Drago Jančar (born 13 April 1948) is a Slovenian writer,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and essayist. Jančar is one of the most well-known contemporary Slovene writers. In Slovenia, he is also famous for his political commentaries and civic engagement. Jančar's novels, essays and short stories have been translated into 21 languages and published in Europe, Asia and the United States. The most numerous translations are into German, followed by Czech and Croatian translations. His dramas have also been staged by a number of foreign theatres, while back home they are frequently considered the highlights of the Slovenian theatrical season. He lives and works in Ljubljana.

Life

He was born in

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

, an industrial center in what was then the Yugoslav

Socialist Republic of Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

. His father, originally from the Prekmurje region, joined Slovene Partisans during World War II. Jančar studied law in his home town. While a student, he became chief editor of the student journal ''Katedra''; he soon came in conflict with the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

establishment because he published some articles critical of the ruling regime. He had to leave the journal. He soon found a job as an assistant at the Maribor daily newspaper '' Večer''. In 1974 he was arrested by Yugoslav authorities for bringing to Yugoslavia a booklet entitled ''V Rogu ležimo pobiti'' (''We Lie Killed in the Rog Forest''), which he had bought in nearby Austria and lent to some friends. The booklet was a survivor's account of the Kočevski Rog massacres of the Slovene Home Guard war prisoners perpetrated by

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

's regime in May 1945. He was sentenced to a year's imprisonment for "spreading hostile propaganda" but was released after three months. Immediately after his release he was called up for military service in southern Serbia, where he was subjected to systematic harassment by his superiors due to his "criminal file". After completing military service, Jančar briefly returned to ''Večer'', but he was allowed to perform only administrative work. He decided to move to Ljubljana, where he came into contact with several influential artists and intellectuals who were also critical of the cultural policies of the Communist establishment, among them Edvard Kocbek,

Ivan Urbančič Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

Alenka Puhar Alenka Puhar (born 4 February 1945) is a Slovenian journalist, author, translator, and historian. In 1982, she wrote a groundbreaking psychohistory-inspired book ''"The Primal Text of Life"'' (in Slovene: ''Prvotno besedilo življenja'') about t ...

Marjan Rožanc Marjan Rožanc (21 November 1930 – 18 September 1990) was a Slovenian author, playwright, and journalist. He is mostly known for his essays, and is considered one of the foremost essayists in Slovene, along with Ivan Cankar, Jože Javoršek ...

, and Rudi Šeligo. Between 1978 and 1980, he worked as a screenwriter in the film studio

Viba Film Verdena are an Italian rock band originating in Albino, Bergamo. As of February 2015, they have released six full-length albums under Universal Music Group. History Origins The group formed in 1995 with the two brothers Alberto (guitarist) and ...

, but he quit because his adaptation of

Vitomil Zupan Vitomil Zupan (18 January 1914 – 14 May 1987) was a post-World War II modernist Slovene writer and Gonars concentration camp survivor. Because of his detailed descriptions of sex and violence, he was dubbed the Slovene HemingwayŽivojin Pavlović's movie ''

See You in the Next War ''See You in the Next War'' ( sr, Довиђења у следећем рату, transliterated: ''Doviđenja u sledećem ratu'', sl, Nasvidenje v naslednji vojni) is a 1980 cinema of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav war film directed by Živojin Pavlović ...

'' was censored. In 1981, he worked as a secretary for the '' Slovenska matica'' publishing house, where he is now an editor. In 1982, he was among the co-founders of the journal '' Nova revija'', which soon emerged as the major alternative and opposition voice in Socialist Slovenia. He also befriended

Boris Pahor Boris Pahor, OMRI (; 26 August 1913 – 30 May 2022) was a Slovene novelist from Trieste, Italy, who was best known for his heartfelt descriptions of life as a member of the Slovenian minority in pre–Second World War increasingly fascist It ...

, the Slovene writer from Trieste who wrote about his experience in the Nazi concentration camps. Jančar has frequently pointed out Pahor's profound influence on him, especially in the essay "The Man Who Said No" (1990), one of the first comprehensive assessments of Pahor's literary and moral role in the post- war era in Slovenia. Early in his career, Jančar was not allowed to publish his works, but when

Kardelj Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II. ...

