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Authors |
Raidas Dubrė
Wanted:
Raidas Dubrė (real name Juozas Šikšnelis) (Lithuania)
Will be inquired:
On November 9th (Wednesday), 2005 at 5 pm in the discussion “Crime fiction as a mirror of society”
On November 10th (Thursday), 2005 at 5 pm in the literature workshop "Crime Laboratory"
On November 10th (Thursday), 2005 at 8 pm in the music © Photo by Antanas Stanevicius and literature happening "Evening of Alibi"
Personal file
Author Juozas Šikšnelis (Raidas Dubrė) was born in 1950 in Varėna's district, Southern Lithuania. The writer studied library science at Vilnius University. Since 1973 he has worked in Klaipėda's county library, and at the present moment Šikšnelis is assistant director of the library. In addition to literature, Šikšnelis - who has only one arm - also devotes himself to wood carving and stone sculpture. His sculptures have been on display in some twenty exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad.
Literary works
Juozas Šikšnelis made his literary debut quite late in his life. His first book, a collection of short stories ”Calm” (Štilis), came out in 1991. Later he published a collection of detective stories ”A Naked Person Does not Dread Rain” (Nuogas lietaus nebijo) 1992, one-act plays ”The Shadows” (Šešėliai) 1993, novels ”Cross of the Green Wood” (Kryžiau žalio medžio) 2000 and ”The Consecrated” (Apšlakstytas isopu) 2004, a collection of short stories ”Angel in a Dunghill” (Angelas mėšlyne) 2003.
Under the pseudonym of Raidas Dubrė the author has published following crime novels:
”Pyrus' Victory” (Pyro pergalė), 1995
”The Medusa's Look” (Medūzos žvilgsnis), 1996
”Absolution” (Nuodėmių atleidimas), 1998
”The Wall of Throw Back” (Atblokšties siena), 1998
”Endurance Threshold” (“Patvarumo riba”), 1999
”The Heat of the Flash” (“Pliūpsnio kaitra”), 2000
”The Gates of Hell” (Pragaro vartai), 2000
”The Last Killing” (Paskutinioji užmuša), 2003
In 2001 the author received Simonaitytė's and Žemaitė's literary awards for the novel ”Cross of the Green Wood”. His crime novels were awarded the prize of the Ministry of Interior in 1992 and 1996. His fiction has been translated into Russian, Polish and English.
Critics comment the Wanted
In his short stories and novels Juozas Šikšnelis tackles the eternal themes of human existence and survival in the hostile surrounding world. The poetics of traditional realistic narration is saturated with instances of contemporary reality, psychological authenticity and existential charge. Verbal precision and often auto-ironical intonations endow everyday situations with a multifaceted dimension and stimulate the reader to contemplate the surrounding world as well as introspection.
In the crime novels, Šikšnelis - who is a true master of plot - juxtaposes the good and the evil, and in accordance with the rules of the genre, allows the good to win in the end. All the crime novels are featuring one protagonist - agent Bartas Gabrys, with the exception of the novel „The Last Killing“, set in Vilnius at the beginning of the 19th century, whose main character is Gabrys' great-grandfather.
"A Vilnius Shadow Has no Alibi" by Raidas Dubrė
It took me a while to absorb what she had said. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t told the young and charming lady in front of me to buzz off. Probably it was just because she was young and beautiful. She was snub-nosed, and had fox-like eyes pinched at the corners. Perhaps only the lips could have been fuller. But I was not the one to kiss them, as the song goes. Though you never know. Hope springs eternal.
Still stunned, I tried to ask myself: was it a bad joke or did I have a screw loose? There was no answer. Her narrow lips kept moving, piling on the facts that had provoked such a reaction. Mysticism? Stalker phobia? All kinds of ideas crossed my mind, so I asked the probing question whether she belonged to some of the recently mushrooming new religious denominations. She smiled, and shook her head. Encouraged, I made another risky move, and asked if she was not a patient at the psycho-neurological hospital....
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