Join Laimonas Briedis in conversation with Clive Lawton.
For 700 years Vilnius has been the principal town of Lithuania, a country whose national identity, political integrity and governing language have been repeatedly contested and altered by its rulers and inhabitants. Known as Vilna in Litvak tradition, the city not only sits at the geographical centre of Europe, but also personifies cultural and spiritual achievements of the Ashkenazi Diaspora.
Laimonas Briedis, cultural geographer and author of Vilnius: City of Strangers, looks at the city as a form of polytonal narration unravelled by translation, where, in the words of its native poet A. Sutzkever, all the cities are being transformed into its image.
This evening is part of “Litvak Days in London.”
In partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the United Kingdom.