FOURTEEN CONVERSATIONS

Ignas Dilys (g. 1970) – lietuvių tinklaraštininkas, knygų autorius, kurio pomėgis – intelektualūs pokalbiai su įdomiais žmonėmis. „Fourteen conversations“ – trečioji anglų kalba pasirodžiusi autoriaus knyga.

Knygoje esantys interviu paimti 2015–2023 m. Autoriaus pašnekovai – įvairių meno, kultūros ir mokslo sričių atstovai. Viena svarbiausių knygos temų – begalybė ir žmogaus gyvenimo (ne)baigtinumas. 

FIFTEEN CONVERSATIONS

The Interlocutor’s foreword

In my life conversations have gradually become an enjoyable treat. This book is an attempt to share this pleasure with an English reading audience.

With this work, I did not strive to parse contemporary affairs, glorify anyone, or emphasize any sort of homogeneity. All my conversation partners have created something original in life, and continue to do so, expanding the boundaries of both their crafts and the human mind.

All of the interviews included here were taken live in the years between 2019 and 2022. Some of them have previously been published in various places in their Lithuanian translation. The texts here were transcribed from the original audio recordings. Four conversations were translated from the Russian originals. In places, our words were edited for clarity and brevity.

Wishing everyone the daily experience of meaningful conversation, I hope that these exchanges encourage a desire to explore something new. 

SIXTEEN CONVERSATIONS

Conversations are necessary for clarity and life; to have one, it is necessary to listen.

The texts comprising this book were originally conversations, mostly free of any distinct agenda or ideological shading. I tried to ask people about whatever I found interesting at the time and they responded as they saw fit. Frequently, we strayed from the main course of discussion to reminisce, speculate or just roam.

All of the interviews included here were taken live in the years between 2016 and 2020. They have previously been published in various places in their Lithuanian translation. The texts here were transcribed from the original audio recordings. The conversation with Vytautas Landsbergis was translated from the Lithuanian original. In places, our words were edited for clarity and brevity.

Feeling that these encounters have in some way contributed to my understanding of people and the world, I have chosen to share them with an Englishspeaking audience. It seems that, often, the meaning of a dialogue lies not in the words spoken, but somewhere in between, or perhaps elsewhere altogether. I hope readers are moved to contribute their own meanings and to give new life to these vignettes, which are themselves now ever more remote in time.

- Ignas Dilys