Janez Menart () (29 September 1929 – 22 January 2004) was a

Slovene poet Slovene literature is the literature written in Slovene. It spans across all literary genres with historically the Slovene historical fiction as the most widespread Slovene fiction genre. The Romantic 19th-century epic poetry written by the le ...

, best known for his Intimist poetry. He translated a number of classic

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and

English poetry This article focuses on poetry from the United Kingdom written in the English language. The article does not cover poetry from other countries where the English language is spoken, including Republican Ireland after December 1922. The earliest ...

and

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

works into Slovene, including Shakespeare's sonnets.

Biography

Menart 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 ...

. His mother was a

theatre actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...

. She soon fell ill, so the family moved back to

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

. His father worked as an

emergency medical technician An emergency medical technician (EMT), also known as an ambulance technician, is a health professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found working in ambulances. In English-speaking countries, paramedics are ...

and committed suicide when Janez was seven years old. His mother died eight years later. Due to poor social circumstances Janez and his older sister lived almost from the beginning of schooling in the

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

s. Janez was able to enter grammar school only because he won one of the four

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

s offered by

Drava Banovina The Drava Banovina or Drava Banate ( Slovene and Serbo-Croatian: ''Dravska banovina''), was a province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of most of present-day Slovenia and was named for the Dra ...

in 1940. Having finished it he attended the Faculty of Philosophy at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

where he graduated in Slovene philology and in

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

studies. After compulsory military service he was at first a

publisher's reader A publisher's reader or first reader is a person paid by a publisher or book sales club to read manuscripts from the slush pile In publishing, a slush pile is a set of unsolicited query letters or manuscripts that have either been directly sent ...

, then a

stage director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

and finally a director of puppet section at

Triglav film ''Triglav Film'' is a Slovenian film studio based in Ljubljana. Established in 1947, it is the second studio founded in post-World War II Yugoslavia. It is named after Triglav Triglav (; german: Terglau; it, Tricorno), with an elevation of , ...

. In that time he also married and got a daughter. Since 1963, when he left film, he earned his money by writing and translation. Then he employed himself as the editor of drama editorial board at

RTV Ljubljana Radiotelevizija Slovenija ( en, Radio-Television of Slovenia) – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcastin ...

. Due to political circumstances he was later degraded to a stage director and in the final three years he worked as a translator for current needs. In 1979 he decided to leave his job and employ himself as a programme leader of the

book sales club A book sales club is a subscription-based method of selling and purchasing books. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book discussion club, which can cause confusion. How book sales clubs work Each me ...

''Svet knjige'' at Mladinska knjiga. He stayed there till his retirement in 1990. He died in Ljubljana due to a

hospital infection A hospital-acquired infection, also known as a nosocomial infection (from the Greek , meaning "hospital"), is an infection that is acquired in a hospital or other health care facility. To emphasize both hospital and nonhospital settings, it is so ...

Work

Janez Menart was one of the most popular Slovene poets in the second half of the 20th century. Over four hundred of his individuals poems have been translated to about 25 foreign languages and over half of these translations were published in independent editions. Over one hundred of his poems and

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

lyrics have been set to music, some of them have also been recorded on cassettes and discs. Menart began seriously writing songs when he was 15 and had first of them published in the last two years of attending grammar school. He gradually published them in a continuously larger number of literary journals and by radio. His career of a prominent literate began in 1953 when he published the collection '' Poems of the Four'' () in collaboration with

Kajetan Kovič Kajetan Kovič (21 October 1931 – 7 November 2014) was a Slovene poet, writer, translator, and journalist. In 1978, he received the Prešeren Award, the highest artistic award in Slovenia, for his poetry collection ''Labrador.'' Life Kovič ...

Tone Pavček Tone Pavček (; 29 September 1928 – 21 October 2011) was one of the most influential Slovene poets, translators, and essayists from the first post-war generation. He published numerous collections of poetry, well received by readers and cri ...

and

Ciril Zlobec Ciril Zlobec (4 July 1925 – 24 August 2018) was a Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and former politician. He is best remembered for his poems, publishing several volumes of poetry in his lifetime. In 1990 he became a member of the P ...

. His poetry is traditionally confessional, the narration realistic and satirical while the form rests on traditional meter with romantic images and everyday reality. Also well known are his

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s. Menart complemented original poetry by translating foreign language literature. Slovenes have to thank him for, among others, the excellent translations of Shakespeare's Sonnets,

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

's,

Burns Burns may refer to: * Burn, an injury (plural) People: * Burns (surname), includes list of people and characters Business: * Burns London, a British guitar maker Places: ;In the United States * Burns, Colorado, unincorporated community in Eagle ...

's and Prévert's poetry and Villon's Collected Works. He also translated

English Renaissance The English Renaissance was a Cultural movement, cultural and Art movement, artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginni ...

plays such as

Volpone ''Volpone'' (, Italian for "sly fox") is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in 1605–1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-perform ...

Jonson Jonson is a surname, and may refer to: * Ben Jonson (c. 1572 – 1637), English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor * Fredric Jonson (born 1987), Swedish professional football player * Gail Jonson (born 1965), former medley and butterfly swimmer ...

and Doctor Faustus by

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...

. Although mainly known as a poet and translator, Menart also wrote scripts for

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

and

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

s and

television play A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movi ...

s. He was also the first in Slovenia to publish a CD

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

, with his poems largely interpreted by him himself.

In music

In 1975, his poem "Homeland" ( sl, Domovina), translated by the Croatian poet Zvonimir Golob, was used as lyrics for the song "Domovina" sung by the Croatian rock and folk musician Drago Mlinarec.

References

* * Berta Golob, ''Srce ustvarja roka piše'', Založba Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana 1983 * Muris Idrizović, ''Otroška in mladinska književnost v Jugoslaviji'', Založba Obzorja, Ljubljana 1984 * Polona Hanžek Novak, ''V srcu mladi'', Založba Genija, Ljubljana 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Menart, Janez 1929 births 2004 deaths University of Ljubljana alumni Slovenian poets Slovenian male poets Slovenian translators English–Slovene translators French–Slovene translators Slovenian screenwriters Male screenwriters Prešeren Award laureates Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Epigrammatists Presidents of the Slovene Writers' Association Writers from Ljubljana Writers from Maribor 20th-century poets 20th-century translators Burials at Žale 20th-century screenwriters