Pavel Golia (10 April 1887 – 15 August 1959) was a

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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

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 ...

Life

Pavel Golia was born in a relatively wealthy family in Trebnje. Between 1907 and 1915, he served as an officer in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

. In 1918, he was a journalist in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Later, he worked as a

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...

or manager of the national theaters 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 ...

(1920–46, with a two-year break),

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, and

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. He died in Ljubljana.

Work

Golia wrote his first collection of poems, titled ''Alkohol'' ("Alcohol"), in 1908. It was published only in 1914. He wrote poems for about 40 years. According to the literary historian

Igor Grdina Igor may refer to: People * Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name * Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler * Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling ...

, Golia was an intimate poet who wrote about alcoholism, prostitution, and deviant people. Emotions in his poetry are not serious. He was influenced by

Oton Župančič Oton Župančič (January 23, 1878 – June 11, 1949, pseudonym ''Gojko'') was a Slovene poet, translator, and playwright. He is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. ...

, but developed his own form, sometimes closer to artistry. Golia has been praised for his plays, particularly the ones written for children. He published his first play ''Peterčkove poslednje sanje: božična povest v štirih slikah s prologom'' ("Peter's Final Dreams: A Christmas Play in Four Images with a Prologue") in 1923. His most known children plays are ''Princeska in pastirček'' ("A Princess and a Shepherd Boy"), ''Jurček'' ("Little George"), ''Srce igrač'' ("The Heart of Toys"), ''Uboga Ančka'' ("Poor Little Annie"), and ''Sneguljčica'' ("Snow White"). The expert in Slovenian youth literature Igor Saksida placed him among the best Slovenian children's playwrights.

Commemoration

The

Municipality of Trebnje A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

celebrates 10 April as Pavel Golia Memorial Day. The library in Trebnje is named after him.

References

External links

Works by or about Golia
in the

Digital Library of Slovenia The Digital Library of Slovenia ( sl, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije, short: dLib) is an Internet service—since 2006 a part of European Library—that allows access to digitalized material from the National and University Library of Slovenia.

. 1887 births 1959 deaths Slovenian poets Slovenian male poets Slovenian dramatists and playwrights Slovenian male short story writers Slovenian short story writers Slovenian children's writers Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts People from Trebnje Levstik Award laureates 20th-century poets 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century short story writers 20th-century male writers {{Europe-theat-stub