysis, which differentiates three contextual fields – that of historical context (the war realities), the cultural context (ancient literature, the Bible, Jewish culture, the modern art, etc.) and the context configured by the poet himself. The discussion of the episodes from Nyka-Niliūnas’ biography is based on the diaries, letters and memories of the poet and his relatives. The analysis reveals that it was the historical perspective that influenced the manner of description of holocaust events in the poem. So far as the egological sources allow us to argue, the poetic imagery of the poem is based on the universal historical, cultural and literary contexts rather than significantly influenced by the living experience of the poet in war-time Vilnius. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-18T10:09:22Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-69714485c6a64c4fae5f44bd08d42646 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1392-0219 2424-547X |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-18T10:09:22Z |
publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
publisher | Vilnius University Press |
record_format | Article |
series | Semiotika (Vilniaus universitetas) |
spelling | doaj.art-69714485c6a64c4fae5f44bd08d426462022-12-21T21:11:28ZengVilnius University PressSemiotika (Vilniaus universitetas)1392-02192424-547X2021-11-0116The Poem Which Lacks the Context. “Vilnius 1943” by Alfonsas Nyka-NiliūnasSaulius ŽukasThe paper focuses on Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas’ poem “Vilnius 1943”, written in 1966 when the poet lived in the USA. However, the poem depicts the period of his life in Lithuania when he spent a lot of time in Vilnius. Therefore the paper raises the question of how the authentic living experience influenced the imagery of the poem. It proposes the semiotic reading of the poem that helps to consider the coherence of the imagery and its functions. The semiotic study of the imagery is supplemented with contextual analysis, which differentiates three contextual fields – that of historical context (the war realities), the cultural context (ancient literature, the Bible, Jewish culture, the modern art, etc.) and the context configured by the poet himself. The discussion of the episodes from Nyka-Niliūnas’ biography is based on the diaries, letters and memories of the poet and his relatives. The analysis reveals that it was the historical perspective that influenced the manner of description of holocaust events in the poem. So far as the egological sources allow us to argue, the poetic imagery of the poem is based on the universal historical, cultural and literary contexts rather than significantly influenced by the living experience of the poet in war-time Vilnius.https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/Semiotika/article/view/25033semiotic analysisisotopycontextholocaust literature |
spellingShingle | Saulius Žukas The Poem Which Lacks the Context. “Vilnius 1943” by Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas Semiotika (Vilniaus universitetas) semiotic analysis isotopy context holocaust literature |
title | The Poem Which Lacks the Context. “Vilnius 1943” by Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas |
title_full | The Poem Which Lacks the Context. “Vilnius 1943” by Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas |
title_fullStr | The Poem Which Lacks the Context. “Vilnius 1943” by Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas |
title_full_unstemmed | The Poem Which Lacks the Context. “Vilnius 1943” by Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas |
title_short | The Poem Which Lacks the Context. “Vilnius 1943” by Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas |
title_sort | poem which lacks the context vilnius 1943 by alfonsas nyka niliunas |
topic | semiotic analysis isotopy context holocaust literature |
url | https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/Semiotika/article/view/25033 |
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