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 Presidency of Slovenia at a critical time for Slovene independence.
Life and career
Zlobec was born in 1925 in the village of
Ponikve on the
Karst Plateau in what was then the
Julian March region of the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
.
He attended school in
Gorizia
Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gori ...
and
Koper
Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...
. He was expelled from school in 1941 for writing poetry in
Slovene, the use of which was strictly forbidden under the policies of
Fascist Italianization. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
he was an activist for the
Slovene Liberation Front and briefly joined the
Partisans. After the war he completed his studies and graduated from the
University of Ljubljana in 1953. He worked as a journalist and translator, publishing numerous collections of poetry as well as two novels. In 1989 he was made a member 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 ...
.
He rose to public prominence in 1953, as one of the four co-authors of the collection of poetry called "The Poems of the Four" (''Pesmi štirih''). The collection marked a turning point in the Slovene post-war culture, as it represented a break with the hitherto imposition of
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
as the sole style in literature. The other three poets who participated in the project were
Kajetan Kovič,
Janez Menart and
Tone Pavček.
Zlobec won the
Prešeren Foundation Award in 1965 for his poetry collection ''Najina oaza'' (Our Oasis) and the
Grand Prešeren Award in 1982 for his poetry collection ''Glas'' (Voice).
Slovenian Ministry of Culture, complete list of the Grand Prešeren Awards recipients
/ref>
In the 1970s and 1980s, he also served as the editor of the intellectual and cultural journal '' Sodobnost''.
In 1990, Zlobec joined the Socialist Party of Slovenia and ran successfully for the Slovenian Presidency, an advisory body to the President of the Republic. He was considered a close ally of the President Milan Kučan.
After 1992, he retired from political life.
He was the father of the activist, author, translator and politician Jaša Zlobec.
Poetry collections
* ''Pesmi štirih'' (1953) co-authored with Janez Menart, Kajetan Kovič and Tone Pavček
* ''Pobeglo otroštvo'' (1957)
* ''Ljubezen'' (1958)
* ''Najina oaza'' (1964)
* ''Pesmi jeze in ljubezni'' (1968)
* ''Čudovita pustolovščina'' (1971)
* ''Dve žgoči sonci'' (1973)
* ''Vračanja na Kras'' (1974)
* ''Kras'' (1976)
* ''Pesmi'' (1979)
* ''Glas'' (1980)
* ''Pesmi ljubezni'' (1981)
* ''Beseda'' (1985)
* ''Nove pesmi'' (1985)
* ''Rod'' (1988)
* ''Moja kratka večnost'' (1990)
* ''Ljubezen dvoedina'' (1993)
* ''Stopnice k tebi'' (1995)
* ''Skoraj himne'' (1995)
* ''Ti – jaz – midva'' (1995)
* ''Mojih sedemdeset'' (1995)
* ''Samo ta dan imam'' (2000)
* ''Čudež telovzetja'' (2004)
Novels
* ''Moška leta našega otroštva'' (1962)
* ''Moj brat svetnik'' (1970)
* ''Spomin kot zgodba'', autobiographical novel, (1998)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zlobec, Ciril
1925 births
2018 deaths
Slovenian poets
Slovenian male poets
Slovenian journalists
Slovenian translators
Prešeren Award laureates
Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Veronika Award laureates
Yugoslav Partisans members
Ethnic Slovene people
University of Ljubljana alumni
Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
20th-century translators
People from the Municipality of Sežana
Burials at Žale