's and Tito's deaths in the late 1970s led to gradual liberalisation, he was able to work as a screenwriter and playwright. In the mid-1980s, he gained initial success with his novels and short stories, while his plays earned recognition throughout Yugoslavia. From the late 1980s on, his fame began to grow outside the country, especially in Central Europe. Since the early 1990s, he has worked as an editor at the '' Slovenska matica'' publishing house in Ljubljana.

Work

Jančar started writing as a teenager. His first short novels were published by the magazine '' Mladina''. Jančar's prose is influenced by modernist models. One of the central themes of his works is the conflict between individuals and repressive institutions, such as prisons,

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

s, psychiatric hospitals and military barracks. He is famous for his laconic and highly ironic style, which often makes use of tragicomic twists. Most of his novels explore concrete events and circumstances in Central European history, which he sees as an exemplification of the human condition. He also writes essays and

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s on the current political and cultural situation. During the war in Bosnia, he voiced his support for the Bosnian cause and personally visited the besieged Sarajevo to take supplies collected by the Slovene Writers' Association to the civilian population. In his essay "Short Report from a City Long Besieged" (''Kratko poročilo iz dolgo obleganega mesta''), he reflected on the war in Yugoslavia and the more general question of the ambiguous role of intellectuals in ethnic, national and political conflicts. Throughout the 1990s, he engaged in polemics with the Austrian writer Peter Handke regarding the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

The public intellectual

Between 1987 and 1991 Jančar served as president of the Slovene

PEN Center PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

and through this role also actively supported the emergence of Slovenian democracy. In 1987, he was among the authors of the Contributions to the Slovenian National Program, a manifesto calling for a democratic, pluralistic and sovereign Slovenian state. During the

Ljubljana trial The JBTZ trial or the JBTZ affair ( sl, afera JBTZ), also known as the Ljubljana trial () or the Trial against the Four () was a political trial held in a military court in Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia in 1988. The defendants, Janez Janša, ...

in spring and summer 1988, he was one of the organizers of the first opposition political rally in Slovenia since 1945, which was held on the central

Congress Square Congress Square ( sl, Kongresni trg) is one of the central squares in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. History The square was built in 1821 at the site of the ruins of a medieval Capuchin monastery, which had been abolished during the reign ...

in Ljubljana. In the run-up to the first democratic elections in April 1990, Jančar actively campaigned for the oppositional presidential candidate Jože Pučnik. During the

Slovenian War of Independence The Ten-Day War ( sl, desetdnevna vojna), or the Slovenian War of Independence (), was a brief armed conflict that followed Slovenia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. It was fought between the separatists of the ...

, he and several other writers helped rally international support for Slovenia's independence. Since 1995, he has been a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2000, Slovenia's most widely read daily newspaper, '' Delo'', published his controversial essay "Xenos and Xenophobia", which accused the Slovenian liberal media of inciting xenophobia and

Anti-Catholicism Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

(Jančar himself is an

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

). He had been accusing the liberal media of similar attitudes since 1994, when his essay "The Fleshpots of Egypt" blamed the media for having helped the rise of the

chauvinist Chauvinism is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. It can be described as a form of extreme patriotis ...

ic Slovenian National Party. Although Jančar has never actively participated in politics, he publicly supported the Slovenian Democratic Party during the general elections of

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. In 2004, he was among the co-founders of the liberal conservative civic platform

Rally for the Republic The Rally for the Republic (french: Rassemblement pour la République ; RPR ), was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 a ...

( sl, Zbor za republiko).

