Tomas started it.
It’s a kind of fame I suppose, but centered thousands and thousands of miles from where I live. I’ve written about the Stanford Libraries exciting acquisition of a stunning treasure trove of drawings, poems, photographs, samizdat manuscripts and more from the Nobel poet Joseph Brodsky. The story began in Vilnius, when I was visiting a friend of the eminent Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova, the physicist Ramunas Katilius and his family. I told that story here. The news was picked up by the Russian press – I wrote about that here.
Then a Russian TV station wanted to film the collection for its Moscow viewers. See below. Did I flunk my screen test? My career in Slavic film-making – over before it began! But working with the handsome young Russian videographer and photographer Grigory Rudko was great fun. Enjoy the clips of Stanford, the Libraries, the Katilius Collection, and, if you can, Humble Moi.
Yes, yes, I know it’s in Russian. Please stop complaining. You can read the whole story in English here – or in Russian, over here. And I’ll try to get that fractious look off my face in the screenshot below. (Postscript on 10/17: Fixed the screenshot! Enjoy my hand instead – it’s better than my scowl. Really.)
Tags: "joseph brodsky", Tomas Venclova