Ivan Hribovšek (June 19, 1923 – 1945) was a Slovene poet, philologist, and translator.
Hribovšek was born into a well-to-do family of farmers and officials in Radovljica. He spent his early youth on a farm together with his younger sisters and brother. After completing elementary school in Radovljica, in 1934 he enrolled in the
St. Stanislaus Institute
St. Stanislaus Institute, also known as St. Stanislaus Orphanage and Holy Child Church, is a historic former Catholic Church, Roman Catholic orphanage complex located at 141 Old Newport Street in Newport Township, Pennsylvania, Newport Township, ...
, the episcopal upper secondary school in Šentvid, Ljubljana. His father died in 1936. In high school, he contributed to two newsletters produced in manuscript: ''Jutranja zarja'' (The Dawn) and ''Domače vaje'' (Home Exercises). As part of the institute's Palestra cultural association, he gave presentations on Ivan Cankar,
Simon Jenko
Simon Jenko (October 27, 1835 – October 18, 1869) was a Slovene poet, lyricist and writer.
Jenko was born in Podreča in the Sora Plain (''Sorško polje'') in Upper Carniola, then part of the Austrian Empire, now in Slovenia, as an illegit ...
, and Slovenian Expressionism. After the sixth year of the eight-year secondary school program, he transferred to the classical secondary school in Ljubljana and joined Edvard Kocbek's circle, and in 1940 he published his first two poems in the magazine ''Dejanje''.
In 1941, during the German annexation of Upper Carniola, he returned to Radovljica and joined a group of Christian Socialists affiliated with the
Liberation Front
Liberation or liberate may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War
* "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode
* "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode
Gaming
* '' Liberati ...
. In 1941, he translated the entire text of Sophocles' play ''
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & Roma ...
''. In 1942, he was the editor of an underground newspaper produced by the Christian Socialists called ''Vogelni kamen'', of which two issues were published. He continued his education in
Villach
Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the po ...
, where he graduated in 1943, and the same year he went to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
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, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
to study classical philology. There he wrote poetry and translated ancient classics, especially the poet
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...
.
Hribovšek participated in the underground patriotic newsletter ''Dunajske Domače vaje'', under the leadership of Janez Remic, together with other Slovenian literati who were studying at the University of Vienna at the time. The magazine ceased publication due to the conscription of his colleagues into the army, but Hribovšek devoted himself intensively to editing his pseudonymous collection of manuscript poetry. The quiet, reserved, and sometimes depressed poet avoided conscription for several months by wandering between Radovljica and Vienna, but in December 1944 he had to decide between serving with the
, the Partisans, or the Home Guard, and he chose the Home Guard.
In 1945, he was assigned to a unit in Brezje, and later in Kamna Gorica. At the end of the war, his unit retreated from Kamna Gorica via the Loibl Pass to the camp at Viktring, where he was promoted to officer, and the Home Guard members were disarmed by the British and handed over to Yugoslavia. He disappeared from the historical record in the prison at
Teharje
Teharje () is a settlement in the City Municipality of Celje in eastern Slovenia. It lies on the right bank of the Voglajna River on the eastern outskirts of Celje. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. It is now included with t ...
. He was most likely murdered in the post-war massacres at the Teharje camp or
Kočevje Rog
Kočevje (; german: Gottschee; ''Göttscheab'' or ''Gətscheab'' in the local Gottscheerish dialect; it, Cocevie) is a city in the Municipality of Kočevje in southern Slovenia. It is the seat of the municipality.
Geography
The town is loc ...
. However, it was also rumored among the Home Guard that he had escaped from prison back to
Carinthia
Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...
, was returning to Yugoslavia to rescue his comrades, and was killed in one such action.
Literary work
Hribovšek's creative period was brief, and so very little of his material remains. In addition, he destroyed his poetry drafts himself. The key material is his letters and poetry manuscripts, which he turned over almost entirely to Anica Resman, his friend and lover. He published only three poems during his lifetime: the poem "Kanal" (later renamed "Rast") in 1939 in the last issue of ''Domače vaje'', and two poems in 1940 in ''Dejanje'': "Ura" and "Rast."
In 1944, just before he joined the army, Hribovšek collected his poems and edited the manuscript poetry collection ''Pesmi Marjana Gostiše, maja 1944.'' He gave the manuscript to Anica Resman, who managed to protect it from destruction or confiscation. In 1965, Resman sent the manuscript of the collection to Hribovšek's sister in Argentina, and
Tine Debeljak
Tine Debeljak (27 April 1903 – 20 January 1989) was a Slovenian literary critic, translator, editor, and poet. Debeljak was born in Škofja Loka. He graduated in 1927 from the University of Ljubljana, where he studied Slavic literature, Slavic an ...
published it under the title ''Pesem naj zapojem''. In Slovenia, like other emigrant literature, it was on the index of banned works and therefore difficult to access. At the end of the 1960s,
Jože Javoršek
Jože Javoršek was the pen name of Jože Brejc (October 20, 1920 – September 2, 1990), a Slovenian playwright, writer, poet, translator and essayist. In 1970, Hribovšek was included in the anthology of Slovenian poetry''Živi Orfej''. In 1990, his collection ''Pesmi'' was published in Slovenia. In 1994, the
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( sl, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members o ...
held the Balantičev–Hribovšek Symposium, which also highlighted the banned poet
France Balantič
France Balantič (29 November 1921 – 24 November 1943) was a Slovenian language, Slovene poet. His works were banned from schools and libraries during the Titoist regime in Slovenia, but since the late 1980s he has been re-evaluated as one of th ...
.
In 2010, Hribovšek was accepted as a canonical poet in the collection ''Zbrana dela slovenskih pesnikov in pisateljev'' (Collected Works of Slovenian Poets and Writers). His poetry was influenced by the Slovenian poetic tradition ( Jenko,
Kette
Kette is a town and commune in Cameroon.
See also
* Communes of Cameroon
The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. The arrondissements are organised by divisions and sub divisions of each prov ...
Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...
. In his writing, he also made references to ancient lyric poetry. His collection consists of 42 poems and two translations. In the first part, he collected poems about experiencing the spiritual dimension of nature, the second part of the collection is about love, and in the third part he included poems with existential themes, hardships related to war, and the question of life and death. Hribovšek wrote poems in rhyming quatrains and sonnets, and he also used free verse. His papers are held by the National and University Library of Slovenia, the Archiepiscopal Archives of Ljubljana, and private archives.