Josip Vidmar (October 14, 1895 – April 11, 1992) was a notable

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

, and politician. From 1944 to 1946 he was speaker of the Slovenian People's Liberation Council (

Slovenian Parliament The Slovenian Parliament ( sl, Slovenski parlament) is the informal designation of the general representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia, the gen ...

). From 1952 to 1976 was president of 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 ...

, and from 1950 to 1964 he was the head of the academy's Institute of Literatures.

Life

Vidmar was born in

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 ...

, in a progressive middle-class family. Josip had an older brother,

Milan Vidmar Milan Vidmar (22 June 1885 – 9 October 1962) was a Slovenian electrical engineer, chess player, Chess theory, chess theorist, and writer. He was among the top dozen chess players in the world from 1910 to 1930 and in 1950, was among the inaugu ...

, a notable engineer, chess player and writer. Their sister Meta Vidmar studied with the famous

Mary Wigman Mary Wigman (born Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann; 13 November 1886 – 18 September 1973) was a German dancer and choreographer, notable as the pioneer of expressionist dance, dance therapy, and movement training without pointe shoes. She is con ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

and upon returning to Ljubljana in 1930 established the first school of

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

in Slovenia. He completed gymnasium school in Ljubljana and studied at the

Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, cs, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČVUT) is one of the largest university, universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Centra ...

. During the World War I he fought in Austria-Hungarian units on the eastern front but deserted to Russian side.

Anti-Yugoslavization writings

At the time when in the ex- Austrian Littoral, that has been given by Great Britain to Italy, a great part of Slovenes were subjected to violent

Fascist Italianization Italianization ( it, italianizzazione; hr, talijanizacija; french: italianisation; sl, poitaljančevanje; german: Italianisierung; el, Ιταλοποίηση) is the spread of Italian culture, language and identity by way of integration or ass ...

, Vidmar was also against the Serbian attempts of Yugoslavization of Slovenes living in the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

. He rose to prominence with his critical essays on literature and politics, including his 1933 essay ''The Cultural Problem of Slovene Identity''.

Anti-fascist resistance

During the Italian occupation of Slovene territory (later annexed to Italy as the Province of Ljubljana), the

Anti-Imperialist Front The Anti-Imperialist Front ( ar, الجبهة المعادية للإستعمار) was a political movement in Sudan, founded in 1952.Sidahmed, Abdel Salam. Politics and Islam in Contemporary Sudan'. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. p. 44 The A ...

(later renamed the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People, the Slovene resistance organization) was established at Vidmar's house in Rožna Dolina, Ljubljana on 26 April 1941.Rutar, Miloš. 1986. ''Sodelovati in zmagati: slovenski športniki v NOB''. Ljubljana: Borec, p. 22. A memorial now stands in front of the house. Vidmar served as the formal chairman of the organization until the end of the war. File:Ljubljana Slovenia - Vidmar house.JPG, Josip Vidmar's house in Ljubljana

Communist period

Vidmar was president of the Yugoslav Federal Chamber of Peoples (later the Chamber of Republics and Provinces). He was close friend of the Croatian writer

Miroslav Krleža Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Yugoslav and Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry (''Ba ...

. He was very influential in Slovenia from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s in the cultural policies of the

Titoist Titoism is a political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in the ...

regime. He died in Ljubljana.

Work

Translations

Vidmar translated works from Russian, French, Italian, German, Czech, Croatian, and Serbian into Slovenе, mostly plays; works of dramatists:

Aleksey Arbuzov Aleksei Nikolayevich Arbuzov (russian: Алексей Николаевич Арбузов) (April 20, 1986) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian playwright. Biography Arbuzov was born in Moscow, b ...

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

Griboyedov Griboyedov may refer to: * Alexander Griboyedov (1795-1829), Russian playwright and diplomat * Griboyedov Canal The Griboyedov Canal or Kanal Griboyedova () is a canal in Saint Petersburg, constructed in 1739 along the existing ''Krivusha'' r ...

, Krleža,

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

, Nušić,

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, Aleksey Tolstoy and other authors.

Essay books

* ''Literarne kritike'' * ''Meditacije'' * ''Polemike'' * ''Dnevniki'' * ''Obrazi''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vidmar, Josip 1895 births 1992 deaths Journalists from Ljubljana Slovenian literary critics Yugoslav Partisans members Slovenian essayists Slovenian communists Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Slovenian atheists Ethnic Slovene people Burials at Žale 20th-century essayists Politicians from Ljubljana Czech Technical University in Prague alumni