Tsvirka, Pyatras

Born into a peasant family. He graduated from gymnasium in Vilkia (1926). He studied at the Kaunas Art College (1926-1930).

In 1930-1931 he participated in the activities of the Kaunas working club “Nadezhda” ( “Viltis” ), was a member of the literary group of the Third Front , collaborated in the literary magazine “Trečias frontas” ( “Trečias frontas” ; “Third Front”).

In 1931-1932, thanks to a scholarship from the Zhiburelis Society, he studied literature and art in Paris . In Paris, met with Louis Aragon . Since 1934, a member of the Society of Lithuanian Writers ( Lietuvių rašytojų draugija ). In 1936 he participated in the publication of the Literatūra magazine.

In 1936 he visited Moscow and Leningrad , visited the USSR in 1938, 1939. He actively promoted the economic and cultural achievements of the Soviet Union. He was a member of the Lithuanian Society for the Study of the Culture of the Peoples of the USSR, in 1939 a member of the board of the company and secretary of the Society of Lithuanian Writers.

Member of the CPSU since 1940. In 1940, a deputy of the People’s Diet . The original “Declaration on Lithuania’s Accession to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, as well as other declarations of the “People’s Diet”, contains his signature next to the signatures of the Chairman of the People’s Diet, Ludas Adomauskas , deputy chairmen of Mechislovas Gedvilas and Juozas Grigalavichus and secretary Antanas Wentslovy . ^[2]

Together with other deputies of the People’s Diet - writers Ludas Gira , Eustace Paleckis , poetess Salomea Neris and others - he became a member of the so-called plenipotentiary delegation, which petitioned the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for Lithuania to join the Soviet Union . In 1940-1941 he headed the organizing committee of the Writers' Union of the Lithuanian SSR .

During the Great Patriotic War he was evacuated - first in the Kirov region, then Saratov , Alma-Ata , since 1942 - in Moscow. Participated in the work of the Union of Writers of the USSR . In 1944 he returned to Lithuania. Chairman of the Board of the Union of Writers of the Lithuanian SSR (1945-1947). Editor of the literary magazine Pyargale ( " Pergalė " ; "Victory").

In 1947 he was elected to the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian USSR.

He died on May 2, 1947 in Vilnius . He was buried in the Rasu cemetery. ^[3]

Antanas Wenclova and Pyatras Zvirka were married to their own sisters.

The great-granddaughter of the writer Violeta Cvirkaitė is a famous Lithuanian singer.

• According to the decree adopted in 1948, in 1951 the memorial museum of Pyatras Zvirka was opened in Kaunas . After the restoration of independence of Lithuania in 1991, it was transformed into the Museum of Children's Literature. Nowadays, it has the memorial room of Pyatras Zvirka.
• In 1953, a memorial museum was opened in Klangiai, acting as a branch of the Museum of Literature of the Lithuanian SSR.
• Since 1994, the memorial estate-museum of Pyatras Zvirka in Klangiai was run by the Jurbark Municipality.
• In 1959, a monument was erected in Vilnius (sculptor J. Mykonas , architect V. Mikucianis ).
• The personality of the writer, the reception of his work in criticism and literary criticism, the biography of Pyatras Zvirka was reconstructed in the monograph “Petras Cvirka” (1998) by Pyatras Brazhenas .
• Literary Prize named after Pyatras Zvirka.

He made his debut in print with a poem published in 1924; in periodicals he printed poems, short stories, feuilletons, essays. The first poetry collection “The First Mass” ( „Pirmosios mišios“ ), released in 1928, was confiscated. In 1930 he published a collection of short stories “Sunset in the Nika Volost” ( “Saulėlydis Nykos valsčiuje” ). The author of the first Lithuanian satirical novel , Frank Kruk (vols. 1–2, 1934) about a rich man in America. The best and most significant is considered to be his social novel from the life of the Lithuanian peasantry “Earth-nurse” (1935; Russian translation 1937).

The novel "The Master and Sons" (1936) takes place during the years of the revolution of 1905-1907 . The colorful images of the village craftsmen of the tailor Krisas and the carpenter Deveika, the dominance of the lyrical and humorous beginnings in the novel allowed critics to call him the Lithuanian “Cola Brunion” ( R. Rolland ).

During the war, several of his new books in Lithuanian were published in the USSR - collections of short stories “The Hand of Retribution” (1942), “Tales of the Invaders” (1943), and a collection of fairy tales “Silver Bullet” in Russian (1942) and Lithuanian (1943) languages .

