LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES   Volume 25, No.3 - Fall 1979 Editor of this issue: Jonas Zdanys ISSN 0024-5089 Copyright © 1979 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

Arthur Miller's Letter

Mr. P. Griškevičius
First Secretary
Communist Party of Lithuania
Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR

Dear Mr. Griškevičius:

I write to ask you to do all in your power to obtain permission for the poet Tomas Venclova to leave the USSR. In the spirit of the United Nations Charter as well as the Helsinki Accords, the right of a citizen to depart from his country is guaranteed and in this particular case these international agreements particularly apply; this poet finds it impossible to pursue his normal literary work in his present situation. I hope this plea will be accepted as coming not only from the undersigned, but innumerable men and women of letters in the United States.

Sincerely yours,

(signed)

Arthur Miller