Vladimir Bartol (24 February 1903 – 12 September 1967) was a writer from the Slovene minority in Italy. He is best known for his 1938 novel ''

Alamut Alamut ( fa, الموت) is a region in Iran including western and eastern parts in the western edge of the Alborz (Elburz) range, between the dry and barren plain of Qazvin in the south and the densely forested slopes of the Mazandaran provin ...

'', the most popular work of Slovene literature around the world, which has been translated into numerous languages.

Life

Bartol was born on 24 February 1903 in San Giovanni ( sl, Sveti Ivan), a suburb of the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

city of

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 pr ...

( sl, Trst) (now in Italy), in a middle class Slovene minority family. His father Gregor Bartol was a post office clerk, and his mother

Marica Bartol Nadlišek Marica may refer to: * Marica (mythology), a nymph in Roman mythology * Maricá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil * Maritsa, a river in Bulgaria, alternatively spelled Marica * ''Marica'', a former brush-footed butterfly genus now included in ''Erebia'' P ...

was a teacher, a renowned editor and feminist author. He was the third child of seven and his parents offered him extensive education. His mother introduced him to painting, while his father shared with him his interest in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

. Bartol began to be interested in philosophy,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

, and

, but also art, theatre, and literature, as described in his autobiographical

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

. Bartol began his elementary and secondary schooling in

and concluded it 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 a ...

, where he enrolled 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 ...

to study biology and philosophy. In Ljubljana, he met the young Slovene philosopher

Klement Jug Klement Jug (19 November 1898 – 11 August 1924) was a Slovene philosopher, essayist and mountaineer who died while climbing Mount Triglav. Although he did not publish many works during his lifetime, he became one of the most influential thinke ...

who introduced him to the works 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 c ...

. Bartol also gave special attention to the works of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

. He graduated in 1925 and continued his studies at Sorbonne in Paris (1926–1927), for which he obtained a scholarship. In 1928, he served the army in

Petrovaradin Petrovaradin ( sr-cyr, Петроварадин, ) is a historic town in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, now a part of the city of Novi Sad. As of 2011, the urban area has 14,810 inhabitants. Lying on the right bank of the Danube, across from t ...

(now in the autonomous province of

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

in Serbia). From 1933 to 1934, he lived in Belgrade, where he edited the ''Slovenian Belgrade Weekly''. Afterward, he returned to Ljubljana where he worked as a freelance writer until 1941. During

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he joined

Slovene partisans The Slovene Partisans, formally the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Slovenia, (NOV in POS) were part of Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western ...

and actively participated in the resistance movement. After the war, he moved to his hometown Trieste, where he spent an entire decade, from 1946 to 1956. Later he was elected to 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 ...

as an associate member, moved to Ljubljana and continued to work for the Academy until his death on 12 September 1967. He is buried in the

Žale Žale Central Cemetery ( sl, Centralno pokopališče Žale), often simply Žale, is the largest and the central cemetery in Ljubljana and Slovenia. It is located in the Bežigrad District and operated by the Žale Public Company. History The c ...

cemetery in Ljubljana.

Work

Some of his works, including the 1938 novel ''Alamut'', have been interpreted as an allegory of the TIGR and the fight against the Italian repression of the Slovene minority in Italy. ''Alamut'' is set in Persia in the Middle Ages and features the Order of Assassins.

List of works

* ''Lopez'' (1932, a play) * ''Al Araf'' (1935, a collection of short stories) * ''

'' (1938, a novel), translated into Czech (1946),

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

(1954), French (1988), Spanish, Italian (1989), German (1992),

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, Persian (1995), English (2004), HungarianVladimir Bartol: Alamut, Hungarian translation by: Klára Körtvélyessy, poems translated by: László Lator, Published by: Európa Könyvkiadó,

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, 2005, (2005),

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and other languages. it is being translated into

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. * ''Tržaške humoreske'' (1957, a collection of short stories) * ''Čudež na vasi'' (1984, novel) * ''Don Lorenzo'' (1985, a story) * ''Mladost pri Svetem Ivanu'' (2001, an autobiography)

References

External links

Slovene Government Public Relations and Media Office Article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartol, Vladimir 1903 births 1967 deaths Writers from Trieste Italian Slovenes Slovenian novelists Yugoslav science fiction writers University of Ljubljana alumni University of Paris alumni Slovenian dramatists and playwrights Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Yugoslav Partisans members Ethnic Slovene people Italian emigrants to Yugoslavia 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century dramatists and playwrights Burials at Žale Italian historical novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages Italian expatriates in France