Vilnius Poker

The Soviet-era Vilnius of a paranoid mind: the capital of occupied Lithuania in the 1970s, its baroque Old Town, its library and its river all watched and warped by an unseen 'Them'. The map holds to the historic centre, from the university library and Cathedral Square up the castle hill to Gediminas Avenue, then renamed for Lenin, and the bend of the Neris.

Vytautas Vargalys

Vilnius Old Town

The watched city

The narrator's Vilnius is the real baroque capital of Soviet-occupied Lithuania, a warren of churches, courtyards and narrow streets that his paranoia turns into a trap. The Old Town is less a backdrop than a character, a city he feels is always being watched and deformed by an unnamed 'Them'.

Vargalys's narration

explicit Vilnius and its Old Town are named throughout and are the novel's true subject; this marks the historic centre around the Town Hall as a representative anchor.

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