Awards and honors

* 1993: Prešeren Award (1993) for his narratives, plays and essays * 1994: European Short Story Award ( Augsburg) * 1999: Kresnik Award for best novel of the year (for "Ringing In The Head", ''Zvenenje v glavi'') * 2001: Kresnik Award for best novel of the year (for "Catherine, The Peacock And The Jesuit", ''Katarina, pav in jezuit'') * 2003:

Herder Prize The Herder Prize (german: Gottfried-von-Herder-Preis), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Sout ...

for literature * 2011: Kresnik Award for best novel of the year (for "I Saw Her That Night," ''To noč sem jo videl'') * 2011:

European Prize for Literature European Prize for Literature (Prix Européen de Littérature) is a European-wide literary award sponsored by the city of Strasbourg with support from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (France).Honorary Doctor of the University of Maribor

Selected bibliography

Novels * ''Petintrideset stopinj'' (1974). ''Thirty-Five Degrees'' * ''Galjot'' (1978). ''The Galley Slave'', trans. Michael Biggins (2011). * ''Severni sij'' (1984). ''Northern Lights'', trans. Michael Biggins (2001). * ''Pogled angela'' (1992). ''Angel's Gaze'' * ''Posmehljivo poželenje'' (1993). ''Mocking Desire'', trans. Michael Biggins (1998). * ''Zvenenje v glavi'' (1998). ''Ringing in the Head'' * ''Katarina, pav in jezuit'' (2000). ''Katarina, the Peacock and the Jesuit'' * ''Graditelj'' (2006). ''The Builder'' * ''Drevo brez imena'' (2008). ''The Tree with No Name'', trans. Michael Biggins (2014). * ''To noč sem jo videl'' (2010). ''I Saw Her That Night'', trans. Michael Biggins (2016). *'' In ljubezen tudi'' (2017). ''And Love Itself'' *''Ob nastanku sveta'' (2022). ''At the Creation of the World'' Short story collections * ''Romanje gospoda Houžvičke'' (1971). ''The Pilgrimage of Houžvičke'' * ''O bledem hudodelcu'' (1978). ''About a Pale Criminal'' * ''Smrt pri Mariji Snežni'' (1985). ''Death at Mary of the Snows'' * ''Pogled angela'' (1992). ''The Look of an Angel'' * ''Augsburg in druge resnične pripovedi'' (1994). ''Augsburg and Other True Stories'' * ''Ultima kreatura'' (1995) * ''Prikazen iz Rovenske'' (1998). ''The Specter from Rovenska'' * ''Človek, ki je pogledal v tolmun'' (2004). ''The Man Who Looked into a Tarn'' * ''Joyce's Pupil'' (2006). Trans. Alasdair MacKinnon, Lili Potpara and Andrew Baruch Wachtel. Selections from ''Smrt pri Mariji Snežni'', ''Pogled angela'', ''Augsburg'', ''Ultima kreatura'', and others. * ''The Prophecy and Other Stories'' (2009). Trans. Andrew Baruch Wachtel. Selections from ''Smrt pri Mariji Snežni'', ''Prikazen iz Rovenske'', and ''Človek'', ''ki je pogledal v tolmun''. Plays * ''Disident Arnož in njegovi'' (1982). ''Dissident Arnož and His Band'' * ''Veliki briljantni valček'' (1985). ''The Great Brilliant Waltz'' * ''Vsi tirani mameluki so hud konec vzeli ...'' (1986). ''All Mameluk Tyrants Had a Bad End...'' * ''Daedalus'' (1988) * ''Klementov padec'' (1988). ''Klement's Fall'' * ''Zalezujoč Godota'' (1988). ''Stakeout at Godot's'', trans. Anne Čeh (1997). * ''Halštat'' (1994) * ''Severni sij'' (2005). ''Northern Lights'' * ''Niha ura tiha'' (2007). ''The Silently Oscillating Clock'' Essays * ''Razbiti vrč'' (1992). ''The Broken Jug'' * ''Egiptovski lonci mesa'' (1994). ''The Fleshpots of Egypt'' * ''Brioni'' (2002) * ''Duša Evrope'' (2006). ''Europe's Soul''

References

External links

Jean Améry-Prize to Drago Jančar

"Drago Jančar: Critical Observer of Society" (Article in Slovenia News)

Short Biography in the Journal Transcript (with picture)
*
dB, or a Brief History of Noise, essai by Drago Jančar
January 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jancar, Drago Writers from Maribor Slovenian dramatists and playwrights Slovenian novelists Slovenian male short story writers Slovenian short story writers Slovenian essayists Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts 1948 births Living people Prešeren Award laureates Kresnik Award laureates University of Maribor alumni Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Herder Prize recipients 20th-century Slovenian writers 21st-century Slovenian writers 20th-century male writers