Alojz Rebula (June 21, 1924 – October 23, 2018) was a

Slovene writer 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 ...

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 ...

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

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

, and a prominent member of the

Slovene minority in Italy Slovene minority in Italy ( it, Minoranza slovena in Italia, sl, Slovenska manjšina v Italiji), also known as Slovenes in Italy ( it, Sloveni in Italia, sl, Slovenci v Italiji) is the name given to Italian citizens who belong to the autochthon ...

. He lived and worked in

Villa Opicina Opicina (formerly Poggioreale del Carso in Italian), ( sl, Opčine, Triestine: ''Opcina''), is a town in northeastern Italy, close to the Slovenian border at Fernetti ( sl, Fernetiči). Opicina is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Trieste, the ...

in the

Province of Trieste The Province of Trieste ( it, Provincia di Trieste, sl, Tržaška pokrajina; fur, provinzia di Triest) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Trieste. It had an are ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He was 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 o ...

Life

Rebula was born in the ethnically Slovene village of San Pelagio ( sl, Šempolaj) near

Duino Duino ( sl, Devin, german: Tybein) is today a seaside resort on the northern Adriatic coast. It is a ''hamlet'' of Duino-Aurisina, a municipality (''comune'') of the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy. The settlement, picturesque ...

, in what was then 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 ...

. Because of the anti-Slavic

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 a ...

policies of the

Fascist regime Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

, Rebula could not have an education in his native language. He attended

Italian-language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

schools, where he became acquainted with Italian culture and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. He went to the gymnasium of

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 ''Gorit ...

and later the

lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the th ...

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

, which he graduated from in 1944. After the end of

World War II 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 opposin ...

, he moved to

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. He studied

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

at the University in Ljubljana, from where he graduated in 1949. In 1951, he moved back to Italy because of the pressures of the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

. In 1956, he was banned from entering

because of his political opposition to the Communist system. In 1960 Rebula obtained his PhD from the University of Rome with the thesis ''Dante's Divine Comedy in Slovene Translations''.Helga Glušič, ''Sto Slovenskih Pripovednikov'' (Ljubljana: Prešernova družba, 1996) The same year the authorities prohibited him from entering Yugoslavia for a second time, because he had publicly protested in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

newspapers against the suppression of the publication of the novel ''Listina'' (The Document) by

Edvard Kocbek Edvard Kocbek () (27 September 1904 – 3 November 1981) was a Slovenian poet, writer, essayist, translator, member of Christian Socialists in the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation and Slovene Partisans. He is considered one of the best au ...

in Slovenia. In the 1960s Rebula settled in Trieste, where he worked as a teacher of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

at secondary schools with Slovene as the language of instruction. He also engaged in cultural work with the local Slovene community. Together with

Boris Pahor Boris Pahor, OMRI (; 26 August 1913 – 30 May 2022) was a Slovene novelist from Trieste, Italy, who was best known for his heartfelt descriptions of life as a member of the Slovenian minority in pre–Second World War increasingly fascist It ...

, he edited the journal ''Zaliv'' (The Bay), founded to promote

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

cultural pluralism Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, whereby their values and practices are accepted by the dominant culture, provided such are consistent with the laws and value ...

and the values of western

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

. He was also co-editor of the literary journals ''Sidro'' (Anchor), ''Tokovi'' (Currents) and ''Most'' (Bridge). During this period, Rebula re-embraced

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, after having turned to

vitalist Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

agnosticism Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

in his teenage years, due partially to the influence of

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

and Slovene modernist authors such as

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. ...

. In 1975, Pahor and Rebula published a book interview entitled ''Edvard Kocbek: Pričevalec našega časa'' (

: Witness of Our Time), in which Rebula condemned the summary killings of 12,000 members of Slovene anti-communist militia in May and June 1945, perpetrated by the Communist authorities. The book created a scandal in

and both Pahor and Rebula were banned from entering Yugoslavia for several years. After the democratization and independence of Slovenia in 1990 and 1991, Rebula worked as a columnist for several Catholic journals and magazines in Slovenia. He lived and worked in his native village in the Italian part of the

Karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

region. Rebula died on October 23, 2018, at the age of 94.

Work

Rebula published numerous collections of

essay 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 ...

diaries Diaries may refer to: * the plural of diary *''Diaries: 1971-1976'', a 1981 documentary by Ed Pincus *'' Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years'', a 2006 book by Michael Palin *''OFW Diaries ''OFW Diaries'' is a Philippine television documentary ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

s, short prose, and other works that have been translated into a number of foreign languages. The prominent Slovene author and intellectual Andrej Capuder stated that Rebula's work "is the best we Slovenes can show to the world today." The terms that best define Rebula are antiquity,

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and Slovenehood or, as he stated himself: "Ancestral Karst ordered two tyrannical loves: on an ancient raft you shall cleave the Slovene sea!" His source of inspirations mostly came from the historical, cultural, and natural world of the

Slovenian Littoral The Slovene Littoral ( sl, Primorska, ; it, Litorale; german: Küstenland) is one of the five traditional regions of Slovenia. Its name recalls the former Austrian Littoral (''Avstrijsko Primorje''), the Habsburg possessions on the upper Ad ...

