Why does a person travel, what causes him or her to choose their own path, what reasons make choices, and after all, what happens to a person when he or she disappears? You will learn more about it during the presentation. During the event Narius Kairys and Agnė Cesiulė will discuss the book, talk about what a modern pilgrimage is, and see Tsai Ming Liang’s film “Walker”.
The novel “Toliau nei vandenynas” is Narius Kairys first book. The Lithuanian Writers’ Union publishing house listed this book as one of its most interesting books published in 2019.
The hero of the book embarked on a pilgrimage, leaving behind his hometown and his beloved, hitchhiking and then traveling with fake train tickets to southern Europe. Suffered by doubts and fears, constantly submerging in the dizziness of the world, meeting a variety of people along the way, listening to their incredible stories, occasionally experiencing the fullness of life, he gradually realizes what it really means to walk one foot on earth and another in heaven. Meanwhile, a volcano erupts in Iceland. What is it, a sign of evil, or, on the contrary, the hope that even when there seems to be no way back, there is always something waiting for you to return?
Narius Kairys is a writer, film critic, program maker for the Human Rights Festival “Nepatogus kinas”. His prose works – anthropological fiction – and other texts (reviews, articles, interviews) are published in major Lithuanian cultural publications. His creative work is mostly interdisciplinary, scientific activities are combined with classical and contemporary ideas in the humanities. Narius graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work from Vilnius University (VU) in 2008, worked in a psychiatric hospital, traveled across Europe, lived in different countries, and entered the Master of Literary Anthropology and Culture at VU in 2010 with a Magna Cum Laude Diploma. Since 2017 he is studying doctoral studies Art History at Vilnius Academy of Arts.
Agnė Cesiulė – literary scholar, doctoral student in philology at Bytautas Magnus University, specialization: Literary
Sociology and Micro-history. Prior to literature, she studied Psychology. She presented books and curated cultural events at Kaunas Vincas Kudirka Library. 2017 founded the Book Club in the library and continues to be its curator.