On 14 May at 18:00, the European Parliament will host a meeting of the European Parliament's Committee on Human Rights. Alvydas Šlepikas will present the book "Litbelas. Herkus Kunčius will present the book "The House Across the River" by writer Alvydas Šlepikas.
"The House Across the River" is a collection of seven novels. The book deals with the themes of exclusion, liberation and escape from guilt. The writer combines a realistic narrative, full of precise details, with a dreamlike mood, fantastic imagery, and the mysteriousness characteristic of fairy tales.
"Litbelas. The Ghost of the Premature" is a novel about the quasi-state of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Lithuania and Belarus, created by the Russian Bolsheviks, which lasted only a few months. The Litbel government, sent to Vilnius from Russia under the leadership of Moscow's Vince Mickiewicz-Kapsuk, fed by the winds of revolution and backed by the daggers of the Red Army, tries to create a new world where absurdity outweighs common sense, and where violence is the main tool for asserting will. The events in the novel take place between December 1918 and September 1919 - when the ghostly Litbel ceased to exist.
At the event on Tuesday, both books will be available for purchase, and you can ask the writers (and the moderators) any comfortable or uncomfortable questions you may have.
Free event, starting at 6pm
"People said the stars were still twinkling, but the sky was already shining. Trees and bushes were slowly beginning to appear in the darkness. Suddenly the wind of Bolshevism blew across their tops from Russia. The reborn forest leaned back in fear, shaking with the voice of the stepmother. And the snow, finished, fell from the moving branches with a timid rustle."
(Excerpt from the novel "Litbel. The Ghost Uncarried")
"The summer night was coming, short and bright. A man lay on the ground, his feet propped up, his hands tucked under his head, looking in front of him. The world had turned on its side. ")
(Excerpt from the book of short stories "The House Across the River".
