Bernardas Brazdžionis ir Eugenijus Škliaras

ENThe first comments on the lyrics by Bernardas Brazdžionis together with the first Russian translations of small fragments of separate poems appeared in the Russian periodicals in 1931-1933. Their author was Evgenij Shkliar (Eugenijus Škliaras; 1893-1941), a Russian poet of Jewish origin, journalist and translator of Lithuanian literature. Having Debuted in the Russian province periodicals in 1911, Shkliar settled down in Kaunas in November 1920. He became the main translator of works by Lithuanian poets into Russian and actively popularized Lithuanian literature in the Russian emigre periodicals. The opinions of Shkliar as a representative of foreign literature were for importance of literary legitimating. His reviews of book of verses Amžinas Žydas (The Eternal Jew) were printed with a difference of two weeks in a Russian daily and in a Lithuanian weekly magazine. In them Shkliar welcomed the book of the voung Lithuanian poet as the phenomenon of high spirituality in the situation of moral degradation. Reviewer revealed Walt Whitman's influence and religious motifs in the poems of Bernardas Brazdžionis. Shkliar also wrote an approving review about the literary almanac Granitas (Granite), in which participated Bernardas Brazdžionis. Shkliar's reviews were the courteous answer to the review about Lietuva - auksinis vardas (Lietuva the Cold Name) by Shkliar. Bernardas Brazdžionis wrote this review using separate phrases from the article by poet and critic Liudas Gira. In the review of the collection Krintančios žvaigždės (The Falling Stars) Shkliar emphasized Brazdžionis's relations with the Russian poetry. A positive attitude toward Brazdžionis's poetry is explained by the fact of the specific similarity between the poetics and the motifs of the two poets.