Alojz Rebula
Encyclopedia
Alojz Rebula is a Slovene writer
, playwright
, essayist and translator
, who lives and works in the Province of Trieste
, Italy
. He is a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
.
, in what was then the Kingdom of Italy. Because of anti-Slav
Italianization policies of the Fascist regime, Rebula could not have an education in his native language. He attended Italian language
schools, where he became acquainted with Italian culture and literature
. He went to the prestigious gymnasium
of Gorizia
and later the lyceum
in Udine
, which he finished in 1944. After the end of World War II
, he moved to Yugoslavia
. He studied classical philology
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. In 1956, he was banned from entering Yugoslavia
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. The same year the authorities prohibited him from entering Yugoslavia for a second time, because he had publicly protested in Trieste
newspapers against the suppression of the publication of the novel Listina ("The Document") by Edvard Kocbek
in Slovenia.
In the 1960s Rebula settled in Trieste, where he worked as a teacher of Latin
and Ancient Greek
at secondary schools with Slovene as teaching language. He also engaged in cultural work with the local Slovene community. Together with Boris Pahor
, he edited the journal Zaliv ("The Bay"), founded to promote political and cultural pluralism
and the values of western democracy
. He was also co-editor of the literary journals Sidro ("Anchor"), Tokovi ("Currents") and Most ("Bridge").
During this period, Rebula re-embraced Catholicism
, after having turned to vitalist agnosticism
in his teenage years, due partially to the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche
and Slovene modernist authors such as Oton Župančič
.
In 1975, Pahor and Rebula published a book-interview entitled Edvard Kocbek: Pričevalec našega časa ("Edvard Kocbek
: the 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 Yugoslavia
and both Pahor and Rebula were banned from entering Yugoslavia for several years.
Since the democratization and independence of Slovenia in 1990-1991, Rebula has been working as a columnist in several Catholic journals and magazines in Slovenia.
He lives and works in his native village in the Italian part of the Kras
region.
s, diaries
, novel
s, play
s, short prose
, and other works that have been translated in to 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
and Slovenehood
, or as he stated himself: “Ancestral Kras ordered two tyrannical loves: on an ancient raft you shall cleave the Slovene sea!”
His source of inspirations mostly comes from the historical, cultural and natural world of the Slovenian Littoral
, although he also wrote a famous novel on the life of missionary Frederick Baraga. He reflects on the fate of a small nation and on the more general issues of the human condition
. His prose is lyrical and reflexive. He is renowned for his diaries and essays. Alongside the philosopher Milan Komar
(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
, whom Rebula sees as one of his most important "spiritual fathers".
He has also translated Aeschylus
' Seven Against Thebes
and Plautus
' Miles Gloriosus
into Slovene as well as Slovene authors such as Kocbek
and Levstik
into Italian.
Rebula has been 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
’s Wind). In 1995 he received the Prešeren Award
, the highest Slovenian prize for cultural achievements, for artistic achievement for his life’s work. In 1997 he was awarded the Acerbi Prize for his novel In Sybil’s Wind in the Italian translation, and in 2005 the Kresnik Award
for A Nocturne
for Primorska
, which was declared by the jury as the best Slovene novel of the year.
Plays
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, essayist and translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, who lives and works in the Province of Trieste
Province of Trieste
The Province of Trieste is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Trieste.It has an area of 212 km², and a total population of 236,520...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He is a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy....
.
Life
Rebula was born in the Slovene-inhabited village of San Pelagio near DuinoDuino
Duino is a town at the Adriatic coast in the municipality of Duino-Aurisina, part of the region of Friuli – Venezia Giulia in the province of Trieste, north-eastern Italy....
, in what was then the Kingdom of Italy. Because of anti-Slav
Anti-Slavism
Anti-Slavism, also known as Slavophobia, a form of racism or xenophobia, refers to various negative attitudes towards Slavic peoples, most common manifestation being claims of inferiority of Slavic nations with respect to other ethnic groups...
Italianization policies of the Fascist regime, Rebula could not have an education in his native language. He attended Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
schools, where he became acquainted with Italian culture and literature
Italian literature
Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....
