Novel
Fall Comes from the Forest
Miškais ateina ruduo
Marius Katiliškis · 1957
Synopsis
Autumn comes through the forests: in the woods of northern Lithuania, between the two wars, the young Tilius fells trees with his elder, Petras the Red, and drinks with the lumberjacks in the shop of Veronika Gužienė, whose daughter, Agnė, seventeen, he loves; they meet in secret on a bridge. Hired as a farmhand by old Doveika, he expects to find an elderly farmwoman and discovers an attractive young woman, Monika, who becomes his mistress. Tilius, who wants more from life, is torn between the two women.
Context
The novel appeared in 1957 in Chicago, from Terra. The Lithuanian encyclopedia reads in it a picture of village life on the eve of the Second World War, in which tragic fate and wild passion recur, served by a rich language and vivid descriptions of nature. The critic Kazys Keblys ranked it among the landmark books of the exile of the years 1956 to 1959, and Jurgita Tuzinaitė stresses the boldness of its eroticism. Reissued in Vilnius in 1969, it was adapted for the screen by Raimondas Vabalas in 1990.
Who it is for
A sweeping, sensual novel with a rich language; translated into English in 2022, it has not been the subject of any recorded French translation.
Prizes and reception
Praised in 2022 by Kirkus for the freshness of its language, and loved by generations of Lithuanian readers according to Violeta Kelertas.
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