, although he also wrote a novel on the life of the missionary

Frederick Baraga Irenaeus Frederic Baraga (June 29, 1797 – January 19, 1868; sl, Irenej Friderik Baraga) was a Slovenian Roman Catholic missionary to the United States and a grammarian by and author of Christian poetry and hymns in Native American langu ...

. He reflects on the fate of a small nation and on the more general issues of the

human condition The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed fr ...

. His prose is lyrical and reflexive. He is renowned for his diaries and essays. Alongside the philosopher

Milan Komar Milan Komar, also known as Emilio Komar (4 June 1921 – 20 January 2006) was a Slovene Argentine Catholic philosopher and essayist. Life He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, to a Slovene f ...

(whose works were prohibited in Slovenia until the late 1980s), Rebula was one of the first Slovene authors who wrote extensively about the philosophy of

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...

, whom Rebula sees as one of his most important "spiritual fathers". He also translated

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

' ''

Seven Against Thebes The Seven against Thebes were seven champions in Greek mythology who made war on Thebes. They were chosen by Adrastus, the king of Argos, to be the captains of an Argive army whose purpose was to restore Oedipus' son Polynices to the Theban th ...

'' and

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...

Miles Gloriosus ''Alazṓn'' ( grc, ἀλαζών) is one of three stock characters in comedy of the theatre of ancient Greece. He is the opponent of the '' eirôn''. The ''alazṓn'' is an impostor that sees himself as greater than he actually is. The ''senex ...

into Slovene as well as Slovene authors such as KocbekEdvard Kocbek: ''La Compagnia'', Jaca Book, Milano, 1975. and Levstik into Italian. Rebula was awarded several prizes for his writing. In 1969 he received the Prešeren Fund Award, the so-called "small" Prešeren award, for the novel ''V Sibilnem vetru'' (In

Sybil Sibyls were oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece. Sybil or Sibyl may also refer to: Films * ''Sybil'' (1921 film) * ''Sybil'' (1976 film), a film starring Sally Field * ''Sybil'' (2007 film), a remake of the 19 ...

’s Wind). In 1995 he received the

Prešeren Award The Prešeren Award ( sl, Prešernova nagrada), also called the Grand Prešeren Award ( sl, Velika Prešernova nagrada), is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia. It is awarded each yea ...

, the highest Slovenian prize for cultural achievements, for artistic achievement for his life's work. In 1997 he was awarded the

Acerbi Prize Acèrbi or Acerbi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Angelo Acerbi (born 1925), Italian Roman Catholic Archbishop of Zella and Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, the Netherlands, Colombia, Hungary, and Moldova *Frances ...

for his novel ''In Sybil’s Wind'' in the Italian translation, and in 2005 the

Kresnik Award Kresnik is a literary award in Slovenia awarded each year for the best novel in Slovene language, Slovene of the previous year. It has been bestowed since 1991 at summer solstice by the national newspaper house Delo (newspaper), Delo. The awards c ...

for ''A

Nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

for the

Littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

'', which the jury voted the best Slovene novel of the year. Rebula died on October 23, 2018 at the age of 94.

List of works

Prose * ''Devinski sholar'', novel, (The Duino Scholar, 1954) * ''Vinograd rimske cesarice '', short stories, (Vineyard of the Roman Empress, 1956) * ''Klic v Sredozemlje'', novel, (A Call to the Mediterranean, 1957) * ''Senčni ples'' novel, (Shadow Dance, (1960) * ''V Sibilinem vetru'' novel, (In Sybil's Wind, 1968) * ''Divji golob '' novel, (Wild Dove, 1972) * ''Zeleno izgnanstvo'' novel, (Green Exile, 1981) * ''Jutri čez Jordan'' novel, (Tomorrow over the River Jordan, 1988) * ''Kačja roža'' novel, (Snake Flower, 1994) * ''Maranathà ali Leto 999'' novel, (Maranathà or the Year 999, 1996) * ''Cesta s cipreso in zvezdo'' novel, (The Road with the Cypress and the Star, 1998) * ''Jutranjice za Slovenijo'' novel, (Matins for Slovenia, 2000) * ''Nokturno za Primorsko'' novel, (Nocturne for the Littoral, 2004) Plays * ''Savlov demon'', six plays with a religious theme, (Saul's Demon, 1985) * ''Operacija Timava'', two acts, (The Timava Operation, 1993)

References

External links

Katoliški intelektualec: pisatelj Alojz Rebula
. Interviewed by Bernard Nežmah.

Mladina ''Mladina'' (English: Youth) is a Slovenian weekly left-wing political and current affairs magazine. Since the 1920s, when it was first published, it has become a voice of protest against those in power. Today, ''Mladinas weekly issues are dis ...

. Published on 2004-02-24. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
Gost meseca: Alojz Rebula
(interview with Alojz Rebula). Ognjišče, July 2004. Retrieved on 2008-04-05. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rebula, Alojz 1924 births 2018 deaths People from Duino-Aurisina Italian Slovenes Slovenian writers University of Ljubljana alumni Slovenian dramatists and playwrights Slovenian essayists Slovenian translators Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Slovenian philologists Slovenian Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism Prešeren Award laureates Kresnik Award laureates Sapienza University of Rome alumni 20th-century Slovenian writers 21st-century Slovenian writers 20th-century translators Recipients of the European Citizen's Prize

Life

Work

List of works

References

Further reading

External links