He wrote short stories (collections “Everyday Stories”, 1938; “Oak Roots”, 1945; “Seeds of the Brotherhood”, 1947, etc.), stories for young people (collection “Sugar Lamb”, 1935), stories for children, fairy tales (collection “ Tales of the Neman Territory ”, 1948; Russian translation, 1951), essays, humorous stories, pamphlets, articles about literature, essays (collection“ Heart of Georgia ”, 1947).

The novel “The Twelve Chairs” by I. Ilf and E. Petrov translated into Lithuanian (partially used the incomplete manuscript of Pyatras Laurinaitis ; 1937), part of Stendhal ’s novel “Red and Black” (1939), selected works by A. S. Pushkin , Henri Barbus , Beranger , Pirandello .

He collaborated in the newspaper Literaturos Nauenos (Literary News) and other Lithuanian periodicals. He used the pseudonyms A. Cvingelis , Cvingelis , Cezaris Petrėnas , JK Pavilionis , K. Cvirka , Kanapeikus , Kazys Gerutis , Klangis , Klangis Petras Cvirka , Laumakys , P. Cvinglis , P. Cvirka-Rymantas , P. Gelmė , P. Veliuoniškis , Petras Serapinas , S. Laumakys

The first work of Pyatras Zvirka, translated into Russian, was published in the Kaunas newspaper “Our Echo” (short story “Damn”; 1931 ) edited by E. L. Shklyar . The novel "Earth-nurse" translated by A. Bauzhi according to the author's manuscript was published in Russian in Moscow in 1937 in the series "World Library". Subsequently, he was repeatedly reprinted in the translation of the Soviet philologist B. A. Larin . In Russian, in addition to novels and short stories, many fairy tales and short stories for children have been published. The Soviet magazine International Literature, published in several language versions, published the story Border in English , Spanish , German , and French ( 1940 ), and later translated excerpts from the novel The Earth-Nursing Mother and the story Nightingale in foreign translations. The collection of short stories "Seeds of fraternity" translated from Russian into English was published in Moscow in 1955 . The works of Zvirka were also translated into Armenian , Azerbaijani , Belarusian , Yiddish , Bulgarian , Hungarian , Georgian , Kabardian , Kazakh , Chinese , Latvian , Moldavian , Ossetian , Polish , Uzbek , Ukrainian , Czech , Finnish , Estonian and some other languages.

Collected Works

• Raštai. T. 1-13. Vilnius, 1949-1957
• Raštai. T. 1-8. Vilnius, 1959.

Collections and selected works

• Pirmosios mišios: eilėraščiai. Kaunas, 1928.31 p.
• Saulėlydis Nykos valsčiuje: apsakymai. Kaunas: Spaudos fondas, 1930.247 p.
• Adolfas Hitleris: apybraiža. Kaunas, 1933.104 p.
• Frank Kruk: romanas: 2t. Kaunas: Sakalas, 1934.
• Žemė maitintoja: romanas. Kaunas: Sakalas, 1935.281 p.
• Meisteris ir sūnūs: romanas. Kaunas: Sakalas, 1936. 248 p.
• Kasdienės istorijos: novelės, skirtos V.Krėvei-Mickevičiui. Kaunas: Sakalas, 1938. 183 p.
• Kasdienės istorijos: novelės, skirtos V.Krėvei-Mickevičiui. Kaunas: Sakalas, 1940. 183 p.
• Bausmės ranka: apysakos apie Lietuvos partizanus. Maskva: Karinė leidykla, 1942.30 p.
• Apysakos apie okupantus. Maskva: LTSR valstybinė leidykla, 1943.43 p.
• Sidabrinė kulka: pasakos. Maskva: LTSR valstybinė leidykla, 1943.48 p.
• Ąžuolo šaknys: apsakymai. Kaunas: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1945. 246 p.
• Žemė maitintoja: romanas. Kaunas: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1946. 194 p.
• Brolybės sėkla: apsakymai. Kaunas: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1947.57 p.
• Gruzijos širdis: apybraižos. Vilnius: Tiesa, 1947.37 p.
• Daina: apsakymai. Kaunas: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1948.276 p.
• Kruk: romanas. Kaunas: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1948. 578 p.
• Petro Cvirkos apysakos ir autoriaus biografiniai bruožai. Brooklyn: Laisvė, 1949. 287 p.
• Rinktinė. Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1951. 389 p.
• Frank Kruk: romanas. Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1953. 572 p.
• Žemė maitintoja: romanas. Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1956. 246 p.
• Meisteris ir sūnūs: romanas. Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1957. 351 p.
• Brolybės sėkla: [apsakymai]. Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1963.95 p.
• Daina: [apsakymas]. Vilnius: Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla, 1963.27 p.
• Žemė maitintoja: romanas. Vilnius: Vaga, 1965. 258 p.
• Frank Kruk: romanas. Vilnius: Vaga, 1966. 518 p.
• Saulėlydis Nykos valsčiuje: apsakymai. Vilnius: Vaga, 1967. 219 p.
• Kasdienės istorijos: apsakymai]. Vilnius: Vaga, 1967. 147 p.
• Žemė maitintoja. Vilnius: Vaga, 1971.25 p.
• Ąžuolas: apsakymai. Vilnius: Vaga, 1974. 381 p.
• Meisteris ir sūnūs: romanas. Vilnius: Vaga, 1976.288 p.
• Žemė maitintoja: romanas. Vilnius: Vaga, 1977.181 p.
• Meisteris ir sūnūs: romanas. Kaunas: Šviesa, 1982. 156 p. (Mokinio biblioteka).
• Nemuno šalies pasakos. Vilnius: Vyturys, 1988.372 p.
• Saulėlydis Nykos valsčiuje: apsakymai. Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 1996.175 p. (Skaitinių serija, 7).
• Nemuno šalies pasakos. Kaunas: Aušra, 1999.221 p.

