An excerpt from In Lithuanian Wood:
"Well," the interpreter laughed, "since we now find ourselves in
this Lithuanian wood, you might begin by hugging a tree." The American
walked straight to the nearest tree, flung his arms
around it, pressed his cheek to the smooth black, and closed his
eyes. "No," the interpreter said. "Not that one - it is an oak tree, and
if you hug it you will be too strong." The American opened his eyes and
ran to another, slightly smaller tree
trunk, and wrapped his arms around it. "No, no, no," the interpreter shook
her head, "that one is a maple and it will sap your strength."
The American's arms fell to his sides. His shoulders slumped. "Then, which one?"
The interpreter pointed. "Before you leave Lithuania, you can hug that young birch and say to it,
'Thank you.'" The American did exactly as the interpreter commanded, then said, "So
why have I hugged this birch and said to it, 'Thank you?'" "In Lithuania, the birch is best to hug,"
the interpreter replied, "because you will learn to bend without breaking. And you
must tell this tree, 'Thank you,' because it is the polite thing to say when you
have been taught such a valuable lesson."
Naujas! Lietuvių kalba! | Apie Autorių | Apie Vilko Valanda |
Click for more about the Lithuanian language translation
Click for a story from Lituanus later appearing in In Lithuanian Wood
"Mayo has an eye for the small details, the ironies of custom and tradition... Such richly diverse stories suggest a powerful merging of history and folklore with everyday life...In Lithuanian Wood contains many striking, poetic moments."
"[Mayo] takes on topics that are often more difficult for us to approach. He provides sanctuary for characters who hold up the bones of murdered Jews,
who don't find salvation in the West, who refuse to divide the world cleanly between Soviet and liberated Lithuania. Ready or not, Mayo has,
as Crčvecoeur did for America, opened up our culture to wider interpretation."
-Lituanus
"That Wendell Mayo is not an ordinary tourist having lost his way in Lithuania, but a very perceptive, educated citizen of sophisticated taste, is evident in many aspects of his book. . . . [f]irst of all, the cover of the book that depicts Anykščių Šilelis, a graphics piece mastered by Vytautas Valius . . . . It is even more impressive that in the beginning of several chapters and subsections the author squeezes in various mottoes, the largest portion of which he has taken from Lithuanian poets (Marcinkevičius) and our folk songs. . . . While borrowing the story 'The Witch and the Rain' from Estonian mythology, Wendell Mayo is very successful in his efforts of intuiting the spirit of the pagan era..."
"In his beautifully achieved collection... Wendell Mayo explores the hard
truths of the post-Iron Curtain era. Through the person of Paul
Rood, who takes his enthusiasm for Walt Whitman to a country
that has known only the depredations of Nazi and Soviet Tyranny
for half a century, the reader enters into the recognition of what
tyranny, with its attendant corruption, economic exploitation, and
cynicism do to the human spirit. The keeper of keys at the lodgings
where Rood and others stay cannot free himself of the petty and
stultifying rules and bureaucratic turn of mind that have
conditioned him for years. A former teacher become gravedigger,
unable to find a spot free of the bones of murdered Jews, becomes
obsessed by the femurs, fingers and skulls he continually
overturns. Metaphorically, his burden is inescapable, for he is
unable to find a place 'void of history.' The author has captured
very astutely the mixed feelings that are a response to American
optimism, innocence and good will - the sort of tolerant amusement
that overlays deep anguish of experience. Yet the book...is filled
with magic - with evocations and beauty and wonderful stories
from traditional roots that, though damaged, still endure. It is a
book of great humanity and splendid prose."
"...a marvelous experience. In Lithuanian Wood brings the
reader a profound, ambitious and complex vision of a part of the
world few of us know...a rare fiction, executed with equally rare
skill and compassion."
"These characters...have been so long in the bureaucratic gale, that the drama is watching
them unfold, a kind of time-lapsed rebirth... A fascinating book, written with beautiful clarity."
-The Los Angeles Times
-Akiračiai (Translated from Lithuanian by Erika Sabo)
See the Online Review from THE LITERARY REVIEW
- Gladys Swan
- Gordon Weaver
- Michael Martone
