Antanas Škėma
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Antanas Škėma (November 29, 1910 - August 11, 1961) was a Lithuanian writer, stage actor and director. His best known work is The White Sheet (Balta drobulė).
[edit] Early life and career
Antanas Škėma was born on November 29, 1910 (according to his birth certificate in 1911) in Łódź, Poland where his father was sent to work as a teacher. During World War II he lived in Russia with his parents. In 1921, they all came back to Lithuania.
He attended high schools in Radviliškis and Kaunas. In 1929, he entered the University of Lithuania medical faculty, but in 1931 he transferred his studies to the Faculty of Law. At the time university was renamed to Vytautas Magnus University.
In 1935 he entered the theater studio directed by V.Sipavičius-Fedotas. While attending it he was also accepted to the Lithuanian State Theatre in Kaunas. In 1936, Škėma started working as an actor in the State Theater in Kaunas. From 1940 to 1944 in Vilnius State Theater, at first as an actor, and later as a director. Škėma had parts in nearly every play of that time.
In 1944, he went to Germany, where he was involved in some artistic work with Lithuanian troupes.
In 1949, Škėma left Europe for United States of America, and actively joined Lithuanain in exile cultural and theatrical activities . He acted at the Chicago Theater and also in Boston's Drama Group performances.
In 1960-1961 he worked in the editorial office of Vienybė newspaper. In addition, he was lecturing, writing and printing articles about theater and literature in several publications.
Antanas Škėma was killed in a car accident in Pennsylvania on August 11, 1961.
[edit] Literary work
The only novel of Škėma, "The White Cloth" (1958), aroused vivid literary discussions. Most of the literary critics considered "The White Cloth" an interesting literary experiment that tried to lead the Lithuanian novel the new path. The novel traces the route towards madness of a poet named Antanas Garšva. The author discloses the character of Garšva and his tragic experiences.
The style of Antanas Škėma is very particular, full of unexpected metaphor and subconscious. Nevertheless, there are stylistic contrasts also: the lyric and aesthetically delicate confessions are suddenly followed by coarse, cynical images and rude words.