In Russian

• Collected works. Will enter. Art. M. Slutskis . T. 1-3. Moscow: Fiction, 1967-1968., 130,000 copies.
• Selected works in 2 volumes. M., 1984

• Earth nurse. Moscow, 1937.264 p., 20,000 copies.
• Stories. Moscow, 1947. 48 p.
• Selected works. Foreword Yu. Baltushis. Moscow, Goslitizdat, 1948.520 s.
• Nursing land. Vilnius, 1949.288 s.
• Favorites. Moscow, Goslitizdat, 1950.419 s.
• Stories. Vilnius, 1950
• Secret. M., Detgiz, 1950
• Nursing land. Moscow, 1952. 184 p.
• Selected works in 2 volumes. Vilnius, 1952.
• Selected works. Vilnius, 1954.678 s.
• Nursing land. Moscow, 1955.192 p.
• Sugar Lamb. M., 1955
• Tales of the Neman Territory. Vilnius: Goslitizdat, 1956.128 s.
• Frank Crook Moscow-Leninigrad, 1960.490 s., 70,000 copies.

• Silver bullet. Lithuanian tales. Moscow - Leningrad: Detgiz, 1942. 48 p.
• Rooster Pevun-Kukarenkun. Fairy tale. Vilnius: Goslitizdat, 1949.15 p.
• Tales of the Neman Territory. Vilnius: Goslitizdat, 1952.126 p.
• The nightingale. Stories. Moscow - Leningrad: Detgiz, 1952. 112 p. (School library for non-Russian schools).
• Strakalas and Makalas: Tales. Vilnius: Vaga, 1968. 83 p.
• Wonderful spring. Fairy tale. Vilnius: Vaga, 1973. 25 p.
• Master and sons. Vilnius, 1985.
• Sugar Lamb. Moscow: Children's Literature, 1969.176 p., 100,000 copies.
• Fox savvy. Vilnius, 1965

• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (04/08/1947)

• V. Galinis. Outstanding Soviet Lithuanian writer Petras Zvirka. Moscow, 1961.
• History of Lithuanian literature. Vilnius: Vaga, 1977. S. 591-611.
• Atsiminimai apie Petrą Cvirką. Vilnius, 1969.
• D. Judelevičius. Petras Cvirka satyrikas. Vilnius, 1958.
• Lietuvių rašytojai. Bibliografinis žodynas: A — J. Vilnius: Vaga, 1979.P. 237-353.
• Teterina E. N. About pastorality in the work of Pyatras Zvirka ] // Literatura. Vilniaus: Vilniaus Universitetas , 2015. No. 56/57. S.42-51.

• Classic Lithuanian Literature Anthology: Petras Cvirka
• Zvirka Pyatras - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
• Brief Encyclopedia of Literature - Circus
• Violeta Zvirkaite - great-granddaughter of Pyatras Zvirka