. He went to the prestigious gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
of Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
and later the lyceum
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...
in Udine
Udine
Udine is a city and comune in northeastern Italy, in the middle of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps , less than 40 km from the Slovenian border. Its population was 99,439 in 2009, and that of its urban area was 175,000.- History :Udine is the historical...
, which he finished in 1944. After the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he moved to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. He studied classical philology
Classical philology
Classical philology is the study of ancient Greek and classical Latin. Classical philology has been defined as "the careful study of the literary and philosophical texts of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds." Greek and Latin literature and civilization have traditionally been considered...
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. In 1956, he was banned from entering Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
because of his political opposition to the Communist system.
In 1960 Rebula obtained his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the University of Rome with the thesis Dante's Divine Comedy in Slovene Translations. The same year the authorities prohibited him from entering Yugoslavia for a second time, because he had publicly protested in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
newspapers against the suppression of the publication of the novel Listina ("The Document") by Edvard Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek was a Slovenian poet, writer, essayist, translator, political activist, and resistance fighter. He is considered as one of the best authors who have written in Slovene, and one of the best Slovene poets after Prešeren...
in Slovenia.
In the 1960s Rebula settled in Trieste, where he worked as a teacher of Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
at secondary schools with Slovene as teaching language. He also engaged in cultural work with the local Slovene community. Together with Boris Pahor
Boris Pahor
Boris Pahor is a Slovene writer from Italy. He is considered to be one of the most influential living authors in the Slovene language and has been nominated for the Nobel prize for literature by the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts...
, he edited the journal Zaliv ("The Bay"), founded to promote political and cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture. Cultural pluralism is often confused with Multiculturalism...
and the values of western democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. He was also co-editor of the literary journals Sidro ("Anchor"), Tokovi ("Currents") and Most ("Bridge").
During this period, Rebula re-embraced Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, after having turned to vitalist agnosticism
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
in his teenage years, due partially to the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
and Slovene modernist authors such as Oton Župančič
Oton Župancic
Oton Župančič was a Slovene poet, translator and playwright.Župančič is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovenian literature...
.
In 1975, Pahor and Rebula published a book-interview entitled Edvard Kocbek: Pričevalec našega časa ("Edvard Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek was a Slovenian poet, writer, essayist, translator, political activist, and resistance fighter. He is considered as one of the best authors who have written in Slovene, and one of the best Slovene poets after Prešeren...
: the Witness of Our Time"), in which Rebula condemned the summary killings of 12,000 members of Slovene anti-communist militia
Slovensko domobranstvo
The Slovene Home Guard , SD for short, was a World War II Slovenian anti-communist collaborationist militia that fought mainly against the Slovenian partisan resistance...
in May and June 1945, perpetrated by the Communist authorities. The book created a scandal in Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
and both Pahor and Rebula were banned from entering Yugoslavia for several years.
Since the democratization and independence of Slovenia in 1990-1991, Rebula has been working as a columnist in several Catholic journals and magazines in Slovenia.
He lives and works in his native village in the Italian part of the Kras
Kras
Karst ; also known as the Karst Plateau, is a limestone borderline plateau region extending in southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the valley, the westernmost part of the Brkini Hills, northern Istria, and the Gulf of Trieste...
region.
Work
Rebula has published numerous collections of essayEssay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s, diaries
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
s, short prose
Short prose
Short prose is a generic term for various kinds of very short fictional prose; short prose may or may not be narrative. Short prose pieces are considerably shorter than a short story, i.e., usually less than c. 1,000 words...
, and other works that have been translated in to 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
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
, Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Slovenehood
Culture of Slovenia
Slovenia's first book was printed by the Protestant reformer Primož Trubar . It was actually two books, Katekizem and Abecednik, which was published in 1550 in Tübingen, Germany....
, or as he stated himself: “Ancestral Kras ordered two tyrannical loves: on an ancient raft you shall cleave the Slovene sea!”
His source of inspirations mostly comes from the historical, cultural and natural world of the Slovenian Littoral
Slovenian Littoral
The Slovenian Littoral is a historical region of Slovenia. Its name recalls the historical Habsburg crown land of the Austrian Littoral, of which the Slovenian Littoral was a part....
