TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Irena Veisaitė & Aurimas Švedas

home in the residential neighbourhood of Žvėrynas. She was a very sweet woman, but, with good reason, was very frightened that she might get into trouble by sheltering me. For three nights—the whole time I was there—she did not sleep a wink. It was clear that I would have to find refuge in another home. That was how I ended up in the home of Pranas Bagdonavičius, Onutė’s brother. I had known and dearly loved Pranas from childhood. He was a wonderful person with an incredibly good heart and an excellent sense of humour. While Pranas was a surgeon by training, he was also a talented writer and was very interested in the other arts too, in particular theatre. All sorts of fascinating people—such as Antanas Škėma, Jeronimas Kačinskas, Romualdas Juknevičius and Balys Lukošius—gathered at his home. 5 We lived at 4 Didžioji Street, in Chodkevičiai Palace, which is now the National Painting Gallery; my old room is now the office of the assistant director of the National Art Museum, Vytautas Balčiūnas, a former student of mine. Anyone who dropped by to see Pranelis—as his friends and family called him—was told that I was a relative of his from the country. I was very interested in what they talked about and always tried to nestle into some corner and listen to their conversations. It’s a pity that 5 Antanas Škėma (1910–1961)—writer and playwright, one of the most important Lithuanian literary innovators in the twentieth century. Jeronimas Kačinskas (1907–2005)—composer, the most notable representative of modernism in interwar Lithuanian musical culture. Romualdas Juknevičius (1906–1963)—theatre director and actor. Balys Lukošius (1908–1987)—actor.

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