Liudas Gira

Gira Liudas August 27, 1884 Vilnius July 1, 1964 Vilnius,Lithuanian writer. Vytautas Sirijos Gira father. Full member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (1946). He studied at the Vilnius Seminary in 1901-05 but did not become a priest. Secretary of the Grand Seimas of Vilnius. One of the founders of the Lithuanian Teachers' Union and the Lithuanian Science Society. Director and artist of Amateur Theater in Vilnius. Collaborated on newspapers Vilniaus Zinios, Lithuanian farmer, Viltis. 1911-12 edited the almanac Svyturys, founded and edited the first Lithuanian literary magazine Vaivorykste

(1913-14). 1918 Commander of Vilnius War, Commander of Volunteer Squad. 1919 Bolshevik prisoners in Daugavpils and elsewhere. At the end of 1919, the head of the Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of National Defense in Kaunas, led by L. Gira, liquidated the coup organized by the peo-bishops. 1922-25 State Drama, 1925-26 Director of the State Theater, 1926-34 Secretary of the Book Publishing Commission of the Ministry of Education. In 1937-38 he edited the newspaper Literary News

. 1938–39 Chairman of the Lithuanian Writers' Society. 1940 Representative of the so-called People's Seimas of the USSR occupied Lithuania. As a delegate of the Collaborative Seimas in Moscow in 1940, he participated in the session of the USSR Supreme Council, which formalized the annexation of Lithuania. 1940-41 Deputy Commissioner of Education, LSSR. During the USSR-German War he lived in Penza and was captain of 16 Lithuanian divisions.

1903-20 L. Gira's poetry (collections Dul dul dudele 1909, Green Meadow 1911, Field Songs, On the Roads of Homeland, both 1912, poem Giant's Caps 1910) is a vivid introduction to the intonation, melancholy and elegance of folk songs, poetics of Dzūkian folklore. The poetry of 1921–40 (collections of Žiežirbos 1921, Greeks of the Crusade 1928, Silk Threads, Steps of the Ages, both 1929) is dominated by love, historical, patriotic motifs, marked by the influence of symbolism. During the Soviet occupation he wrote poems on the ideology of socialism (poem Stalin LSSR Constitution 1940, collection of poems Žalgiris Lietuva 1942). L. Gira's dramas (Revenge of the Tragedy, The Guests, Both 1910, The Dawn of the Dawn 1913, The Ring of the Fern 1928) are characterized by neo-romanticism

trends. In his articles on literary science and criticism (mainly signed under the pseudonym E. Radzikauskas) he analyzed the preconditions for the formation of the art culture tradition in Lithuania and supported the diversity of literary currents. Wrote a book The evolution of Lithuanian poetry in the 16-18th centuries. (1934), studies on Lazdynai Owl

, V. Azukalnis-Zagurskis

J. Biliunas

, articles on literary criticism. Prepared by Lazdynai Owl, K. Sakalauskas-Vanagėlis

, P. Vaicaitis

, E. Steponitis

wrote the first anthologies of Lithuanian poetry in spring, summer, autumn and winter (1911), Cit, Listen (1914), translated by A. Pushkin

, M. Lermontov

, K. Balmont

, T. Shevchenko

, the works of Polish poets. Poems by L. Gira translated into Russian, Belarusian, Polish, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and other languages