, although he also wrote a famous novel on the life of missionary Frederick Baraga. He reflects on the fate of a small nation and on the more general issues of the human condition
Human condition
The human condition encompasses the experiences of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. It can be described as the irreducible part of humanity that is inherent and not connected to gender, race, class, etc. — a search for purpose, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of...
. His prose is lyrical and reflexive. He is renowned for his diaries and essays. Alongside the philosopher Milan Komar
Milan Komar
Milan Komar, also known as Emilio Komar was a Slovene Argentine Catholic philosopher and essayist.-Life:...
(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
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
, whom Rebula sees as one of his most important "spiritual fathers".
He has also translated Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
' Seven Against Thebes
Seven Against Thebes
The Seven against Thebes is the third play in an Oedipus-themed trilogy produced by Aeschylus in 467 BC. The trilogy is sometimes referred to as the Oedipodea. It concerns the battle between an Argive army led by Polynices and the army of Thebes led by Eteocles and his supporters. The trilogy won...
and Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
' Miles Gloriosus
Miles Gloriosus (play)
Miles Gloriosus is a comedic play written by Titus Maccius Plautus . It is also known as "The Swaggering Soldier". His source for Miles Gloriosus was a Greek play, now lost, called Alazon or The Braggart. Although the characters in Miles Gloriosus speak Latin, they are Greeks, with Greek names,...
into Slovene as well as Slovene authors such as Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek was a Slovenian poet, writer, essayist, translator, political activist, and resistance fighter. He is considered as one of the best authors who have written in Slovene, and one of the best Slovene poets after Prešeren...
and Levstik
Fran Levstik
Fran Levstik was a Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic. he was one of the most prominent exponents of the Young Slovene political movement.-Life and work:...
into Italian.
Rebula has been 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
Sybil
In antiquity, the oracular seeresses of the Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean were referred to by the Greek term "sibyls". In modern times, when "Sibyl" is adopted for a woman's name, the conventional spelling is "Sybil".-People:...
’s Wind). In 1995 he received the Prešeren Award
Prešeren Award
Prešeren Award is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia awarded each year to one or two eminent Slovene artists...
, the highest Slovenian prize for cultural achievements, for artistic achievement for his life’s work. In 1997 he was awarded the Acerbi Prize for his novel In Sybil’s Wind in the Italian translation, and in 2005 the Kresnik Award
Kresnik Award
Kresnik is a literary award in Slovenia awarded each year for the best novel in Slovene of the previous year. It has been bestowed since 1991 at summer solstice by the national newspaper house Delo. The awards ceremony is normally held on Rožnik hill above Ljubljana where the winner is invided to...
for A Nocturne
Nocturne
A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night...
for Primorska
Slovenian Littoral
The Slovenian Littoral is a historical region of Slovenia. Its name recalls the historical Habsburg crown land of the Austrian Littoral, of which the Slovenian Littoral was a part....
, which was declared by the jury as the best Slovene novel of the year.
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 Primorska, 2004)
Plays
- Savlov demon, six plays with a religious theme, (Saul's Demon, 1985)
- Operacija Timava, two acts, (The Timava Operation, 1993)
Further reading
- Janko KosJanko KosJanko Kos is a Slovenian literary historian, theoretician and critic.He was born in Ljubljana in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the son of the painter and sculptor Tine Kos...
et al., Slovenska književnost (Cankarjeva založba: Ljubljana, 1982). - Lojzka Bratuž, Rebulov zbornik: ob pisateljevi osemdesetletnici (Trieste: Mladika; Gorizia: Goriška Mohorjeva družba; Udine: Slavistično društvo, 2005). ISBN 8873420745
- Helga Glušič, Sto Slovenskih Pripovednikov (Ljubljana: Prešernova družba, 1996) ISBN 961-6186-21-3
External links
- Katoliški intelektualec: pisatelj Alojz Rebula. Interviewed by Bernard Nežmah. MladinaMladinaMladina is a Slovenian weekly left-wing current affairs magazine. It was first published in the 1920s as the youth magazine of the Slovenian Communist Party...
. 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.